Again this sounds tricky do do correctly. I would be careful about putting the label of bipolar unless it is truly justified. It is very hard to diagnose correctly in children and the diagnosis can stick for life. I know of several child psychiatrists who will not diagnose bipolar in a child but will medicate for it. We really do not know enough yet to clearly know which characteristic will accurately predict a bipolar diagnoses later on. The paradoxical reaction to antidepressants is not sure fire but is best seen as a screening symptom. The paradoxical reaction to ADHD medication is a little more indicative. At least that is the way I understand it.
It is good that you are going to see a psychiatrist. Keep in mind that if you do not get what you need to help this child or if you do not feel comfortable with the doc It is your right, and my opinion your duty, to go further. See my suggestions above.
The main thing is to keep plugging until you get this child some help. It is likely to be a long rough road but it can be done. Maybe your doc can hit it on the head the first time out. Hope so.
Good luck. Keep us up on what is going on. There are many people here who care and are interested in you and your grandson.
Dizfriz
my son has sensory issues as well. There are times he wants the bear hug and seeks it our but ther are also other times he acts like I am hurting him. I just think that is part of it. There are times they need the input and times they do not. They can also have sensory overload as well.
Sensory issues also change. Old ones leave and new ones arrive.
Have him reevaluated and mention bipolar. If he has it, treat the bipolare first, adhd meds exasperate bipolar and make it worse. Once the bipolar is under control, then treat the adhd. Once you get it right, life can be good!
Hello. This is my first post but I have been reading posts for months looking
one question, does the child have memory of this. If your grandson does not remember what he does or the dreams that trigger this then he maybe suffering from a form of nightmare disorder. If he does have memory, then it is likely something else.
This sounds a little trickey to diagnose. I might suggest contract with a major children's hospital or a clinic or hospital connected with a medical school. They are normally up on the latest. Got my Us news last night and they had a list of the top children's hospitals. Good timing.
The severity is a significant factor. Night terrors are usually not this severe but I suspect they could be. Not my field but I am familiar with night terrors and nightmare disorder. This is past my range. An expert is indicated in my opinion.
Good luck....It will probably take time and lots of effort but I feel this kid can be helped if a good diagnosis can be obtained.
Thanks for your reply. This all happens while he is awake. Sometimes from 8
Has he been evaluated for Bi Polar disorder?
I think it probably needs to be looked at more carefully. He has done well (atMy first post...My son is 15, has had ADHD since he came into the world. I just knew when I held him the first time. He started meds at 5 (4 mos. into Kindergarten). We have used ritalin, concerta, back to ritalin and are now on Strattera. He takes it 1x in the a.m. He is about 100 lbs. (maybe a little more), takes 60 mgs. 1x daily. I expect it will go up some when we have ped. visit in Oct. He starts 9th grade in a week.
As for certain symptoms: He never liked being closed-in. Couldn't use a playpen; at age 3 decided he didn't like buttons or zippers on shirts. Still doesn't like. Clothes requested to be 'soft and pullover'; he wore sweat suit outfits for 8 years (except in parochial school--he learned to deal with it!); even his food choices changed from eating whatever I gave him to very few choices.
Sometimes there are symptoms that some children have the we as parents/grands don't understand: the clothes thing, the 'locked-in' thing, the frustration thing, and nite terrors (my son had them for about 6 mos when he was a toddler). What I have found out is that I get more frustrated, he ends up crying and frustrated and both of us hollering at each other. He's very sensitive and it's just very hard for him to settle down after a meltdown. I am 54 so brought up with different ideas of acceptable/not acceptable in the home and have had to relearn for his and my sakes what priorities are and that I need to just go into another room to try and get away from him and him away from me and we both need to just cool down. Sometimes an hour later, he will return and apologize for being so melted down, if I don't keep harping at him (which too many parents keep doing). I have found that sometimes I make it worse because of my expectations of and for him. I need to learn to just let him spout off (yes, he knows it's wrong and mean, but if it helps him get back together, I'll deal with it later--and it usually does not happen other than home w/me. Remember: children see parents/grands as safe havens and feel safe spouting at you when they can't at teachers, caregivers, others in their world.).
Sorry for length, but a lot of parents/grands don't understand that we have to 'give' and that sometimes our expectations and rules just don't fit what is going on in these kids heads and we need to 'bend' the rules/expectations to help both them and ourselves get thru the rough times. Hope this helps some of you with small children. I realize I am lucky that my son doesn't have additional issues, but there are things we can do ourselves that can aleviate some of that for them and ourselves by just a little rule bending. Consider it and choose your priorities carefully.
my son also has some sensory issues as well, however when he is in a meltdown...we are better off to try to ignore it because of his ODD it makes things so much worse when he feels cornered.
sounds like he is have a huge rebound at night from the stims. has he ever been told he has had ODD?
Hi