5 1/2 year old daughter Bipolar?

[mindersmomof2]

Hi, I'm a mother of a 5 year old, 6 in November. We have had a hard 3 years with her! What a roller coaster!!  We started with counselors and phsyc. at 3. She has always been abnormally hyper, if we say no she has rages!  She fights and hits kids at our park daily.  She has scratched other kids that she doesn't even know.  When we tell her time-out she will scream, yell and throw things for an hour, sometimes longer.  She has thrown things at me from the top of the stairs. She has never "Played" with toys, she messes up anything in her path, she paces around our house. She plays outside as long as we let her. She is so active. My mom babysat her and couldn't handle it anymore after a week.  So I had to quit my job and stay home again. She brought my mom down physically and mentally. She is doing the same to me. They always said she is too young for a diagnosis.  Finally at 5 we found a doctor that cares and said she thinks she most likely has Bi-polar disorder, and maybe ADHD. They put her on respidol, what a miracle, at first, also they put her on strattara.  But now 5 months later it all has gotten just as bad again.  The only thing confusing me and her dad is she is perfect at school. She has been there for 2 months and she has  a male teacher, which I wonder if this helps her stay good, she is scared to do anything wrong!!!! She has periods of staying up all night. She goes to bed at 8 pm but wakes up around 1am and is up all night. She gets really weird the day before, laughing about everything, hurting her sister, discipline is just funny, everything is funny to her.  Her doctor said she can't be up-ed anymore on rispodol for her age but it's not working anymore. We have followed all discipline methods, she is a very sweet girl otherwise. We have been through so much, we thought we finally had some help, but now we don't know because she is doing so well in Kindergarten. We have tried a few ADHD stimulants, those made everything worse, she has even been hospitalized in physc. hospital.  Please help us , we don't know if she is being naughty or if she truly has bi-polar. Thanks Desperate Mom!!!!!!!!!!

[tsnowe123]

People, PLEASE STOP PUTTING CHILDREN ON MEDS!!!!!  I am 28 yrs old with rapid cycle bi-polar. When I was 7 I had the same type of symptoms. Litteraly I would be talking to someone, having a fine conversation, and the next SECOND, I would just explode, really for no reason. I was kicked out of kindergarden,1st, and 2nd grade. My baby sitters would only last one day. I would say nasty things, throwing things, completely disrupting the entire hoousehold, and much much more. I terrorized my siblings, threatening them with knives, at 8, locking them in rooms and beating the **** out of them and the list goes on and on and on. I would never go to bed very well, and one day my stepather gave me a tablespoon of honey, and I went straigt to sleep, so from there one, my parents would always give me honey before bedtime. At 10 I kept getting dizzy when I stood up, so my mother took me to the doctors to rule out an inner ear infection. It wasn't that, so my Dr. did a blood glucos test, come to find out I had Hypoglycimia (sp?) and the anger, not going to sleep and the disrubtion not concentrating issues, were some of the symptoms, and eating sugar would make me tired and angry, so look into what she is eating, make a chart of her daily eating, (if you can) it can have an effect on herespecialy bread and other starches, when they turn into sugar, try giving her penutbutter, even for over hyper active children, it makes a huge difference in their behavior.
When I turned 23, I notest I was having "tempertantrems" once again, on top of depressin, and much much more. Eventually I was diagnosed with bi polar,  OCD and have been suffering ever since. Even on medication. I do understand how people around me are affected, but I just can't control it. Counceling, and anger management, however does help. That's one thing I would like to advise you to  to do. It will alow your child to let some of the frustration out. I really don't believe in the medication. It works to an extent, but only for a period of time, and then they will put  her on something else.. it is a constant battle. Only this day in age are Doctors diagnosing EVERYTHING and putting EVERYONE on some type of medication.... What can you do? Keep supporting your daughter , showing her as much love, effection, and understanding, as you can. You also need to show some tough love. Nanny 911 has helped my with my three children, my younges 5, sounds exacly like your daughter, I've been trying some of nanny 911's tactics, and THEY DO WORK!!! PLEASE try to watch the show... It will also help you feel normal, maybe even better off than some familys. Sometimes a doctor and medication can't solve everything. I'm not saying, give up, you know, as I got older, my symptoms did improve, and I'm now aware of them, and I really turned out ok. Just don't give up, and don't take EVERY diagnosis that you get. Doctors really don't always know everything. They miss diagnos all the time. My advise is what I said before, and keep getting different opinions, and look for support groups, because YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE, and NIETHER IS YOUR DAUGHTER, I PROMISE!!!!!  But please show some tough love.. If you need some help on that, let me know, I have some things, I know will work for you. :)  WITH MUCH LOVE, CARE AND CONCERN,

[enpassant]

I hope your dr is a child and adolescent psychiatrist. If she is not, you should find one that is.

Most bipolar  disorders come up in adolescence but can be seen as early as 8-10.  I don't think your 5 year old can be dx with bipolar.  But you should definitely check that with your dr.

Strattera is the only non-stimulant drug for ADHD, and is probably a good choice in this case.  As far as sleeping problems, you can try giving her strattera at night if she can't sleep, or if you are already giving it at night, switch to morning.

