Daughter enters teenagerhood stable and happy!
I was a member of this board several years ago. I left as my daughter's BP became less the center of our lives. Yes, less. It is possible.
She was diagnosed at age four after being kicked out of three daycare centers for violent, compulsive, unpredictable behavior. After many, many med trials, she started Trileptal at the age of five or so. That helped, enough that she could start grade school. Unfortunately it didnt help enough, and we added Abilify (we tried all the other APs but she was refractory to all of them, kept her awake, made her more hyper, etc). That, plus a therapeutic day school saved her life., more or less.
After a while we transitioned to Lithium as the Abilify kept messing with her Trileptal levels, around fifth grade or so. But except for that, she has been rock-solid stable since about fourth grade. Stabilizing her moods even allowed us to uncover learning disabilities we never knew she had! She rentered public school part time in fifth grade, and full time in sixth! The Lithium makes her thirsty, and the Abilify causes a bit of cognitive dulling. But both are side effects we happily live with compared to the alternative.
And now she will be entering the 8th grade with all the typicall 13-year-old issues of friends, dates, boys, homework... everything we ever hoped for her and more! She is beautiful, funny, delightful and thoughtful. And yes, there's some hormones, but nothing we can't live with, yet (LOL). We cry everytime we think about that little girl under school desks spitting at teachers, and compare that picture to what we have now.
Anyway, it appears we are starting a similar journey with our younger daughter (who in contrast to her older sister, appears to have been so gifted, she was able to compensate for her issues for a very, very long time). But in the meantime, I wanted to tell you all that stability is possible. Happiness is possible... just stick with it!
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Audrey
13yo DD bipolar, ARND, LD. 1250 mg Lithium, 5-10 mg Abilify depending on time of year, stable, happy and healthy now for several years!
12yo DS ADHD/Aspergers. 20-25 mg Focalin XR bid, 4 mg Intuniv. Doing OK.
10yo DD, gifted, maybe ADD, maybe bipolar, still being diagnosed but scaring us.
Thank you so much for this post. I pray for this. Mt dd had such a horible 3rd grade year this past year. She was just diagnosed BP in May and started meds then. I see such a huge improvement already but don't want to get ahead of ourselves.
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Nat-single mom, widowed at 32
DD--M-9 1/2 yrs -dx BP 5/10
going into reg. 4th grade w/ IEP
50 mg lamictal .25 mg tenex am. 7.5 abilify .25 tenex pm
DD--D-7yrs no dx
going into 2nd grade-no issues
AZ
Your daughter sounds like she's doing wonderful, considering! And we think it's tough on us there are so many amazing kids overcoming this disease!
Thank You!
I'm holding on to all of these hopeful stories. Somedays they keep me going!
Ashton
--OH THANK YOU for posting this! I so needed to hear a hopeful and happy turnout
GIA, pediatric OT, 42
DH, pianist, 48
DS, 9, 4th grd, dx w/BP 11/09, taking Abilify
DD, 5, my dessert in life (usually ;0) )
Audrey,
Thank you so much for posting that. We don't want to get out hopes up too much, but it's good to know there's at least a chance for outcomes like yours. I do have one question: when you say "cognitive dulling," how severe is it? How exactly would you describe it? Has it made her personality different from before? Does she perform less well in school?
Thanks.
Edrex
--
dad to:
Rebel (daughter), 9, not stable, no definitive diagnosis, Thorazine 25-100mg/day PRN, Paxil 5mg, Melatonin 1mg. (possible diagnoses: depression, anxiety, OCD, IED, BP) Entering 4th grade, gifted program; and
Linus, 7, strong-willed, anxious, currently well-controlled asthma
Eliot, 7, peacemaker, eager to please, God's most patient creature (oh, yeah, and dyslexic, but doing amazingly well)
married to:
Jess, best partner in the world (despite passionate disagreements), her severe depression is currently under control (when she was hospitalized a year ago, I thought I'd lost her for good. But finding the right dosage has been nothing short of miraculous.)
So wonderful your lives are going so well! I understand the cognitive dulling, and how it is a small price to pay for being disabled by the illness itself. After all - they were cognitively impaired even MORE by illness! It sounds like your daughter is in what is called the "recovery stage." As you said, it can take years to get there. What strong, mentally healthy children & family you have to be doing so well in spite of adversity!
--
"Naomi"
Older dd: teen-onset bipolar: After over 13 years - finally STABLE off meds for nearly a year! Treated: Sleep, Candida, food sensitivities, nutritional needs, low-ish thyroid hormone. Now fine on just the diet changes and higher thyroid levels.
Younger dd: Childhood-onset schizoaffective, with disabling migraines since infancy. Also off antipsychotic and meds for migraines. Stable - no hallucinations. Treated for multiple endocrine problems, food sensitivities, nutritional/mitochondrial needs, gut issues, SLEEP issues.
Audrey,
Your experienced with your daughter has really touched me and given much hope. Thank You!
--
Armistice, 40, somedays I don't know if I'm cut out for this!
Roger, 39, "The Hubby", tries his best!
The daughters
J, age 10, adopted at 1 month, Bipolar 1 mixed
Abilify 15mgs, Trileptal 1,200mgs, Omega 3
M, typical 8 yr. old, adopted 2 days old.