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What were you like as a kid?
My son is six and was diagnosed with bi-polar about 9 months ago. Sometimes the bi-polar symptoms are easy for me to recognize, but sometimes they are not. I have read all of the "textbook symptoms", but i would like to know if anyone here was bipolar as a child even if you weren't diagnosed then. How did you feel, think, act, etc....? I am not bipolar, i just want to be able to have some sort of idea about how he may feel, or things that i don't see as related. Thanks for sharing!
First, I would say that it might be that he is just a "normal" 8 year old. He might possibly have some traits, but he might just be a creative person.
Most bipolars, I am told are inherited, like mother/father to child. Not in ALL cases, but in most cases, and events trigger our episodes. I inherited mine from my father. SO - have you or your husband ever experienced any issues that might be BP?
BP is extremely complex and easily missed and another diagnosis given. If I were concerned with it, I would get a recommendation from your pediatrician for a good child psychiatrist, and discuss your worries with that person. I think it's really important to not label kids - but support from parents and correct help from professionals can keep a child from growing up and experiencing some hard lessons that we BP's typically learn.
The main thing to look for, I would guess, would be the mood swings - depressed and solemn, to extremely outspoken and at times, violent. When I was a child in my (I understand now) manic stages, I was unconsolable...no one could affect how I felt. I wouldn't look so much at the obsessive tendancies we have (collecting - story telling, etc.) - as much as the moods that we all suffer from - they are pretty evident.
Good luck! Great to hear so many supportive parents.
Most bipolars, I am told are inherited, like mother/father to child. Not in ALL cases, but in most cases, and events trigger our episodes. I inherited mine from my father. SO - have you or your husband ever experienced any issues that might be BP?
BP is extremely complex and easily missed and another diagnosis given. If I were concerned with it, I would get a recommendation from your pediatrician for a good child psychiatrist, and discuss your worries with that person. I think it's really important to not label kids - but support from parents and correct help from professionals can keep a child from growing up and experiencing some hard lessons that we BP's typically learn.
The main thing to look for, I would guess, would be the mood swings - depressed and solemn, to extremely outspoken and at times, violent. When I was a child in my (I understand now) manic stages, I was unconsolable...no one could affect how I felt. I wouldn't look so much at the obsessive tendancies we have (collecting - story telling, etc.) - as much as the moods that we all suffer from - they are pretty evident.
Good luck! Great to hear so many supportive parents.
my son is 8 in a few weeks and i have this horrible feeling that he has bipola he is very emotional gets very upset at the slightest thing ,he is a very cuddley boy and loves company but he gets so excited when he is with people he makes up stories telling lies which i am very concenerd about ,ex..he told a neighbour that we flew to russia to see my mum ,but my mum died 5 yrs ago and have never been to russia , like the other commemts he loves to collect things and hide them often in his pillowcase i ended up putting a lock on my jewlery box , on the other hand he has been called a bully at his previous schoool and just before the summer holidays almost got susbended from school for jumping on a child head .....also very creative like his grandad who has bipola and his aunty on his dads side and my mum suffered with it and my brother does as well, am i barking up the wrong tree, were would i go for help?thought i would ask you as have experince
I think the thing you are describing are very "normal" for us. This also, I believe, leads to the mis-diagnosis of ADD - which I was diagnosed later in life. The mania sometimes looks like ADD - I have been told.
How funny for so many of us to see the same things, and experience the same things, when we all felt like we were sooo different (and that bothered a lot of us) as kids. (I liked bottles - any kind, and rocks. My grandmother collected bottles for me to put in my room. I would line them up on window ledges, etc., and rearrange them a gazillion times.).....
Erin's son is very lucky to have a Mom that is supportive and wants to get educated on the illness. Maybe with the education we have now, children now will grow up with better counseling, etc., and they won't suffer as many downfalls as we do now - as adults, and some of the stigma of being BP will subside.
How funny for so many of us to see the same things, and experience the same things, when we all felt like we were sooo different (and that bothered a lot of us) as kids. (I liked bottles - any kind, and rocks. My grandmother collected bottles for me to put in my room. I would line them up on window ledges, etc., and rearrange them a gazillion times.).....
Erin's son is very lucky to have a Mom that is supportive and wants to get educated on the illness. Maybe with the education we have now, children now will grow up with better counseling, etc., and they won't suffer as many downfalls as we do now - as adults, and some of the stigma of being BP will subside.
