Stephany, the author of Souful Sepulcher, has commented on this site and is a regular commenter on Furious Seasons.
To say that her and her daughter have been through a lot, and continue to go through a lot, would be a gross understatement.
Stephany is not a believer in Child Bipolar Disorder – and with good reason. Her daughter was given this diagnosis, put on a myriad of psychiatric drugs including taking many drugs at one time and eventually ended up completely silent for years and with permanent psychosis. Her daughter is now institutionalized for life.
Now, is this an extreme example? Yes, of course it is. But it is real and I believe it is an important one to know about and educate yourself about. And if you can read her blog and not have your heart just break for their situation, there is something wrong with you.
I am personally in the process of going back and reading Stephany’s postings from many years ago when she started her blog. It takes a while to do because she has been posting for years now. But it is well worth the time.
Take the time and read this blog.
It’s important to see all sides and all possibilities of a situation and while I do believe in Child Bipolar Disorder I also believe that it it’s correct diagnosis it is not a common diagnosis and, like any diagnosis in children, can be incorrectly given. I also believe that the drugs that are given to help children and teens with this diagnosis are powerful. And not much is known about their effects on children. And don’t even get me started on how little anyone knows about drug interactions.
Read Stephany’s blog and consider her plight before you accept one after another after another on top of another drug for your child from a psychiatrist who sees your child maybe 20 minutes a month, which is the typical time for a med check these days in psychiatry.
I know I will.
One Comment
Thank you, Meg. I started writing to tell my daughter’s story as an outlet for myself and life kept evolving, as my blog has as a result. She has been in unlocked care facility and at home briefly in the last 4 years, but currently is in a locked hospital.
You are so right about the doctor’s and how much time they spend with the child/teen. My daughter was dx in 5 minutes based on a psychotic reaction to Imipramine (anti depressant) given for prevention of bed wetting for camp.
Her story is definitely extreme, but as you saw on Medicated Child PBS program, the effects on growing kids is not uncommon from the use of these drugs.
There is a good site for drug interaction checking you can try
drugdigest.org
Anyway, thanks for the post here, I’m glad to have given a window for thought.