We have had ongoing problems in school since she was about 10 years old. But nothing major. She has always had problems concentrating and listening to teachers and following their rules. (Kind of sounds like allot of teenagers I know). I have even had teachers say she was just a typical under achiever and I shouldn't get my hopes up that she will ever make anything of her life. Some even blamed me for getting divorced from her father.

I have taken her to so many different doctors. Each one coming up with a different diagnosis for her problem. Several years ago there was a mass of children being diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD. They say this is two different disorders but,I think they're the same thing. If your child is not ADD/ADHD but is treated for it the medications they put them on causes more harm than good. And some are very addictive.

I think if you have one disorder but are treated for something else it does absolutely no good. I believe it can actually make the original problem worse. The doctor prescribed Stratera. He also gave her Xanax. He said to give it to her on an as needed basis. The first little while it seemed to actually help. As time wore on she got worse and more manic. One of the common side effects of antidepressants is suicidal thoughts (especially in adolescents).

I thought this is just great. She has one problem and they are giving her medication that can lead to suicidal thoughts? I asked the doctor if this was going to compound her problems instead of helping. He replied that we would have to wait and see. He left it up to me to monitor her and I was supposed to ask her if she had thoughts of hurting her self. Most teenagers are not going to be honest about that even when you come right out and ask them. It does no harm to ask them if they are having thoughts about suicide. At least they will know you care enough to ask.

When the medication didn't help I took her to see a different doctor in the same clinic. He disagreed with the other doctor and took her off the Stratera and Xanax. He placed her on Seroquel. He also gave her Ativan. Which I believe is a schedule 3 narcotic. Both of these medications were similar to the first two. But was supposed to be better. None of these medications helped with her being bipolar.

After about a month of taking these there were still no results. The mood swings and angry out bursts just got worse. She was having these outbursts in class as well. I couldn't stand to see her going through this any more. I took her back to see the doctor. He then changed his original diagnosis and said she had a panic disorder with obsessive compulsive thrown in. He still left her on the same medications.

It was around this same time that she began to see and hear things that weren't there. She said she could hear music playing and swore that someone was stalking her and playing this particular song just for her even though no one else could hear this. I told her there was no music playing and she looked at me and said you can't sit there and tell me you don't hear it too. She had began to experience this for a couple of weeks before she said anything to me. I had no idea being bipolar could also trigger hallucinations as well.

I started keeping a daily journal of all the things she said and did. I took her back to the doctor while she was in a manic episode so he could see first hand what was going on. He said "Whoa...this is something bigger than I can handle. I think we need to get her into see a Psychiatrist". I thought it was about time.

He finally set up an appointment with a Psychiatrist. So I called in sick and got ready to take her to see yet another doctor. I hoped this doctor could help. At this point though I have had about all I could take of doctors.

The morning of her appointment I had my own appointment to have a TB test done. I had to take her with me because I couldn't trust someone else to look after her. During my appointment the Doctor looked at my daughter and said " I think we need to talk".

He asked me who her Doctor had recommended she see. He said she was having a pretty severe manic episode. He made a phone call and pulled some strings and got us and appointment with a Pediatric Psychiatrist that same day. My Doctor never diagnosed her as being bipolar but could clearly see that she was having a manic episode. I have often wondered why one doctor can see this after spending less than 5 minutes with someone while other doctors see patients several times and completely miss it?

I told my daughter to be honest with the Psychiatrist and tell him everything that she was experiencing. He said she was showing textbook signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder. He prescribed Lithium and Rispirdol. He said the medications could take up to 5 days to get into her system. He told me she was on the verge of needing to be hospitalized.

We decided it would be best if I were the one to take care of her. I took 10 days off work and stayed with her, monitoring her behaviors. I had to constantly watch her. She couldn't be alone for more than 5 minutes. I think that is the hardest thing I have ever done. I was lucky if I got an hour of sleep in 3 days. I decided to keep a small notebook in my pocket and write down the dates, times and behaviors she was showing. I wrote down everything she said and did. On our next visit to the Psychiatrist I gave him the notebook to read. I believe this gives the doctors a better idea of exactly what goes on in the home.

It got to the point where she was yelling and screaming in my face for hours at a time. I just about gave up. My daughter just about gave up.

My husband tried to help but didn't exactly know what to do. After about 3 days my husband suggested I take a break and get out of the house. He suggested some retail therapy. My retail therapy consisted of hitting all of the dollar stores in town!

I used to think that families that didn't come to see their loved ones that are hospitalized just didn't care. I now know that if they stay away it isn't that they don't care it's because they have become burnt out. It's so hard to see your loved ones like that.

Well, now my daughter is doing very well. Though we have had a rocky 8 years things are going very well now. During those 10 years she had a GPA of 1.8. Since October she has raised her GPA to a 3.0 and has passed her compass test to get into the local university. She is planning to take counseling so she can help other teenagers and parents get through their rocky times.

We wanted to create a website that tells about our experience with being bipolar and maybe help other families who are going through this. We would like this site to be a useful resource for families who are trying to cope with being bipolar.

I hope that by sharing our experience we can some how help other people who may be going through this in their home. Being bipolar and not receiving the right medications or not getting medications at all makes just every day life hard to cope with.

If you think your child is exhibiting signs and symptoms of being bipolar seek help from a Pediatric Psychiatrist.