Bipolar progresses, so if the symptoms diminish, then it was something else.
Your son will probably be very creative, because that seems to be inherited.
I think all children like to collect things.
As for aggression/anger: there were things that I look back on and think were odd, then I see them in one of my own children. Like, I would be petting my dog, then I would just want to pet him harder and harder and would clench my jaw. I wasn't overly strong, so the dog didn't mind. Good thing I never had a gerbil.
When I was small, I pinched the skin on the back of my hand whenever I was nervous or just to calm myself. I had quite a callous over my middle knuckle. My mother broke me of the habit, but once in a while, I catch myself doing it (at age 36.)
I bit my nails until I got braces and couldn't bite them. I also fidgeted, like couldn't sit completely still--had to tap a foot or something. I think those things are stress-related.
I think a lot of what aggravates bipolar is stress--like we aren't wired to deal with it like normal people are.
Your son will probably be very creative, because that seems to be inherited.
I think all children like to collect things.
As for aggression/anger: there were things that I look back on and think were odd, then I see them in one of my own children. Like, I would be petting my dog, then I would just want to pet him harder and harder and would clench my jaw. I wasn't overly strong, so the dog didn't mind. Good thing I never had a gerbil.
When I was small, I pinched the skin on the back of my hand whenever I was nervous or just to calm myself. I had quite a callous over my middle knuckle. My mother broke me of the habit, but once in a while, I catch myself doing it (at age 36.)
I bit my nails until I got braces and couldn't bite them. I also fidgeted, like couldn't sit completely still--had to tap a foot or something. I think those things are stress-related.
I think a lot of what aggravates bipolar is stress--like we aren't wired to deal with it like normal people are.
Thank you all for your replies. There is no question in my mind that my son is bipolar. Nearly everyone on my fathers side of the family is bipolar. My uncle whom i have never met committed suicide when he was 23, he was untreated. He felt as though he wan't from this planet, and that someday he would be taken back to where he belongs, he also beleived they would discover a new color; something we have never seen before. Most people in my family are highly intelligent and creative, as I believe most people with bipolar are. I refuse to be in denial and recognize that my son has some issues. I will not let him end up like my uncle. He is far too special. Eventhough I never knew my uncle I feel he and my son are alike. I especially related to bulldozers comment, my son is very similar. My son goes around everywhere looking for things that he can carry in his pockets, or take to his room. I find the strangest stuff when I am doing laundry. Even when he was two he did this, I would change his diaper and find all sorts of things that he had collected shoved in there. He too is very angry and that was my first concern that prompted a visit to the doctor. I just wanted to know what he's thinking, so thanks for sharing your personal stories with me.
I agree. My oldest son, when he was 7, was suggested to be ADHD (he is 19 now). He probably was, and may still be - be he has turned out to be a very creative person today. Still drives me a bit mad, at times, with his disorganization, but he's just him.
NOT TO SAY THAT ADHD MEDS ARE BAD - just that I didn't understand them when he was younger, and refused to put him on something that I didn't understand, and that he was just himself, and it was fine with me.
I think back to my childhood, standing on the coffee table singing "Happiest Girl in the Hole USA", etc., while holding a hair brush for a micro phone. Being gone on my bike all day - all day..... playing outside making forts, or imagining things to create.... At 40, I know my kids will never know the freedom of that kind of fun. It was pretty awesome.
It's a different time these days, I suppose.
NOT TO SAY THAT ADHD MEDS ARE BAD - just that I didn't understand them when he was younger, and refused to put him on something that I didn't understand, and that he was just himself, and it was fine with me.
I think back to my childhood, standing on the coffee table singing "Happiest Girl in the Hole USA", etc., while holding a hair brush for a micro phone. Being gone on my bike all day - all day..... playing outside making forts, or imagining things to create.... At 40, I know my kids will never know the freedom of that kind of fun. It was pretty awesome.
It's a different time these days, I suppose.
Many people who do not have bipolar disorder as adults have these symptoms in childhood. They grow out of it.
OK dont all get mad at me. I'm just making a point, how come in other parts of the world different approaches work?
In fact thinking about it here (in Vienna) there is a private american child pshyciatrist who will diagnose and one american trained doctor who will prescribe, but mostly teachers and special ed people tell us parents to avoid them.
