Defiant Child/Abused Parent/Lithium during pregnancy???

What are the any effects of taking Lithium during pregnancy.  I took 9, 300mg pills daily.  I only took the pills one and a half months of my pregnancy.  My daughter is now 7 and seems to be one of the meanist persons I know.  She has her sweet moments too, but she has trouble keeping her hands to her self, closing her mouth.  She consistently irritates everyone around her.  She demands things when she wants them, she tells me she doesn't care if she gets punished, that if I don't do what she want she'll be worse.  My daughter pinched me today and I have a huge bruse that appeared almost instantly.  My daughter has had trouble in school with focusing on her work, but the teachers say she doesn't have any discipline problems, however the bus drivers have all complained about her and she has been written up several times.  I'm at wits end.  I called her pediatrician today and demanded she be evaluated.  We have an HMO doctor and I've discussed problems about my daughter with her in the past but she doesn't seem to think anything is the matter.  I have lost it.  We were in a restarant and she started hitting her sisters friend.  I'm afraid to repramand her in public for fear of all the child abuse cases that are going on.  People just don't understand that children don't always listen and or behave to their parents.  Sometimes you have to pick them up and walk in the restroom for a time out.  Forget leaving the mall its to far to the car and with a 7yr old having a major tantrum in the middle of the mall is impossible to deal with.  What do you suggest?  Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.  By the way I called her hmo dr and demanded a medical psychological test be done immediately.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear P,

Lithium definitely should not be taken during pregnancy. It's not possible to assert that your daughter's behavior is the result of your having taken Lithium during part of your pregnancy. Whatever the case, she is now displaying a level of aggression and disorganization well beyond the normal spectrum. When this is the case, professional intervention is necessary. You are doing the correct thing by asking for help. What you need is an evaluation by a child mental health/behavioral health professional. Be reasonable and peristent, not combative.

[Karen]

I am so glad to be able to find someone with a similar problem as I have been having! My daughter is 8 years old and I was on Xanax while pregnant with her....aside from the differences in medications, the problems seem so similar. My daughter has an explosive temper, when she is good she is the best kid in the world, when she is not behaving, I have to pull the car over to the side of the road to stop her from hitting me etc etc. I was so fed up with talking to doctors that did not see the behaviour (I must have been to 15 different ones) but unless they see the behaviour, they don't seem to help. The good news is that I took her to a behaviour specialist because of the acting out and because she was getting 8 hours or less of sleep per night and he has subscribed a low dose of Imipramine (a anti-depressant) to stablize her mood swings and aid in sleep. And the results have been amazing! She has been on this medication for 3 weeks and everyone that knows her has seen a marked difference, and I don't get yelled at and kicked or hit when I wake her up in the morning.

[P.__]

Karen,
Thank you so much for your response, I'm also glad to know that I'm not the only person that has a child like this.  My daughter has gone to the pediatrician and is being scheduled to see a behavior specialist next month.  Thank you again for your input.