Early onset bipolar ?????
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| Mon, 03-12-2007 - 5:04pm |
So, I'm bipolar. My father is almost certainly bipolar. All 3 of his brothers were diagnosed bipolar and his mother and uncle both suffered life long with some undisclosed insanity. In fact the uncle killed himself. And don't even get me started on my whacky cousins. Now, I have a 4 year old. She's been variously diagnosed with pdd-nos, asperger's syndrome, and an "unspecified constellation of learning disabilities" related to early and prolonged hypoglycemia (she has congenital hyperinsulinism). She's in a theraputic pre-k program and gets OT and heavy guidance in emotional/social skills. She's also a year ahead of peers academically.
I haven't done much research on early onset bipolar because I think I'm afraid to get into that right at the moment. I feel like she's getting help and she's making progress so why go there. However, despite being in a really good program she's having some behavior problems that the teachers feel will hold her back when we put her in a standard kindergarten class next year. She just goes through phases where she can't seem to listen and follow directions and get anything done. She lost recess one day this week because she refused to do any of her work (I know it sounds cruel in pre-k, but she needs structure and needs some extra reinforcement on the whole action-consequence thing. And she did have individual and group OT that day so she wasn't movement starved) She suddenly forgets that she can color things in and scribbles on everything like an 18mo. old. She needs me to stand over her and say pick up the book...the one on the floor by your feet...no, in front by your feet...yes, that one....pick it up...yes, with your hand...now walk to the bookshelf...no your bookshelf, the one behind you...ect. to get her to clean up. She also starts being somewhat aggressive with me. She'll hit or throw things and it's not something she generally does.
Up to this point I haven't brought up my bipolar or the family history because we had other dx's and it didn't seem relevant. Now, I'm wondering if they should know and if she should be specifically assessed before we make decisions about the public kindergarten situation next year. I'm a little lost on this one because I'm having some rough spots myself at the moment and don't know how much of my concern is justified and how much is me being paranoid and hypersensitive. DH isn't much help because he wants to treat everything as bad behavior and work from there. But is addressing singular behaviors and ignoring larger trends really helpful for long term success? I don't know.
Mary

where you can go for more information. I hope the link works for you. The book was a big help to us when we were first told our DS(16 now 8 at the time) might be Bipolar. He is EOBP and DH is also EOBP. I was just DX'd a month ago with bipolar II myself so it deffinatly runs in families. I would say the earlier you begin treatment the better. JMHO.
Brenda
Mary,
I think they should know anything that might be affecting her health, both physically & emotionally--BP definitely qualifies.
I am melissacat66 DH....I was/am eobp and one important fact I feel I should point out, is the action/consequence scenario. With eobp (and The Bi-Polar Child backs me up on this) the action/consequence HAS, repeat HAS, to be immediate....action with consequence even later that day is virtually unworkable. An eobp will do right then what s/he wants to do and when the consequences roll around in a day, week, mo....who cares, we got to do what we wanted to do.
Definitely get the book, it explains allot, as well as explains meds very well....edition three just got released with the latest meds updated.
Good luck,
tk