God when i think what I was like as a child, gifted talented and completely spaced out all the time. I am an Artist now. I often didnt know I was in the room with other people. Cried all the time. My husband was a complete nutcase, who ran away from home, punched his fist through a glass window and much else. He is a successful computer systems manager. I believe we both have very high IQ (often part of the problem). Give kids a chance if at all possible!
OK dont all get mad at me. I'm just making a point, how come in other parts of the world different approaches work?
In fact thinking about it here (in Vienna) there is a private american child pshyciatrist who will diagnose and one american trained doctor who will prescribe, but mostly teachers and special ed people tell us parents to avoid them.
God when i think what I was like as a child, gifted talented and completely spaced out all the time. I am an Artist now. I often didnt know I was in the room with other people. Cried all the time. My husband was a complete nutcase, who ran away from home, punched his fist through a glass window and much else. He is a successful computer systems manager. I believe we both have very high IQ (often part of the problem). Give kids a chance if at all possible!
I wasn't sure whether to respond or not as I'm not sure that I can say what I want to say and make sense! So bear with me on this one :-)
The slightest thing could tip me one way or the other from a very young age. Comments, actions that to others were nothing special were perceived very differently to me. My moods would fluctuate throughout the day, one minute happy smiling, next morose, next angry, etc. My mum would say that there were some types of behaviour that would either precede or follow a particularly bad episode. Sleep - when low, anxious, paranoid, scared - i would sleep a lot more, often taking myself off in the middle of the day and sleeping. When I was hyper I would start moving furniture around, even the heavy stuff like my bed and wardrobe and I would search the house for objects that I could take from other rooms to put in my room. Other times I would want to bake!
I can't really explain what triggers the anger as I am still trying to understand that side of it, put I could and still do blow over the silliest of things and sometimes for no reason at all.
My only advice would be to make sure your son gets plenty of rest and eats a good health diet - I have recently heard of a number of people being advised to follow gluten free diets, even a mild gluten allergy can impact on mental health.
You sound like a very supportive mum - that in itself will make the world of difference!
The slightest thing could tip me one way or the other from a very young age. Comments, actions that to others were nothing special were perceived very differently to me. My moods would fluctuate throughout the day, one minute happy smiling, next morose, next angry, etc. My mum would say that there were some types of behaviour that would either precede or follow a particularly bad episode. Sleep - when low, anxious, paranoid, scared - i would sleep a lot more, often taking myself off in the middle of the day and sleeping. When I was hyper I would start moving furniture around, even the heavy stuff like my bed and wardrobe and I would search the house for objects that I could take from other rooms to put in my room. Other times I would want to bake!
I can't really explain what triggers the anger as I am still trying to understand that side of it, put I could and still do blow over the silliest of things and sometimes for no reason at all.
My only advice would be to make sure your son gets plenty of rest and eats a good health diet - I have recently heard of a number of people being advised to follow gluten free diets, even a mild gluten allergy can impact on mental health.
You sound like a very supportive mum - that in itself will make the world of difference!
Hmm what was I like as a child. Hyperactive, loud, emotional, sometimes violent, prone to fixation (nothing much changed there), always ahead of everyone in class, used to cry a lot.
I went through years of occupational therapy and child psychologists for my behavioural issues and in the end ADD was the best they could come up with, I was one of the first Ritalin kids in the country long before it became an over prescribed nightmare. As I got older I guess like others have mentioned I tended to live in my head more, I daydreamed a lot and could create elaborate fantasy worlds in my head, I was and still am a voracious reader as well. I have always felt lonely and still can even in a crowd and I never felt like the other kids, I matured differently perhaps I dont know but I had a lack of self confidence which I work hard to keep overcoming every day - In the end by the time I hit my late teens I had learned to force myself to be outgoing and to get in and do things and by then looking back I was already on the hypomania treadmill and running.
Looking back the signs are there, my mother was BP as well. It does get worse the older you get it its untreated.
I went through years of occupational therapy and child psychologists for my behavioural issues and in the end ADD was the best they could come up with, I was one of the first Ritalin kids in the country long before it became an over prescribed nightmare. As I got older I guess like others have mentioned I tended to live in my head more, I daydreamed a lot and could create elaborate fantasy worlds in my head, I was and still am a voracious reader as well. I have always felt lonely and still can even in a crowd and I never felt like the other kids, I matured differently perhaps I dont know but I had a lack of self confidence which I work hard to keep overcoming every day - In the end by the time I hit my late teens I had learned to force myself to be outgoing and to get in and do things and by then looking back I was already on the hypomania treadmill and running.
