I need to hear from parents that have young children with bipolar. I am having a very difficult time finding a doctor to listen...one that doesn't say my daughter is ADHD or ADD, because everything I have read doesn't add up to either of these. I know my daughter. I know what her symptoms are and I know her family history.
If ANYONE has dealt with a young child and bipolar, please, please let me know.

Thank You!!
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My son was diagnosed as bi-polar, too, but I don't believe that's accurate. Also, he's grown out of his problems, it seems (knocks on wood.)

How old is your daughter? It's really hard to put a firm diagnosis on a child at a young age and bi-polar isn't even widely accepted as a childhood illness.

ADD and ADHD seem to be the first "label" they put on kids...it's really like a giant South Park episode.

All I DO know is that a bi-polar diagnosis is a definite for medication. Depakote is commonly used for kids and it requires frequent monitoring of their levels. There are side effects and the potential for liver problems and other serious physical problems, so it's a decision to be made VERY carefully.

Are you seeing a therapist or just a psychiatrist? Are there coping strategies you have tried or can try before you deal with meds? If she responds consistently to behavior mod techniques then she is most likely NOT bi-polar.
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I need help!! My daughter is 4. I don't know if I have taken her to the wrong doctors or if this is the type of crap I am going to just have to deal with. The first doctor told me she was alergic to milk. ???? No allergy test was done, nothing was mentioned about milk. I was there discussing her behavior, etc and the fact that she was (at the time) 2 and had been kicked out of 5 daycares. None the less, I took her off milk. Nothing happened.

The next gave me a packet on how to be a better parent. How to discipline, etc...follow through, etc... Well, it did work great with my son. However, none of this ever had an affect with my daughter.

The third, and I admit, the last (for now) told me that she is probably ADHD. When I mentioned that I have read up on ADHD very thouroghly (sp) and that it just didn't fit her...when I said that her paternal family had a history of bipolar and that if anything fit my daughter, I believed it was that, he let me know that bipolar doesn't affect a person until early teens or adulthood and not children.

I know this is going to be long, and I apologize in advance. But maybe if I tell my story, somone out there will say, "I've been there...I can help."

When my daughter was born (she is my second) she never cried...she never cooed, she just pretty much layed there, soaking up everything that was happening around her. She was extremely alert to her surroundings, but to nothing else.

Most people can tell you when their child said their first word, or took their first step. I can tell you when my child smiled her first smile. She was 7 months old. When she started walking (9 months), she started hurting herself. If she got frustrated or upset, she would walk directly to a wall and start hitting her head into it (the doctor that gave me the packet said that she wouldn't do it hard enough to hurt herself, just hard enough to get my attention). As she got older that stopped and she begin biting herself. She is four now and doesn't do that anymore. She now will just cry. She has wonderful days. Not just one or two, but a whole week when she is the little girl that everyone wants. She wants her hair comb, she wants to be sweet, loving, held, kissed, hugged. Then after about a week she will become angry. I can't come near her with a comb, she won't take a bath, she won't do anything!! Everytiny thing will make her furious. Or she will become extremely weepy. She will cry at the drop of a hat.

On good days, she doesn't have a problem focusing on something. She doesn't loose interest in things easily (which makes me waunder away form ADD ADHD). On bad days, she still doesn't have a problem focusing...just nothing sounds good to her.

I don't know what to do. I was so happy to find this site. To find people dealing with CHILDREN!! So, if anyone can help...

Thank you and again, I'm sorry this is so long.
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