It's great to finally get the right dx. My son got so crazy on Prozac after just one day they thought he had bipolar too. He doesn't (high functioning autism). Prozac made him get up on his desk at school and flap his arms to "fly like a bird." You have to understand that my son has never been a behavior problem. I got my first and only call from school because the teacher was scared of him...lol. She also said he wouldn't stop talking, very unlike him. I threw the pills out after that one day and found a new pdoc (who diagnosed him with bipolar). Some autistic disorder kids also tend to be sensitive to meds, but, if your son is acting out badly, then it is likely early onset bipolar. Just want you to know there are various reasons for a kid not to be able to handle a med like Prozac. To be honest, I don't know why they prescribe it for children. At any rate, I'm glad you're on the right track. Unfortunately, it takes many parents much longer to get there, if ever. Happy you're getting it sorted out early. Lithium is the "gold standard" of treatment for bipolar. I have bp and was on Lithium for a while. I actully feel you'll get more help and support for bipolar on the site below. This is an ADHD board and many of the parents don't know a lot about bipolar until/unless they find out their child was misdiagnosed and really has bipolar. Here's the link:
OlderMom38789.5792708333
I was just wondering because although it is considered the "gold standard," our pdocs have shied away from it because they feel the therapeutic window is so narrow. I also know lots of BP kids who have done wonderfully on Lithium.
The prozac should should leave pretty quick since he wasn't on it long. I know to reach a good therapeutic level for depression purposes takes a minimum of a month more like six weeks. so that is not all that much in his system right now. A week should about do it. But atleast they are getting through the mess and trying to find out what is going on. Sounds like this weekend was not so great for you and I am sorry about that.
Yippee! I'm so happy for you! (I can't believe I'm saying that about getting a dx of BP, but I know you want to get him on the appropriate treatment.) You are finally making real progress!
Just curious -- did she say why she wanted to go with Lithium?
We had our follow up appointment today with my son's psychiatrist after she put him on prozac last wednesday for his depression. I kept a log of all his behaviors and gave it to her. He really didn't do as bad as I expected, but he didn't do well either. It pulled him out of his depression, but it also made him a little too happy! He was getting up every night and eating cookies and pop tarts. He was getting wound up and doing things he knew he wasn't allowed to do. Yesterday he was running around on all 4's and acting like a dog and licking everything. He is also doing a lot of property destruction. He ripped the controls for his wall heater off the wall. He scraped a plastic toy all over the wall leaving scratches and purple marks from the toy and last night he wrote across his wall in huge letters : mom you are stupid and a jacka** and I hate you get lost. Of course he had to translate part of it for me because he can't spell much at all. He got hypersexual and was exposing himself to his brother and trying to force my 3yo to touch him. That was the final straw for the doctor. She said all of the other things aren't too unusual for him, but the sexual stuff puts it over the top. She pulled him off the prozac and I couldn't be happier with that decision. She said she wants to consult with his school teacher, his psychologist and another psychiatrist she has been working closely with on his case, but she feels we are definitely headed in the bipolar direction(which she said she would have officially diagnosed had he been really manic from the med over the weekend) and wants to start him on lithium on monday next week. She said she would start it today, but with all the bloodwork necessary she wants to wait a week and also to help get the prozac get out of his system before we go making any more changes. Hopefully since he was on it for such a short time and such a small dose it should be gone quickly! No, she's been talking about the lithium for more than a month now though so I know it is her first choice. I know from reading the treaetment guidelines that it is one of the first choices there too so I am okay with it. I have talked to a lot of parents who say it really worked for their child. I will definitely ask her though why she chose that one. Thanks for bringing that up!