Bipolar Disorder in Children

[Nylah]

anybody have any experience/knowledge on the subject matter?

I was on the phone with my friend til early morning because she is at her wits end with her 8 yr old daughter who was diagnosed with being borderline. I think she is there already.....

The girl is bright - I mean they would bump her 3 grade levels if it wasnt for her social skills. The additional problem with her being so intelligent is that she is highly manipulative - almost sociopathic with it.

They have tried everything but dont want to resort to drugs. They take her to a physcologist each month and to get tips on parenting skills to handle the situation but my friend feels like it isnt helping whatsoever.

Her husband's side of the family has a history of mental illness but it has only affected the men up until this point. Since they had 2 girls they thought they were safe

i really feel bad for them. The child is really a great kid when she isnt going off the deep end. But if she ends up like her father's brothers, she is going to have a really horrible life if she lives that long.

[kia027]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

dont have any experience with it

but wanted to send your friend a

I have very bright 8 yr old too and the brightness alone mek dem a handful

has she had a second opinion on the testing? and if the drugs work why not?

[Nylah]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children


Thanks Kia

I think that it is their personal preference not to use drugs. They dont want thre side effects of dulling her mind because she is so bright. That seems to be biggest concern.

She feels comfortable with the testing - meaning that even though "they" are saying the child is one point away from being classed as bipolar, for all and intent and purposes, she is being dealt with as though she is Bipolar.

She is even watching her diet and exposure to chemicals etc. to see if it helps overall. So you see they arent going to be quick to medicate in general.

J will have really good weeks and then "boom" they have someone they cant recognize or control and it wears her out since she works from home.

[kia027]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

bipolar drugs dull their mind

[Nylah]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children


yeah, that is my friend's understanding at least for kids they say that is a potential side effect. Adults might be different of course.

plus my friend said it would be impossible to medicate J anyways. When she is hurt or is sick, even if you tell her taking medication will make her feel better, she will fight like the devil to not take it. So her mom, is like, there is no way she is gonna do a daily battle with her

my friend is really small-framed...maybe 5,2" so her daugther who is almost eye level with her could easily overpower her if it got bad enough

[Peasie]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

Are these episodes violent? Such as throwing over chairs, throwing things, pushing things off shelves, tables? How frequent are they? What is the intensity of each episode? And how great is family life affected by these episodes?

It seems to me that bipolar disorder is now the diagnosis of the month and I would have this child second- and third-diagnosed.

Buy or recommend the book, <span style="text-decoration: underline">An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness</span>, by <span style="font-weight: bold">Kay Redfield Jamison</span>, for your friend. Jamison is a psychiatrist who suffers from bipolar all her life and the book is wonderful reading. You start to see &quot;<span style="font-style: italic">why creative, intelligent people are often willing to risk the lows of their illness for the sake of the highs. As Jamison points out emphatically, however, the long-term effects of bipolar disorder can be devastating mentally and physically (not to mention the financial and personal fallout) -- hence her crusade to understand the basis of the illness, and learn how to fine-tune the medication so that the sufferer achieves equilibrium without deadening the sensitivity and creativity that often accompany this disease.</span>&quot; Quote from a reviewer.

Good luck

[Nylah]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children


The episodes arent too violent yet. She can be physcially challenging to her mom at home though.

At school they have to give her tons of extra work to keep her occupied at her grade level otherwise she is really disruptive with the other kids and will start all kinds of trouble.

She will doing something at home and then a dark cloud comes over her and she starts screaming and flipping out that she doesnt want to do this anymore, or what have you. You cant calm her down or reason with her. She can be sociopathically mean to her little sister.

it is hard on the family life becuase the youngest one cant defend herself if mom leaves her alone with the eldest one. My friend is constantly tired because getting this kid to bed is a nightmare even when the two of them are attempting to do it.

Her parents are really calm salt of the earth people. Parents that are heavily involved and engaged with their kids at all time plus they have a good relationship between themselves as well. in addition, their other child has none of these tendencies. J has been like this before she could walk.

i dont think the flavour of the month isssue is what is happening with J. Her dad's side of the family has a significant history of mental illness - bipolar disorder in particular. And his brothers and uncles all started out like his daughter is now. One has ended in suicide already. And another is dangerously violent.....

so my friend is terrified her child is going to be the weird, anti-social reclusives that she sees on her husband's side. He and his sister seem to be the only two untouched.

I've seen her when she comes undone...it isnt just immaturity or anything like that. I have seen that in other kids and think they just need a good smack on the butt This child is freakin scary even in my eyes. She truly seems sociopathic when the switch in her head flips which is a constant daily thing. It is like she doesnt remember how she was behaving an hour earlier.

But that is my assessment

i will pass on the title of the book though. I just really feel for my friend because it is taking a toll on her health too.