Looking back the signs are there, my mother was BP as well. It does get worse the older you get it its untreated.
I was treated for depression when I was 15, but I was bipolar. It was just that then the depressions were what got noticed. I can remember cycles even as a young child. Periods of time where I cried constantly, felt helpless, hopeless, sad, morbid, truly felt I was unlovable, that none of my friends really liked me, were just my friends out of pity or they were tricking me, playing an awful joke on me. What people noticed most was the crying. Then the melancholy would give way to times of fantasy, difficulty sleeping, uncontrollable urge to get up and do inappropriate things and laugh loudly at strange times, feel 'special' and 'different', superior in some way and any day I would be noticed for being great. In spite of my mental problems, I managed to excel in school, but suffered socially. In my depressions, concentrating was very hard and things like division and fractions were impossible. It would frustrate me, and probably already experiencing mixed episodes it would result in sudden emotional outbursts, like the time I threw my books in the air, ran to the front of the classroom and sat under a table barking at the kids as they went by. Now that, was bizarre.
I was not diagnosed at that age, but I was definitely experiencing symptoms way back then. When I was 6/7, I was constantly running away and ran across 4 lanes of traffic and hid in a supermarket. I was paranoid beyond belief and all I wanted to do was die. I wish my parents cared back then and even now. I think things would have ended up differently for me and for the better had I been diagnosed when I was younger. There is the theory that this illness gets worse the longer it goes untreated - the kindling effect. I was not diagnosed for more than 10 years later. It is great that you are trying to learn more about this illness to better understand your son. There are lots of books out there regarding this illness and children.
I just did a quick google search and came across: bpkids.org. They also have lots of helpful books on their site: http://www.bpkids.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lrn_books_children
Good luck with everything. I hope your son starts to feel better soon.
I just did a quick google search and came across: bpkids.org. They also have lots of helpful books on their site: http://www.bpkids.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lrn_books_children
Good luck with everything. I hope your son starts to feel better soon.
Wow, I wish my mom cared then and now even....my son is under investigation for bipolar....still no dx....but I have bipolar I ...as a child I had a very active imagination (or so I thought), I was obssessive...if I liked someone I was infatuated to the point of smothering...(abondonement issues) and if it was like a movie star ...I emulated them down to the wardrobe. I was paranoid.....often thoughts of my family getting killed from a madman who would spare me but make me live through it....I always had an "audience" ...to do things for....an imaginary one comprised of people at school that I imagined admired me and even rock stars....as if they would be sitting on the couch and waiting for me live just so they could watch the mundane. So, I don't know if anyone else was like this too...but it would make me feel better if so...lol
Is there someone else that has bipolar in your family or your husbands family? Usually it is genetic....I was just wondering.....
Is there someone else that has bipolar in your family or your husbands family? Usually it is genetic....I was just wondering.....
Anhow! I remember as a child having episodes that were just scary! I had one episode where I imagined my older sister was a devil and was chasing me. I had other times when the rage was so consuming that my Mother would shut the door so I couldn't hurt anyone in the house. I would beat the walls, the doors, etc., My nicknames as a child were "White Tornado" (really blonde hair), and "Smiley". It was very typical of my ups and downs. I was either out of control or the sweet smiling child everyone loved.
The main advice I can give is don't allow anyone (including yourself) to type-cast you son. I was always the "Crazy Sister" / "Crazy Niece" / "Wild One".... When you are BP, it's hard enough to know who you actually are and its REALLY confusing at times - you don't need other people putting labels on you.
You asking shows that you are a supportive Mother, and that's one of the most important things that a BP child could ask for - hang in there. One thing that I notice as an adult is when I am going to have a manic episode is that my sleep gets out-of-wack, and talk really fast. Over the years, he and you will discover his own little triggers and also his cycles.
Good luck.
The main advice I can give is don't allow anyone (including yourself) to type-cast you son. I was always the "Crazy Sister" / "Crazy Niece" / "Wild One".... When you are BP, it's hard enough to know who you actually are and its REALLY confusing at times - you don't need other people putting labels on you.
You asking shows that you are a supportive Mother, and that's one of the most important things that a BP child could ask for - hang in there. One thing that I notice as an adult is when I am going to have a manic episode is that my sleep gets out-of-wack, and talk really fast. Over the years, he and you will discover his own little triggers and also his cycles.
Good luck.
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