Comments for Raising Bipolar

Comment on DSM-5: Your Chance To Comment / May 2 – June 15, 2012 by Mama bear

Mama bear — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:21:51 +0000

I find all the conflicting views among the psychiatrist professionals to be alarming. How can we trust what they can’t agree on.

Comment on hEllo SpRinG! by Marie

Marie — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:43:19 +0000

I’m so glad that I found your post. As a mom of a bipolar teen, I am feeling in a similar place of having put myself to the side for awhile. I just started getting out in the garden again and it feels so physically and mentally rewarding. Thank you for saying that you are demanding more of your son than he demands of himself. I am trying to do that with my daughter and it is so tough most of the time

Comment on What Can I Do To Help? by Candice

Candice — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 02:13:50 +0000

God bless you for sharing. In desperation I came across your blog. It helps to know I am not alone. It has always been such a struggle to handle rages and it always comes up,”you don’t love me.” this approach I am sure will be sooo helpful

Comment on Questions & Answers by Mama Bear

Mama Bear — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 01:05:27 +0000

Great Post Meg, you must be on all our minds because I meant to ask you some questions too this week, but life has been too wild over here.

I appreciate your description of an oppositional child as being a hurting child. I think you hit the nail on the head with our son. We are seeing a lot of opposition and at the end of the night, we see the hurt below the behavior. If I can only figure out how to restore his damaged self esteem so that he feels like he is worth it all maybe I can stop this pattern of behavior.

Comment on Questions & Answers by Bug's Mom

Bug's Mom — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:40:26 +0000

This post has so much great, helpful information. I see many similarities between Rye and my Bug. She, too, was (is) very outgoing, social and personable. She was a pretty easy baby, although she did have some physical delays. Until preschool, I just thought I had a super bubbly, imaginative, energetic little girl. It didn’t take long for her preschool teachers to point out her “unusual” behavior. She barely avoided getting kicked out of every preschool she attended because she couldn’t sit still at circle time and disrupted naptime with her chatter and giggling. And while she was usually the life of the party, she also started having periods of being very anxious and withdrawing from group activities. She’d sometimes hit other kids–and attacked a parent once–for no reason.

LOVE your definitions of “conduct disorder” and “oppositional defiance disorder.” So accurate. Sorry for the long response!

Comment on Questions & Answers by Jim

Jim — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:03:10 +0000

Very nice of you to share more of your story, thanks!

Comment on Questions & Answers by Kj

Kj — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:54:56 +0000

I appreciate this so much. Thank you for sharing your story, Rye’s story and your opinions, which I find helps me sort through my own (overwhelmed) thoughts. I am so “in the moment” with my child that it becomes hard to maintain perspective between what I SEE in my child and what the various experts say.

Comment on Feeling Good Friday by Mama Bear

Mama Bear — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:36:50 +0000

Thanks Meg for the info, I would like to remove Tenex soon if possible, I agree that it is best to remove drugs as you go along the way. Wish it was easy to know which ones.

Comment on Feeling Good Friday by Meg

Meg — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:02:01 +0000

As for the fitness, it’s hard when they are young to get them into it. My son had zero interest in it until it was the thing to do at school (8th grade) to be in shape.

As for Risperdal, we have tried that. It worked for a few weeks but then my son had an allergic reaction to it (blew up in the face and could not breathe well). It also made him gain a lot of weight in only a few weeks which he then lost when we discontinued it. I would also say that whenever you add a new med you should work hard to remove one that you don’t think is working well or may be causing more problems than it is helping.

As for symptoms as he gets older, pretty much the same as they have been since he was 12. This past 5-6 months was the first big depression we’ve had with him that wasn’t rapid cycling but he is out of it now and doing well. I think a lot of it was situational relating to the move and we also needed to lower his Seroquel and add the little bit of Lithium.

Comment on Feeling Good Friday by Mama bear

Mama bear — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:57:47 +0000

6′4″, holy cow!!! He’s a big dude and he’s not even done growing. That’s great he working out in the gym, as a fitness instructor I’m always trying to drag my son to the gym to workout his stress, but he isn’t that interested in it. This will do wonders for Rye!

As for meds, it sounds exhausting, glad to hear things are getting back to his norm.

I was curious, have you ever tried Risperdal? I often wonder if our doctor may suggest this next for our son if we need another med on board. I was wondering if you tried it and what the results were.

As Rye gets older, what are his main symptoms?