Question for parents of children (even grown)diagnosed w/bipolar...?

Question

What do you remember as the possible early signs of bipolar disorder in your child? Could the diagnoses have been made early in childhood if you had known the warning signs? How old do you think your child was when he/she started experiencing symptoms? Any information from your experiences would be appreciated and helpful.Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

I have 3 bi-polar children. My husband is bi-polar and it runs heavily in my family. My son was diagnosed when he was two years old. He would hide under his bed with a blanket over him and you would have to physically remove him from under there. When he was on a high he binged off the walls. He could accomplish so much on his highs. He did everything way early including holding a conversation with an adult at 1 year old. Most psychiatrists don't diagnose until school age. Bi-Polar may never show up. Sometimes it has a trigger point. Something to bring it out. There are so many symptoms that are displayed. It depends on if it is bi-polar 1 or 2. Also, there is cyclothemia...a very mild form of bi-polar. I think I have read every book there is about bi-polar. The best one is The Bi-Polar child. It has everything about bi-polar in it. Just a side note: Bi-Polar is common in a lot of famous people. It is common in playwrites, People famous for Poems, Actors. It is rumored that Robin williams is Bi-Polar. There is also a book called touched by fire. It is worth reading. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I asked this question well similar a few weeks a go! It drives me CRAZY! And I think it always will and the sad thing is there is sweet FA we can do about it. We were at Tesco's the other day and I saw a guy parking in a mother and baby space, no kids to be seen though. So I said to him ' you know you have to have kids to park there this is a mother and baby space' His reply being 'AND' my reply being 'D*ckhead!' I can guarantee I will always see someone in those spaces that shouldn't be there when I go out. I also see mums get out the car and yes they have children but they are more like teenagers. Im not even bothered at the fact that the spaces are close to the entrance I need a space with space! To get my 6 month old out of his car seat without damaging my car or someone elses. I could go on LOL ;-)

Answer 3

My son was about 3 when he started showing signs. He was diagnosed at age 7. I don't think he could have been diagnosed any earlier but I know every case is different. I suggest you check out the website http://www.bipolarchild.com/ . The topics covered in the newsletters are interesting and helpful. http://jbrf.org/index.html has two surveys to take, one for the parent and one for the child.

Answer 4

my daughter is bipolar and when she was young, she would have these bad mood swings, she would be in her room for days, she would go for 2 or 3 days without eating, during her manic phase, she would be going non stop, she would go for days without sleep, talk really fast. it wasn't until in her early teens she went on the internet and did some research and found out what it was. she has what is known as rapid cycling bipolar disorder. she grown and married and has a good life. she takes medication and has a really good doctor that she has therapy with. If you have any questions you would like to ask me, go ahead and e-mail me. good luck.

Answer 5

Joel began to show symptoms in 2nd grade. Earlier, he tended toward Autistic just a little--he liked to play by himself, dig in the dirt, he was quiet, just barely developmentally behind probably due to bad ear infections until he got tubes at 16 mo. He was 3 weeks premature at birth.

In 2nd grade he started throwing tantrums at me when he'd get home from school. Almost anything would set him off. It got worse and worse until the whole family's life revolved around Joel and his tantrums. In between tantrums, he was hyperfocusing, giggly, energetic and wild, uncontrollable.

Eventually, he couldn't go to school, couldn't study at home, couldn't function. So we took him to Children's Hospital in Dallas, to the psychiatric unit. They tested him up and down, taught him coping skills, disciplined him and taught us how to keep him disciplined. Lots of meds were tried, and we found a couple to stabilize his moods (carbatrol is a life-saver). We found that he also had ADD, so we got meds for that (adderall), we found that he had PDD--Pervasive Developmental Disorder, which means not all of his personality is developing at the right time. He's behind in several areas. In some areas, he acts like a 12 yo; in others he acts like a 21 yo. We have to learn to figure out where he's at and deal with him at the age level he's behaving at just then. His IQ is quite high.

He's stable, he's passing all his classes, and his lagging social skills are catching up to the rest of of his skills. He's expected to graduate HS in 2009, and we want him to be successful and feel good about college, so he'll stay home and attend jr college for two years and then go to the school of his choice for the last two years. He intends to study electrical engineering. He also plans to attend graduate school.

If he takes his meds, there is very little in the way of ups and downs. When his meds run out around 5pm and he's in a social situation, he can get a bit crazy, which the other kids love.

He takes adderall (80 mg), serequel (300mg at night), carbatrol (600 mg am, 400mg pm), zoloft (100 mg).

One problem is that he doesn't want to eat. Adderall does that. So he gets hungry at 10pm or midnight, and gets up and chows down on anything he can find (often the junk food).

NAMI is a great resource. www.nami.org. It has all the information you can dream about, as well as services to help you and your child lead happy, healthy lives.

Debbie Villareal
[e-mail]

Answer 6

This usually shows up in the late teens. Maybe your child has something else wrong.