child onset bipolar
Friday, June 4th, 2010Early Onset Bipolar Disorder-how does a typical cycle last?
I have a child with this diagnosis. Has changing energy levels through out the day but major manic/depressive cycles seem to range days to a little over a week. On meds. I am questioning diagnosis. What do you think?
I have probably had BP all my life but wasn’t diagnosed until 15 because first everyone thought it was just hormones and behavior problems and then it was just depression. Personally when I was younger I was a lot worse. I would have episodes where I would stay up for 5 days straight and have absolutely no problems. My brain would be running at this tremendous rate but it wasn’t a problem because it just helped get everything done faster. I’d do all the homework and projects for about a month in advance and then start reading 4-5 books a day with the “extra” time. I didn’t get depressed when I was younger, I just had super high and normal. As I’ve gotten older I’ve switched to slightly high and super low. But I’ve always had “slight” changes in mood on hourly basis even. If you’re really worried about it get a second opinion. It can’t hurt. But I did have longer cycles (even the manic ones) when I was younger. They’ve gotten a lot shorter and a lot less frantic as I got older and as I’ve stayed on my medication. Another thing you could think about is trying to find a doctor who’s more worried about treating the symptoms than defining the illness. Once I found a doctor like that everything started getting better for me. He wasn’t obsessed with the fact that the medicine for the illness he’s labeled me with wasn’t working so he was more open to trying medicines that might have generally be given for a different illness but would still help with the problems I was having. I hope this helps and that you child feels better. You didn’t mention the actual age so I just tried to throw in all the info I remembered. Good luck and don’t blame your child please.