Hi all

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-17-2005
Hi all
3
Tue, 05-17-2005 - 11:06pm
I am new here and am in need of some support. I have a 16 year old daughter who is bipolar and it is just so difficult! I thought maybe someone here could enlighten me a little bit. Were any of you diagnosed young? If so, what is the best thing I can do to help her get through this very difficult time? Being a teen is hard enough without adding this to it. I feel so bad for her yet sometimes wish I could send her off! Arghhhh. Love her dearly but her manic phases are not happy ones at all...mostly aggressive and nasty..then of course she suffers with the depression. When she's in a good phase she is really a wonderful, loving and fun person. It's so frustrating as a parent. Any words of advise for me?????
Thanks. Marlena
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-18-2003
In reply to: marlenashere
Wed, 05-18-2005 - 6:18am

hi marelna, first of all, welcome to the board. you will find a lot of support here. while i wasn't diagnosed young, i can trace my bp back to my teen years and they were not fun ones........except when i was hypomanic in a good way. when it me in a bad way it got me into a lot of trouble.


now, my dd is 15 and exhibiting serious signs of bp and i hav her seeing a pdoc and a tdoc. while the pdoc hasn't outright said she has bp, with the meds she's on and my own diagnosis, i'd be willing to bet my next paycheck on it. what i do with her is take baby steps. she is a very disorganized child who doesn't pick up after herself, and when she's in a depressive state, she lets her personal hygene slide big time so i have to offer gentle but firm reminders. i also have to remind her to do her chores which drives her 12 yo sister nuts because the 12 yo is the exact opposite - she's a cleaning nut! her manic phases are enough to drive everyone in the house over the edge........myself included. she gets so incredibly hyper that she just goes non-stop and will start several things and won't finish any of them. i'm just thankful, especially at her age, that she doesn't have the libido problem that i do when i'm hypo-manic.


i finally took her to a tdoc back in the fall of '04, who finally sent her to a pdoc around december or january of this year. initially, he put her on a very low dose of zoloft (anti-depressant) and

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2003
In reply to: marlenashere
Wed, 05-18-2005 - 9:51am

Hi --

I wasn't diagnosed as a child, but looking back I definitely see that I had some symptoms. I've learned that hypomania is basically when you're bouncing off the walls, have energy, etc. My friends tell me that they love it when I'm in hypo mode because I'm so much fun to be around. :)

My son is 10 and he shows some signs of BP. He is extremely disorganized - his room could be declared a disaster area. When he's hypo - he is bouncing off the walls, laughing, etc. When he's in a depressed state, if you look at him wrong he'll cry. I really need to get him into see a pdoc and/or tdoc.

When I'm down in the dumps, I'm really down in the dumps. I never had an issue with hygiene though, although a few years ago when the doc put me on Zoloft I didn't care whether I got up in the morning, showered or whatever.

A friend of mine has a daughter who is 13 that was recently diagnosed with BP. She takes Xanax to sleep and I forgot what mood stabilizer that she's on, but her mom says it is really helping her with her "moods". I saw the child the other day and absolutely couldn't believe the difference in her.

What Traci said is true - this board is extremely supportive and you will find multitudes of help and support from these girls.

Hopefully you gleaned some help from my post instead of thinking I'm rambling. LOL

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-22-2003
In reply to: marlenashere
Wed, 05-18-2005 - 10:59am

Hi, Marlena! Sounds like your dd and I could have a lot in common! I've been bp since I was about 4, but only recently diagnosed. I self-diagnosed when I was 12, and it turned out to be right on the money! I spent my pre-teen and teens years extremely depressed. Every few days I would have episodes of being very defensive and angry and just wanting to lash out. I started writing suicide notes in 4th grade the depression was so severe! The best advice I can give you, since you asked, is to get your dd to a doc to get professional help. She may need counseling and therapy to help her deal with the depression and mood swings. Please always remember that while it's very frustrating for you to deal with her moods, it's probably out of control in her mind. Having these mood swings can make you feel extremely insecure and out of control, which makes lashing out seem so much more logical because it's the only thing you can control, and sometimes you can't even control that. Please just be patient with your dd. She needs your patience and support more than most anything you could do for her, other than getting her to a doc if she's not already seeing one. Medication can really help. I wish I had had some!! If a doc tries to only give her an anti-depressant, question him on it. Putting a BP person only on an AD (anti-depressant) can often trigger worse mood swings and even more uncontrollable behavior. From everything I've heard from this board for the last year, ADs really need to be combined, for most people, with a mood stabilizer. That will allow her mood to be at a constant 7 or 8, rather than cycling between a 10 and a 1.


I'm glad you found this board! Please use it as much as you want/need to. Your dd is welcome here, also. Please take care, and take care of your dd. She needs you!!

~ Aislinn

~ Aislinn