[ILP]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

I've taught only one child in my career that was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.....OMG that was probobly the single most difficult year of my career in the terms of challenge. This child was bright, I mean really bright. It was almost surreal. But when she went on that &quot;swing&quot; &lt;---(not the proper term). It was...was...indiscribable She did have rather &quot;interesting&quot; social skills. What I found interesting is that her swings were almost calcuable to the day. For her the cycle was about 5-6 weeks. She'd go from high (really nice, engaging, funny) to the exact opposite (defiant, rage, would use some breed of curse words on you, oh...and the violence if she felt compelled).

I will admit her parents put her on medicine (I think they were just tired) and the school begged them to take her off of it. She was lathargic, almost comalike. They finally agreed to take her off the drugs.

They ended up settling on intense therapy and group counseling. Since she could tell you when she felt like she was headed on the downswing, she would work alone or at home. It was really, really hard on everyone. She did eventually graduate.

[Nylah]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

You see it ILP

Before I saw J in an episode, I would have just classed her as a strong-willed kid. But when the light goes off in her head it is a sight to behold I think my friend mentioned that they are starting to chart her &quot;moods&quot; now to see if a pattern emerges. I was dead tired so parts of the convo is fuzzy for me

They may have to medicate her in the near future as she gets older and stronger even though they dont want to. My friend is really worried about if J makes it thru High School what is going to happen to her once she is of legal age.

Do you know how that child you knew did in her future years?
If J ends up like her uncles she is in for a really miserable life. One of them almost killed his mother the other day cause he didnt like that she ran outta milk.....they got the police to take him out. And he refuses to be on his meds as well.

lawd

[ILP]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

this girl was in high school when i taught her.
she graduated and went to the community college and then on to one of the 4 year universities in the area.
you know i understand the college thing worked really well for her, as it was mainly independent and required self-regulation. she wasnt required to do the &quot;group&quot; thingy. the counseling went on all through high school and i wanna say into college as well. her parents were just relieved when she graduated and turned 18...that way if something went down then they were no longer responsible.

i dont recall her ever being in trouble with the law, but i remember one time she cussed a school resource police officer, so bad the man had tears in his eyes. when he threatened to lock her up and he saw that to her it didnt matter as she had gone off to &quot;that place&quot;...he just walked away and told her parents to take her home.

last i heard (about 2 years ago) she was working for catholic charities...not sure exactly what though.

[Nylah]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ILP_N_Belly</div><div class="ubbcode-body">this girl was in high school when i taught her.
she graduated and went to the community college and then on to one of the 4 year universities in the area.
you know i understand the college thing worked really well for her, as it was mainly independent and required self-regulation. she wasnt required to do the &quot;group&quot; thingy. the counseling went on all through high school and i wanna say into college as well. her parents were just relieved when she graduated and turned 18...that way if something went down then they were no longer responsible.

i dont recall her ever being in trouble with the law, but i remember one time she cussed a school resource police officer, so bad the man had tears in his eyes. <span style="font-weight: bold"> when he threatened to lock her up and he saw that to her it didnt matter as she had gone off to &quot;that place&quot;...he just walked away and told her parents to take her home.</span>

last i heard (about 2 years ago) she was working for catholic charities...not sure exactly what though. </div></div>



I'm gonna mention what you have said to my friend. She can maybe get a little relief that it isnt necessarily a death sentence for her child

Thanks

[Peasie]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

I am no expert, but that brother sounds psychotic rather than bipolar. Now given this family history, it seems to me that the mother, your friend, would be <span style="font-weight: bold">smart</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold">responsible</span> to have J seek intensive pharma- and psycho-therapy.

I'm sorry. She needs to get intervention for her daughter quickly.

[Nylah]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children


They are doing the psychotherapy part right now and since she goes to a private school she does have extra monitoring when she is in class. But they are not willing to drug her yet...due to what ILP said above

I have a friend (we grew up together) and she is diagnosed as bipolar with violent tendencies. <span style="font-weight: bold">Now this isnt the norm for bipolar disorders - only in few cases.</span> From what I was told this is a form of psychosis but it is called bipolar disease.

She will go months on end with being fine and then she comes undone. And the cycle isnt always violent - it is manic &quot;happiness&quot; for days followed by a crushing depression and then the violence can appear.

I had her in my home for a few weeks because her parents couldnt handle her (they are Jamaican) and that was stressful as hell.

She becomes dillusional as well and starts threatening to kill the &quot;demons&quot; that are all about I had to have her leave cause I was afraid she might do something.

She can hold a job and then she cycles downward and ends up in the hospital which she did again over the holidays.

Sad thing is her parents like many of Carribean descent are ashamed of her mental illness and try to hide instead of dealing with it. She is 37 yrs old and will never have a proper life because she refuses to take her meds steadily.


One time she ended up homeless on the streets of Kingston cause her parents kicked her out.......

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

Did you realize that the majority of adults suffer [a milder for' of bipolar disorder?
They Call it all sort of things.
but it is actually a milder form of obsessive compulsive disorder.(bipolar disorder)

[Suesumba]

Re: Bipolar Disorder in Children

LORD HELP OUR PRAYERS