My daughter has had behavior problems for a long time- temper tantrums ( some in which she doesn;t remember lasting hours.) At first I thought her absent father had a lot to do with it, I am sure part of it is, but that does not account for all the anger inside her little body. Does anyone have a child who is bipolar? If so, what were some of the early signs?

The psychiatrists that will offically diagnose are not accepted new patients until july to october- the ones on my insurance plan. So I am trying to reasearch as much as I can. I started to read "the Bipolar Child"- but all that is is scaring me more.

I don't have a bi-polar child but I do have a son who is going through autism evaluations. I know it can be scary waiting for answers so I want to wish you luck.

Thanks. I guess knowing something would help- whether it is bipolar, adhd, or just an angry child will help. Good luck to you too.

Oh, i'm going through the EXACT same thing! And, i'm also reading The Bipolar Child (crying my way thru most of it). My son will be 5 in a few days. I'm having him evaluated in early June (that's the soonest he could be seen).

Is your daughter in school yet? How old is she?

my daughter is 7. Knock on wood- since off her meds for adhd, she has been good. Or Is it just I am going to convince myself she is not that bad -- not bad enough to have bipolar! not sure. She still has her temper tantrums, and is defiant at that simple word no- but has not broke anything or hit back in awhile. How about your 5 year old?

He switched pre-schools about 4 weeks ago & the change in him has been uncanny - for the better. I'm just crossing my fingers this isn't the 'honeymoon phase'. I'm feeling optimistic though.

Quite frankly, if he is diagnosed as bipolar we'll deal with it - i'll be happy for a diagnosis (but sad for my baby). The thing that would bother me the most is the drugs...i'm not against medicating him, but it's the trial & error of finding the right mix that works for him that would bother me. I've taken antidepressants before & i know firsthand how they messed with my brain for several weeks. It was not pleasant & i just don't know if i can put a little boy through that...

quote:

Originally posted by atwitsend:
my daughter is 7. Knock on wood- since off her meds for adhd, she has been good. Or Is it just I am going to convince myself she is not that bad -- not bad enough to have bipolar! not sure. She still has her temper tantrums, and is defiant at that simple word no- but has not broke anything or hit back in awhile. How about your 5 year old?

I wonder if your daughter was mis-diagnosed as ADHD, or if she was just not on the right drugs?

I don't know I thought about her having ADHD or bipolar. My gut is she is ADHD- she doesn;t experience the grandoise ideas, frequent nightmares gory thoughts, separations anxiety that the Bipolar Book mentioned. She has all the characteristics of ADHD- but I haven't found anything that mentions 45 minutes rages or as much anger as she has.

Part of it is or a majority of it is: her absnet father. Once her behavoir is under control like it is for the past month, then he usually decides to be part of her lifeagaint hen the anger starts all over again when he disappears. It has been since Christmas that he has not seen her- he called once in March after we discovered he moved and changed his number- he asked for visitation but she had a sporting event at that time- haven't heard from him since.

I think you have good reason to be suspect of diagnosis of bipolar; it is the latest drug line to be pushed. Does anyone else in your family have it?

My son had "atypical tantrums" for a long time. Out of the various diagnoses I have received I got the greatest benefit from working with occupational therapists on his Sensory Integration Disorder. There is a great book on that called "The Out of Sync Child". It helped me to understand the variety of sensory experiences for kids and how they are based on how your central nervous system works (tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive). I would recommend the book for any parent, honestly.

I also worked with a behavioral psychologist who had me limit the amount of time his tantrums took--along the lines of "you can go to your room to calm down, in three minutes I"ll ask you to join me, I want you to be calm by then". That helped. Then congratulate him/her on returning to normal.

We have done further work on temper tantrums through a psyc team for him. There are a number of strategies a good psyc can offer you; too many for me to mention here.

Often what sets him off is a rigid type of black and white thinking that is short of coming up with compromises. Like "I have to have that piece of red string" and not the other piece of red string that is exactly the same. Also, heat crowding, noise and strong smells can set him off.

I should mention he has a working diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, a form of high functioning autism. Sometimes these labels fall short of describing exactly what our kids are.

Have you noticed any patterns of when she's having these outbursts? Grawlix made a good point.

I've wondered if my ADHD son has Bipolar as well sometimes. It is in our family. His pediatrician said they don't test children for this because they're too young. He doesn't fit the criteria you mentioned though for BP but he goes through 1-2 week spells occassionally (we're on it now) where life can be really hard.

If she's been good since she's been off the meds, wouldn't that mean she was having a reaction to them? Maybe the dosage wasn't correct? Has she had any tantrums since she's been off them?

sorry its been awhile. At first she was good-less temper tantrums just hitting and yelling. But last week the babysitter reported to me she had her hands around her own throat so hard whe turned blue until someone walked in and found her. her docotor told me to take to the Er to be evaluated by a psychiatrist. They id not do much, She told them she did it for attention only. July I have appt. with a psychiatrist to determine if its "normal"kid defiance or something more. Again part of me wants to blame it on- my lacking discipline techniques, the fact her dad did not show up fo Fathers day visit at drop off place after we waiting for 30 minutes, and "normal" kid defiance. I want her to be correctly diagnosed and not stuck on medicine for no reason.

Hi,my son dx a 5yrs early onset bipolar.
It has been a nightmare,he is 7yrs old and
still in a treatment center.Good news he is doing well.yet DHS took custody last year,and
we are still fighting to get him back!!Im sorry
for what you,and your daughter are : going through.It is terrifying.
I am practically a expert on bipolar,so will
help all i can.first off you need to get her to
a child phychiatrist.let me know,hang in thee.

Hi,Im new to group.sonbird13
My son went from hyperactive ,loss
of his ability to focus on tasks very long,
to Rages for hours,almost seizure like it
comes on so fast,and they are disconnected.
To Phychotic,parinoid,and uncontollable.
I lost custody of him,wouldn't with this on
any parent.Please get her on meds,to keep her
safe,and manageable.They can slos have some very high risk behaviors.hope she doesn't have near this severity of symtoms.I am haviang a hard week,with my little guy raging again in
a treatment center.

quote:

Originally posted by atwitsend:
my daughter is 7. Knock on wood- since off her meds for adhd, she has been good. Or Is it just I am going to convince myself she is not that bad -- not bad enough to have bipolar! not sure. She still has her temper tantrums, and is defiant at that simple word no- but has not broke anything or hit back in awhile. How about your 5 year old?

atwitsend....
Sorry I know this post goes back a few months & I hadn't seen it until songbird brought it to the top here! I am a behaviorist...I work in a school system right now, but have done home based for years too. I work with kids on the Autism spectrum, but also ADD,ADHD,ODD,OCD, Bipolar etc...whatever may cause "behavior issues". One thing I have recently become aware of in reguard to MEDS that made this part of your thread stand out is that if a child HAS bipolar and is put on Meds for ADHD (not sure of the particular brand/category of drug names here) it can make the behaviors/tantrums/etc.. much worse! Almost like it counteracts what you are trying to do! Again not sure why, but something to look into with your doctors and another possible indicator as to what your child's issue may be? Does she see a behaviorist at school &/or Home Based? Is she in an inclusion classroom or sub separate? How do they deal with her behaviors in school? Do you have an IEP...Does she receive services at all? It is hard being a single parent but having a child with behavior issues caused by anything can be incredibly overwhelming...my heart goes out to you!! Hang in there!!