Rough times w/ my son - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

novmom · 03-10-2007, 09:47 AM

Hi all.....

I posted awhile ago regarding my son. Back when he was first getting his diagnosis and starting the meds (started the meds a year ago this month, actually). Quick background is that he's currently 6. His official diagnosis is mood disorder, but the docs still refer to it as bipolar when they are speaking to me, so I'm still a little confused on that. He's currently taking 500 mgs of Depakote and .5 mgs of Risperdal. He DID have a pediatric Psychiatrist that we were seeing and although he had been with the practice for many years....he just up and left one day. I was a little upset by that.

My son's pediatrician is watching over him right now. There are no pediatric pyschiatrists in the area to see him. His pediatrician is very knowlegdable with the pediatric bipolar so I do trust him. I believe his daughter is.

So, the past couple weeks I have noticed my son being a little more rough....to put it lightly. He's never really had any violent outbursts or anything like that. Most of his behavior was super hyper to uncontrollable crying/screaming. Lately however, I have noticed that he will come up to us out of the blue and talk to us in what I call his "demon voice". It is scary....I be sure to tell him that he is not to speak to anyone like that and he will usually snap out of it. I've also noticed that he is starting to hit himself in the head when he's upset. He has also been acting up on the school bus by hitting other children. The bus driver is thisclose to kicking him off the bus. We had a lengthy discussion with him about this and it has stopped....for now.

So then this brings us to yesterday. I get a call from my babysitter. She says that my son attacked another girl that she watches. She's 10. Those at the sitters said it took everything in them to get him off her. He was attacking her and trying to rip her clothes off. I do believe he got her pants down and was trying to work on getting her underware down.

OMG, he's only 6!! When they finally got them apart and got him to settle down and everything....he acted like nothing happened. In fact, he claims he could not remember doing anything at all!!

I immediately put a call into the doctor's office. Unfortuately his ped is out of the office for two weeks. Go figure. I did speak to another doctor in the practice. He was telling me that blacking out like that is a sign of a psychotic episode? He also said that he needs to be watched closely and if he shows any other signs of violent behavior he needs to be admitted immediately.

That was SO HARD to hear.....

We are to add .25 mgs of the Risperdal starting today. Then eventually add another .25 so that he's up to a total of 1 mg a day. (.5 in the am & .5 at night). I'm really hoping this works.....

thanks for listening....

tsohl · 03-10-2007, 10:22 AM

Hello,

I am so sorry to hear your little boy is having so many problems. It is apparently very tricky to treat young children, but it sounds like your doc is doing a fairly good job. Hopefully tweaking the meds will do the trick.

Do you work full-time and do you have other children?

I just got a book yesterday that you might want to order online. It was published in 2006 by a man who is a psychiatrist, a PhD in education and is himself bipolar. It is called "Understanding the Mind of Your Bipolar Child" by Gregory T. Lombardo. He began his career as a classroom teacher and saw the problems children with mood disorders had in school and developmentally. So he writes from that perspective. It is organized according to age groups so you can see what problems are typical for a particular age. He covers ADD and ADHD. I think it is a really helpful book. You can find reviews of it on one of the online booksellers' websites.

There are some moms on here now that have slightly older kids -- 5boys, and BetsyAnn come to mind. I believe their sons are 9 and 11 but they will have been through your son's age and could probably answer a lot of your questions. Hopefully they'll see this and post.

Take care,

Tsohl

Sydneysue · 03-10-2007, 04:24 PM

Hello
My daughter is currently 5 yrs old and has also a diagnosis as mood disorder they feel she is to young to put the name bipolar on her yet but they have said bipolar alot of us to, she is also on the Depakote and was started on her meds a year ago also, she takes 500mgs in the morning and 500mgs at night, which with her blood work she is at her limit that she can take but she does great on it she is a completely different child.
We did have her on another med. and she started, hitting, going after people, and even scared the whole bus by having one of her outbursts so bad they had to stop her from hanging herself on the seatbelt. The school has gone on field trips and has had to pull her out of the buildings they were at because she was screaming and yelling and they couldn't get her to stop. We took pictures of everything when she would rip apart her room to everything else she would do and we took them in. When the bus thing happened they took her off her med ASAP and that is when we went to the Depakote and she has done really great since, yes we have done alot of adjustment but it was much better. So I guess what I am trying to say is maybe it is not the meds that is right for him I am no doctor by no means but in our case the first med just was not the right one for her. We also had the same problem with our son that has ADHD/ODD and they had to change his also because he was getting very hateful, I agree it is so hard to find the right type that is just right for your child I wish there was a test that could just tell us but there isn't.

I don't know if this has helped at all, trust me I completely understand it is so hard, we have alot of people around us that are very understanding, like the teachers, the bus driver and the doctors. I am a stay at home mom because we have 6 kids so I try to study up on as much as I can, and it seems like there is always more out there to learn everyday. Hang in there, and maybe someone else might know alittle more then I do that can help you alittle more then I have.

novmom · 03-11-2007, 02:56 PM

Thank you for the responses and positive thoughts...

I do work full time. It's pretty difficult. I have done much research as possible since getting his diagnosis. I haven't read the book you recommend yet, tsohl, but I do think I'm going to check into it. I have read a couple different books though & I search the topic a LOT because I'm constantly wanting to know more info.

I have a younger daughter. This is one thing that kind of scares me. If he was able to attack a 10 yr old like he did, what would he do to a 3 yr old? You know? Scares the crap out of me!

My DH and I are currently going through a seperation. He's going to be moving out in about three weeks. We never argue in front of the kids and they actually do not know that he is moving out, so I know as of NOW this is not affecting his behavior. But I am kind of worried on how it will when he does move out. This is something where I really wish we had the psychiatrist avaliable so I could discuss this with him....but that isn't possible now.

Ugh....

Anyway, thank you again for the responses....

goody2shuz · 03-11-2007, 03:07 PM

Hi, Novmom

I am a mom of a BPer who is a 15 year old girl. I just wanted to mention something to you that you may not be aware of.

Some kids with BP will exhibit hypersexual behavior. Being that your son was pulling the girls pants down that sort of raised a red flag. Before anyone gets too excited here, I have read and had firsthand experience with kids as young as 4 exhibiting such behaviors. One little boy would hump his mom or go on top of her as if he were actively engaged in the act.

It is totally a part of the BP and I just wanted to tell you that. Another med such as Risperdal or Seroquel will help with this behavior since it is rather impulsive.

As far as your husband moving out....there will definitely be some decline in your son's progress. Stress or losses of any kind, whether it be through a death or divorce will be a big trigger that will definitely have it's effect on your son. I would definitely alert you doctor and therapist of this and line up any support that you can to help your son through this.

Nice to meet you and look forward to seeing more of you here.

((((HUGS))))) ~ Goody