Hi.
My name is Meg and I am raising a child with Early Onset Bipolar Disorder. In our family we have good days, great days, bad days, scary days, days that are very fun, days that we laugh, days that we laugh and laugh and laugh and yet can’t seem to stop laughing and days that we cry. The child in question is currently a tween. He was originally diagnosed as having bipolar disorder at 6 years old and was recently re-diagnosed as having bipolar disorder at 12 years old . As he is only a tween, the real journey is just beginning. We are not comfortable in the world of meds and yet they are a requirement for our lives going forward [edited to add, we thought they were required but have since removed him from all medication] . In this blog, I will share our ups and downs and the resources we access in an attempt to raise knowledge of EOPD. I welcome you to join us in our journey as we navigate our way through life. It may be a lot of things, but it promises not to be boring.
In an attempt to maintain the privacy of our family and therefore be able to write more freely, all of the names of the people involved have been changed. However, we are all real people and all of the events depicted in this site are real and experienced by us first hand.
Let me introduce you to our family:
The Husband/Dad – Don
Now, I chose the name Don in attempt to fashion a husband in the image of Don Draper from the television show “Mad Men”. I mean, who doesn’t love Don Draper – he’s just super dreamy. That is, if he just didn’t have that darned philandering issue. So, let’s say my husband is Don minus the philandering. And, minus the heavy drinking. And, well dang, minus the giant bank account. Well ok, I guess more realistically if you picture Brad from Brad and Janet in “Rocky Horror Picture Show” you’ll have a much more realistic image of my husband. Very nice, calm, innocent, more of the nerd than the jock, an “office worker” as he would describe himself. But, what the heck, it’s my blog so we’re sticking with Don for now.
The Wife/Mom – Meg
This is me. I chose the name Meg for me because it is perky, simple and to the point. This is how I choose to view myself. You can be the judge later down the road as you get to know me.
The Son/the boy/the love of our lives – Ryan
I chose the name Ryan here for two reasons. One, when I think Meg, I think Ryan. I can’t help it. The name Meg Ryan is iconic. And for any of you that have bipolar children you know what a symbiotic relationship there can be between the mother (or the parent they feel most safe with) and the child. Sometimes it seems you are almost joined at the hip and can’t seem to velcro-tear yourselves apart. So it seemed to fit. The other reason I chose Ryan is that I like the nickname “Rye” for Ryan and one of my favorite books of all time is “The Catcher in The Rye” by J.D. Salinger. Ryan, like Holden, is the kid who would want to be the Catcher In The Rye.
Ryan’s Biofather – Big B
Big B is no longer in our day-to-day lives lives but plays an integral genetic role in Ryan’s make-up . He also played an (albeit) short lived yet impactful physical role earlier in Ryan’s and my life so he will be an important person to know about.
The Child Psychiatrist – Doc
A must-have in our lives. This is the person we rely on to help Ryan live a normal life. This is the person who Rye sees for therapy, dispenses medicine prescriptions, listens to our ails, who we call frantically when things aren’t working out, who we call frantically when I am freaking out about the meds (I have a large med phobia) or that we call when medicines have gone awry (happens often). This is the person who we rely on to have the wisdom, patience and courage to counsel us and steer us in the right direction. This is the person we depend on to be the calm in the midst of the storm.
So far, these are the main people involved. There are of course others and I will introduce them along the way.
So… come, join us on our journey and let’s navigate life together. The more, the merrier.
Love, Meg
