My Daughter and her problems

[MedStaffer]

My 15 yr old daughter was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Depression about 6 months ago. She was prescribed Tegretol and Lexapro. Recently I have been informed that she has been experimenting with marijuana and drinking quite a lot when she is at her father's house. (He is unaware of this) I am looking for information on the side effects of her doing all these things in conjunction with each other. I know what the side effects are when you take the Tegretol and drink. I was wondering what this all at one time could possible do. Please help.

[el_dave]

I don't know much about chemicals so can't answer your question, but am gonna stick my two nickles in anyway (inflation, you know). At about that same age our daughter was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression. We were having a lot of troubles then, our daughter being in that "rebellious" phase and I being.. well, you don't want to know. At any rate, my wife and other daughter and I had to leave the country for seven years rather suddenly, and since our daughter couldn't be found (snuck out the window two days prior) she didn't go with us. Instead she stayed with her Grandmother. After a while, depression set in, and the diagnoses were made.

Everyone didn't really get back together until our daughter was twenty five. At that point she and I were talking, and it seems the original symptoms that led to those diagnoses practically mirrored the symptoms I had upon returning from 'Nam. I told her that I never took chemical one, I just refused to submit to it and become a "patient". She gave it a try, and stopped all "meds" completely. After a little trouble with withdrawals from this and that, she stabilized and hasn't used "meds" in years now. She's very happy. The VA head plumber tells me that it had to be a "misdiagnosis", that she was naturally depressed because of what had happened, and her role in it, and she missed her mama and papa and little sister. The various chemicals they convinced her she needed then did indeed create imbalances, which caused her real problems.

The shrink was telling me all this and at the same time trying to put me on chemicals for my "depression", which was the result of multiple levels of very bad situations. I don't take any of them. The situations are still there, but I try to work on them, and that seems to do more toward "curing" my depression than any of those chemicals could. Of course, if I'd have allowed them to keep experimenting they may have eventually masked the pain sufficiently to zombify me into not caring. Somehow that just doesn't appeal.

I'm not saying that your daughter doesn't need those things, but I did feel you should be aware of the years of torment our daughter went through because the believed the medical profession was infallible. Sometimes they are wrong, and they're way, way too quick to pull out the pills.

-El Dave