Posted by Mama Bear on December 3, 2003, at 20:25:32
I have a 6 yr old daughter that is diagnosed as having type 2 early onset childhood bipolar. We don't dispute the diagnosis as it really fits with all her symptoms. However we are a bit concerned about the medications she is on. Childhood bipolar symptoms are quite different to that of an adolescent or adult symptoms. My daughter is an ultra rapid cycler and can cycle up to 20 times per day. We started her on Lithium and Effexor about 2 months ago. She became so aggressive, and was raging out of control we had to call a crisis mobile team to come and help us calm her down. I, in desperation, picked up the telephone and called her psychiatrist and left a message of her raging for 10 minutes. He called back the next day and told us that after hearing the message he realized she needed an antipsychotic. He chose chlorpromazine. She had been on Respirdal before for what we thought was Oppositional Defiant disorder before the age of 4.We had moderate success with Respirdal with curbing the rages but did nothing to control the drastic mood swings. We weaned her off the Respirdal because it made her gain a lot of weight over 17 months and it left her with some movement problems. We did not know anything about psychiatric meds before her inital dx of ODD. Now we realize that ODD is all part of Childhood Bipolar. She is now on the three medications and I question the Effexor because she is still quite physically violent. Antidepressants can cause this in children with bipolar. However when I spoke to the psychiatrist today about it he told me she needs the effexor. Everything I have read has indicated that indeed it could be the Effexor causing her more problems. She is now experiencing stomach pain and headaches. I don't know if the stomach aches are for real or just a reason to get out of school. She has done something like this in the past. We are Canadian and it is so hard to find a good pdoc up here. We are "lucky" to have the one we have got. I am curious if anyone else has had similiar symptoms as my daughter while on these medications or if you may have a young child that has taken these meds. We really want to get to the bottom of this and get her on the right medication.
Thanks
poster:Mama Bear
thread:286345
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031202/msgs/286345.html