Possibly not BP - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

KissAmeGal · 02-10-2007, 03:55 PM

Hello everyone,

At my wits end here. My son was thought to be BP about a month ago. he started on Depakote ER 250mg 2x's a day. anyway......went back to dr., and she feels he is depressed and started him on Zoloft 50mg once a day. I told her before the Zoloft appt., that his behavior was not as bad as it's been, but when he gets upset, it's alot worse. and to this day, it's worse and i think it's the Depakote. he is doing horribly in school, and can't stay in classes some days. he's had ISS, OSS and Saturday detentions ALOT since being on the Depakote. He went back to reg. classes this past Friday, and Friday morning they wanted to give him OSS AGAIN! Luckily, the Social Worker is working with him and starting a Learning and Behavior Assessment, so now he CANNOT be suspended, as she said, she cannot assess him if he is not there. she said that she should have gotten his file LONG before now. He goes back to the doctor this wednesday......going to see about having him weened off the Depakote. He has also told a couple of his teachers, me and my mom, that the medicine makes him worse. I can only imagine how he feels!!

When he was in the Asst. Principles office on friday, she said he balled up his fist as hard as he could and started hitting himself very hard in the upper leg. he TELLS me in the mornings that he is NOT getting up and he is NOT going to school, and it's an all out war in the mornings anymore to get him up for school. I HATE IT!! Yeah.......he's never been a morning person, but he was NEVER like this! :::::::::sigh::::::::::: He is also on Concerta 27mg for ADHD.
Has anyone had this experience??? I really don't think he's BP, and definitely, like anyone else, do not want him to be on anything that he doesn't need.

goody2shuz · 02-10-2007, 04:48 PM

Hi, KissAmeGal

I am sorry that you are having such a difficult time with all of this. One suggestion that I would make is that you think about taking your son off the Concerta and Zoloft since stimulants and SSRI's can worsten Bipolar. It sounds as if your son's main symptoms are frustration and anger as well as some impulsiveness that is landing him into trouble and I personally, from my own experience with my daughter exhibiting similar symptoms, have found when they are put on one of the atypical antipsychotics such as Risperdal, Seroquel, or Geodon that there is some improvement. Out of the three I would highly recommend the Seroquel since that has worked wonderfully for my daughter in terms of curbing the anger, frustration and impulsivity. My daughter was running away from home, self harming, cutting classes, and many other impulsive acts and in addition to that getting so angry and agitated at home in which she flew off the handle about almost anything or everything that was said or asked of her. Without the proper diagnosis she was treated as if she were depressed and put on Zoloft for her depression and Concerta for the impulsivity borderline ADD that they thought she had. This only worstened her condition which threw her into a second suicide attempt and some mania. It wasn't until they started her on the Risperdal that we saw improvement but since she developed some side effects from that they changed her to Seroquel which works very much in the same way in terms of addressing the anger and impulsivity. They added a mood stabilizer, Lamictal, which is geared more towards the depressive side of Bipolar and the two ended up being a wonderful combo for us.

Often they say it is best to treat the Bipolar first and then address the ADD because often once the Bipolar is stabilized with the right meds, there is no need to add any for the ADD since the symptoms are taken care of once the Bipolar is under control OR perhaps the ADD was misdiagnosed.

I would recommend that you sit down with your son when he is calm and tell him that you love him and that something is definitely wrong and that together you will find the way to make him feel better. Tell him that you promise that you will find the right meds to make him feel better and that often it is like a game of Yahtzee when it comes to doing so....but eventuallly like you get the right roll of the dice you will find the right combo of meds.

I have found that once I was able to give my daughter the hope that she needed to know that things would get better it was easier for her to work with me in order to get there.

Our kids rely on us to be a strong fortress that is confident and able to withstand what ever comes our way. One of our therapists once told me how important it was for me to be strong because our children look to their parents as being their pillar of strength and when we look as if we are not able to go through with it they start to lose hope in there being a light at the end of that tunnel. This has helped me in being that source of strength for my daughter as I hope it will allow you to be for your son.

Hang in there....educate yourself and go with your strong motherly instincts because nobody knows their child better than a mom does.

(((HUGS))) and positive vibes from one mom to another ~ Goody

tsohl · 02-10-2007, 06:11 PM

I second everything Goody said. My son did not do well on depakote either. He gained over 30 pounds in less than one month and was so extremely tired that he felt like a zombie. He is doing very well on lamictal and has two other mood stabilizers as well, lithium and tegretol. It is rough when you're going through the trial and error of trying to find the right meds. But it is important for you to be encouraging and stress patience and that you'll keep trying until the right meds are in place. My son has been stable and healthy for almost two years now. It is worth all the effort when you finally see your child doing better.

The agitation and frustration is often a sign of mania in a young person. What led to your son's diagnosis of BP? And why do you feel it is incorrect? Try as much as you can to control the amount of caffeine and sugar in his diet and try to get him to drink a lot of water. Also try to stabilize his schedule as much as possible, esp. getting him to go to bed at the same time every night. I know this is pretty impossible, but it is very important. Skipping just one night of sleep can bring on an episode of mania.

You also might want to check out ****. This is a national group that has local chapters all over the country. They run support groups and educational programs pertaining to various mental disorders for various ages, and are a wonderful resource. You will find them on the internet, and from their website can see where the groups near you are located. It is very helpful when someone is first diagnosed to meet others who are in the same situation as you. It helps you learn how to navigate the mental health system, how to talk to doctors, how to manage the various treatments that are available, medications, financial issues, etc.

Keep posting with your comments and questions. There are a number of us on here that have bipolar kids who may be able to answer at least some of your concerns.

Take care,
Tsohl

Paige1989 · 02-10-2007, 06:32 PM

I will agree with the caffeine intake thing. I'm only seventeen, but I suffer from bipolar disorder and coming off caffeine two weeks to the day ago has helped me sooooo much, stability wise...I'm on two mood stabilisers and two meds for anxiety (one at night and one during the day) and it's helped me sooo much better than the Zoloft I was originally on, which threw me into manic stages. Just my two cents.

Paige

langlee · 02-11-2007, 11:48 AM

I do want to add another thought about the Concerta. I agree with Goody that is important to get stabilized on the right BP meds first. My son did terribly with an anti-depressant so it was taken out of the mix, but he felt a big difference in a positive way with the Concerta. It may be the mix of the anti-depressants with the Concerta that are causing such havoc. My son is on Lamictal, Abilify and Seroquel as needed and has had no problem tolerating the Concerta.

Just my thoughts. Good luck. I know how hard this is.

Hope