Childhood bi-polar, adhd and social anxiety disorder

[erin17]

My son is 6 yrs old. He was diagnosed with bipolar and then also with ADHD he takes risperdal for bipolar and adderall for adhd.  The adderall has been wonderful it really helped a lot the risperdal i am not so sure as he still gets very angry and aggressive he has also been recently diagnosed with social anxiety disorder.  The doctors have talked to me about adding a mood stabilizer but i have been reluctant to do this as i am not one of those types of people that like to rush for a pill to fix everything and i don 't know if it's good for a small boy to be on so many medications, however i do believe they are beneficial when needed.  I grew up having social anxiety disorder but it was never diagnosed or treated until i was an adult.  Yesterday my son had a tae kwon do tournament and when it was his turn to do his forms he was panick stricken and barely got through it, but he can do the forms in his sleep and i wanted to cry because i knew exactly how he felt.  My question is if any one else has experience with a child who has these 3 disorders,  and what treatment has worked best.  Also, if adding klonopin to this mix would help for the social anxiety but not counteract the other medications. Thanks

[erin17]

thanks for your response i believe abilify is approved for children the doctors have mentioned it to me before.  The risperdal seems very heavy duty to me i would like to take care of more than one problem with one medication i will read more about abilify. thanks again

[triedeverymed]

You know I believe if the child is suffering, then they need medication to end the suffering. Social Anxiety is awful, I have it and it is miserable. I would go for the mood stabelizer over the klonipin since klonipin is only a bandage and not really treating the anxiety. Plus it is addicting and that's another issue you don't need to deal with. I would ask the doc if he could come off the Risperdal and go on a mood stabelizer rather than add it to the mix. I take Abilify and it covers everything, bipolar issues, anxiety, panic attacks, it's all gone away now and I feel so much better. I also take adderral because they think I have a bit of ADD as well.
Having said all that, it's on;y my OPINION, I'm not  a doctor, just a patient. But I am with you, less medication is better. I don't know if Abilify is approved for children but I think it might be, if not there are other mood stabelizers that are. Keep in mind sometimes the first one you try may not work, it's just par for the course, don't get discouraged, just keep working with your doc and be sure to address this issue with him. It even helps to keep a journal of your son's behavior. I do that for myself and take it to all my doctor's appointments.
Best of luck to you and your son. I hope he's feeling better soon.
Erin