Help my 7 year old!!!

[mindersmomof2]

Hi, I've wrote for advice many times and here I am again. First off, has anyone heard of a Bi-ploar child that is very good at school but very naughty at home? This is what is confusing me the most right now! My daughter is 7 years old. We have tried so many medications on her. She is currently on strattara and rispoldole. She has been out of control since being on rispodole. She was on abilify but we increased the dose 3 times and it still didn't re-control her symptoms. She has been on stimulants which made her get so aggressive and out of control. She is acting like she is on stimulants right now, which is wierd. We loved the abilify at first but it only lasted a few months than we had to keep changing the dose! She has been on daytrona, focolin, adderal, clonadine, concerta, rispoldole before, and abilify.

I just can't believe that this has been going on since she was a baby, we always knew she was differant. How long does it take to finally find a good combination of medacine. she  has a wonderfull phsyciatrist. But she is not combining anti physciatic and mood stablizers for us. She thinks she is too young for those meds. My daughter has been hospitalized 3 times for this and diffiantly should be right now but I just can't do it to her!!  My daughter is in theropy but her theropist has not gotten anywhere with her. She is very knowlagable but doesnt know what to do with her anymore. Which I think is pathetic!!! She wants us to go to a new person who is trained for attachment disorder. I heard this and cried thinking they think my daughter has that but they said they don't think she has an attachment issue but the therepy for it will help her. It's called regulation therepy. It's to help the child center themself and calm down on there own. I don't know but it's worth a shot.

We go to a doctor on Wed to see if she has a sensory issue too. Poor baby has been tested for so many things to rule out any other problems that could cause behavioral problems!! She has alot of anger. We tell her no and she says "UHHHH" and screams, than stomps upstairs than slams her door than screams mean things like "I hate you!", "I just want to hurt you!!" It takes her a while to settle down. Another thing we are dealing with is that she wakes up at 3-4 am everyday!!! She wakes her 4 year old sister up and turns every light in the house on. She takes a bath sometimes too! It scares me because who knows what can happen. Than her sister doesn't get much sleep either so were all a mess. She tells me alot that her head tells her to be mean and hurt people and she can't stop. The lack of sleep has been going on for about 6 months. After her fits she gets very emotional, cries alot!! She tells us we don't ever do anything for her, she doesn't get to do anything fun, we all hate her, we want her to go to a new home, oh It's exausting!!

We live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota so not much help over here. I'm also trying to find some kind of camp to get her in for the long dreadfull summer months!! I am happily married for 9 years, we have a good happy home, but things have been so bad lately you could cut the tension with a knife!! Please help us!!  

[bernie40]

I really feel for you and your family and especially your little girl.  Has she been with the same psychiatrist from the beginning or have you already sought second/third opinions?

Regarding the fact that her behaviour is ok at home, although initially I thought, oh she couldn't be bipolar then because we don't control our moods, I then sat and thought a little more; Has you daughter been assessed for any form of autism?  It could be that she finds the school environment too much.  This is just a thought as I have no experience with behaviour issues in children.

I think it's also important that you as a family get therapy.  This is difficult for all of you and you all need support, not just your daughter.

I feel this response has probably fallen well short of expectations but I wanted to put across the importance of being sure to look after your own mental health whilst you try to cope with your daughters.

[monkeyc]

Can I ask who diagnosed bipolar?

It may be that the reason the meds do not work is that she is not BP?  Its a thought.

Stattera is a non stimulant ADHD drug which has anti psychotic and anti depressant capabilites, Daytrana is not supposed to be prescribed to Bipolars as it IS a stimulant drug BTW and so are Focalin, Adderal, Concerta.  Clonadine is a sleeper designed as an anti hypertensive and Risperdal and Abilify are Atypical Anti Psychotics.

The side effects of each and every one of these drugs can be terrifying and include insomnia.

Im not a doctor but if the child is fine at school and not at home there may be something else here, the head tells her to hurt people thing may just be nothing or it may be a sign of something - the reality is I think you need to be exploring other possible problems here beyond Bipolar which frankly based on what you are saying does not really fit to my mind.