'Wonder what will happen?

[Amsmom]

s/a, sometimes comorbid disorders are kind of blurry, hard to pinpoint. if three drs have suggested the possibility of bipolar, i would consider it. being dx'ed bipolar doesnt make things any worse, you already had the behaviors. it empowers you to get the right care.

[StrugglingAgain]

I'm going to call ds's child psychiatrist first thing in the morning to see if he'll prescribe a mood stabilizer. If he isn't bipolar, what will it do to him? If he is, will I notice any improvement right away?

[Amsmom]

i would ask the dr the questions youve asked. in my ds's case, improvement was not immediate and i dont think it usually is. lithium didnt help, but depakote has been great!! depakote does have to be titrated up though, starting with a low dose and increasing till therapeutic level, which is determined by blood work. depakote has been around for many yrs, as an anti-seizure med. pls keep us posted.

(bipolar usually requires a med combination---ds also takes risperdal and elavil)

[StrugglingAgain]

WELL, I talked to the psychiatrist and he immediately told me that it's very obvious that ds cannot function at all without a stim. The long-acting ones (Ritalin LA is what he was on) give an initial punch, but then taper off. He doesn't like him on the roller coaster, so we're on Methyphenidate, every four hours. Now I have to retrain myself to give him meds every four hours. He started them yesterday and it didn't seem to last four hours, but that was only the first day, so we'll see. I asked the doc if he needed a mood stabilizer and he said we'll only start him on this med, first, then see what happens. He wants to try one med at a time, rather than a combination. It may not be necessary. All I know is that we/he/the teachers/peers/family, etc cannot go on the way it is. He was totally out of control. He was even being aggressive and he hasn't had that behavior in quite awhile. It was nothing severe, but I DID notice it. I pray that ALL it is is ADHD/ODD (ALL, now isn't that a laugh?), but it's bound to be better than adding BP to it. Time will tell....

[mothercat]

What exactly do they give kids with bipolar or mood disorders?
Jared has been on methylphendate in the past for his adhd but had no results..in my drug encyclopedia it is listed as just a generic for ritalin..(they are under the same heading).
I am so glad Jared has no mood disorders...but there are young kids in the family that do and go undiagnosed..shame..

sounds like you are going thru alot with this one..I feel for ya.

[AnneM]

S/A ... I really hope that adhd./add is all you are looking at as well ... I am still worried though about the 'stims' being given to a child with a "possible" mood disorder ...

BUT I am no Doctor and sometimes we honestly have no choice but to go along with what the doctor says .... BIG HUGS !! and FINGERS CROSSED !!

[Amsmom]

s/a, im sorry to add to this, but i dont understand the dr's statement that your ds "can't function without a stim." is this one of the drs who originally suggested bipolar (altho now he doesnt suggest it)? please let us know how he does on the new med.

[StrugglingAgain]

First let me explain.....we have moved several times (I'm worn out), so ds has had many doctors. The first time it was suggested he may be bipolar was from his pediatrician. She had me read The Bipolar Child to see what I thought, and I immediately said NO, he's not. She kept planting the seed over a couple of years because his meds (mostly Adderall) didn't seem to work very well. On to the current child psychiatrist, and he says that he's concerned because it seems to take LOTS of mg to keep his symptoms under control. He said that often times if a child has early onset bipolar that the high dosages of stims (and not accomplishing much) is an indicator. That fits with what I've read that stims just plain don't work if it IS bipolar. I wonder if it's possible that he's both, but IF he's bipolar I think he's very mild because I don't see the huge extremes that everyone insists that there are. So at this point, we're still working with the ADHD/ODD dx which is a NO-brainer....he's classic for those. We've gone off all the meds (four of them) and started back on only Methylphenidate 10 mg., which I think needs to be upped to 15 mg. For now, this seems to be doing just okay.....there's no way he could function in school, but I'll worry about that when it gets closer to school starting again. I feel certain the psychiatrist would put him on a mood stabilizer if I thought it was necessary. You know how all of us are, though, we try not to medicate anymore than absolutely necessary. If someone is MILD bipolar, perhaps their symptoms aren't as severe??? This is all soooooo confusing. On top of that, this has been a lousy Saturday. He said teh F*** word to me this morning and I came completely UNglued. That's the second time he's done it (of course DENIES that's what he said). Anyway, it sure started the weekend off terribly!

[kurs10b]

My kid is on a mood stabalizer (trileptal). Not sure if it even works. He still is having many outbursts and overreacts to many things. I thought the ms was supposed to even out the moods more. His school social worker thinks bipolar but the psyc has him as ADHD/ODD.