She was obviously benefiting from risperidone, and it lost it's efficacy, so maybe your dr should try switching her to another atypical antipsychotic.  Those can be safely used in children (although long term side effects are not clear); the main thing to watch out for while picking the right dose is side effects, as that will show that the dosage is too high and needs to be adjusted

She might have a combination of ADHD and Asperger's.....

Btw, it says "mom of 2" in your name, how's your other kid doing?

Besides that, as someone above mentioned, as far as behavioral stuff, the most important thing is to keep up a routine.

good luck

[DLA]

I was a child with ADD and bipolar disorder and I did not have these edpisodes myself.  Of course mine was mild manic with emphasis on depression, so mania phases were not a big problem.  But one of the things I can tell you is that ADD requires structure and constant stimulation.  As an example I worked as a teller at a bank.  As long as it was busy I was fine and would balance, to the penny, and get things done before the other tellers.  But on days at the end of the month where I'd only have a few customers a day and had hardly exchanged any money, it would take me forever to balance and usually I was off.

As a parent I know that discipline is very important to the child's well being.  I don't mean abusing them or anything, just be sure that when you say something you mean it and follow through every time.  If they get in trouble for it this time then they have to get in trouble for it the next time.  Had this problem with my son in public.  He knew I couldn't do anything to him in public, so he would go wild and we would both lose our minds.  When I decided they could just haul me to jail if they wanted to and disciplined him any way it all changed.

My son is 7 and has recently been going into rages and I finally figured out he has ADD.  Has a dr dx him?  No.  But as a person with it I know all the signs.  Was getting on to him for things he said he didn't remember me telling him to do and he hadn't done them.  It is very hard on their self esteem and they think they can't do anything right.  Now that I have stopped doing that and being more patient about it he has had a total attitude change.  He is no longer going into rages and crying all the time, he is a much happier child.  

Don't know if any of this helped you or not.  Good luck.
Dac

[mindersmomof2]

Thank you for the advice!! It's so nice to hear support, advice and comments right now!  You asked if she has been tested for SID, what is this?  I know she is a happy girl because she giggles and laughs a lot!  She does not like school though, she cries almost every night. On weekends she is so happy. She gets nervous about school.  Your question about does she get stronger? Oh my, yes she does!!! She is a strong little girl for how tiny she is.  She is only 37 pounds.  But yes, I truly believe something is wrong.  I have tried soooooo many different charts, discipline methods, time-outs, all od it, maybe too many.  I know kids can be naughty but this is much more than normal.  She is very loud too, we constantly say " lower your voice, not so loud!" But no hearing problems. Again I appreciate you writing back, please let me know what SID is,            thanks,              Mindy  

[Rozanna]

sounds like we have to kids that are alot a like mine is 7 years old now but we have trouble out of him every where doesn't matter who is looking or who's there if he gets up set whatever we were doing its over i will tell you this my My biggest mistake was putting my son on medication before knowing how To handle the situation there are many times that I wonder if I’m doing something
Wrong.My son was first placed in a mental hospital when he was
5 years old. (He chocked his sister to the point where she turned
Blue and I couldn’t pull his hands off of her).  He was diagnosed with
Bp disorder and sensory integration disorder. and has signs of OCD, and ADD.
It’s very important to remember that these kids didn’t come
With a book and nobody knows what we go through every day of our life with
Trying to raise our kids. I have decided that doctors are not gods and
Sometimes they don’t know what to do with our kids either. So I will say that
With dealing with my son it has taught me to have patients and to walk away
When I need to. Give praises as often as possible these kids feed off that.
And find something that works that is inexpensive to reward with
(Smelly stickers work well with my son) scents like vanilla and lavender
Work well).    
Yelling and fussing with these kids only make more problems.
Like I said earlier my son has a lot of problems at school. Matter of fact he hates
It! he will run out the door screaming for me. The last few weeks the school
Has called me to come get him. Even with his one on one aide he still isn’t doing
To good. So its great that your child likes school and is doing well. Make sure you
Give her praise and make her feel good about getting through a full day of school
I can’t wait till the day that my son is able to stay at school a full day and be happy.
I have several questions for you. Do you think your child is happy?
Have you had her tested for SID ?   When she has fits does she seem to become
Stronger than normal?  I will end this with saying keep your head up I’ll
Be the first to admit when I first had my son I was one of those that would say
“My child will never act like that”, I truly believe that its not our fault that our
Kids act like this. Its chemical in the brain, and environmental factors.
When you have a bad day remember it could be worse. At least our kids can walk
And talk and run and play. Rozanna

[Camilla*]

Hello again,
Im so glad that what I said helped a little.  Something I've learned is that with any discipline plan with children, the hardest and most frustrating time is in the beginning.  They will test you, then test you again, and again, until they are sure you mean what you say.  Then everyone know's their boundaries and life is much more enjoyable (at least with my experience).  Maybe go to the library and look up some books on discipline (if there are any) or look on the internet for some good ideas to use at home. Better yet, schedule some time to meet with your child's teacher to see what his classroom management strategies are and what's working well for your child.  Maybe you and he could strategize and tweak something he's using at school to also work with you at home. (for example, when your daughter behaves at home, she can have more computer time (or whatever) at school, or when she doesn't behave, there can be a negative consequence.) If he's as good as you say he is, Im sure he could help you come up with something (by now he knows your daughter pretty well I'm sure!:) )
Give it a try and good luck!
Camilla