Does anyone have a child that is Bipolar

Having such a hard week … Dr changed her meds. She is having rages about everything to do with school work. We have taken off so much that she is now a grade behind. HELP!!!

I don’t have any experience with your situation, but I want to lift you up in prayer and just encourage you.

It is amazing that you are devoting yourself to your child by homeschooling. Just know that if she is behind doing home school, she would be further behind in public school. Or, she would be simply passed along.

You were designed to be her mama and you are the one who can best teach and raise her.

Stay strong mama!

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@Suzann4848
No, I don’t have experience in the realm of Bipolar. My experience lies in Aspergers and things of that nature. I can’t imagine what you go through every day. Kudos to you for putting in the time and effort each day - that alone makes you a wonderful woman, and a wonderful mama. @TzuGal is right… if your daughter is “behind” in homeschool, then likely she would be in public school (if not simply shuffled along from grade to grade - which is a horrible disservice!) Remember, your child is never “behind” unless compared to the “standards” of our US school system. And remember this: the US school system tries to fit kids into a box - if you don’t fit into that box, then you are “behind!” Nope… I don’t believe it! Each child has their OWN “box” - their own place that he or she should be. If your working hard each day, at your child’s level, then despite the good and bad times, she is not behind, she as at level - HER level. It’s SO hard as parents and teachers to not focus in on GRADES and AGES and grade/age appropriate material, but really, that is very different from what is appropriate for YOUR child. Try to take a deep breath, slow things down each day and work at your daughter’s level. You can pick up the pace later, when she’s having a better day. Make a simple goal for today: (I don’t know your daughter’s age… let’s just say 8) - for example the goal could be read a story (or have your read a story to her) - and she can draw a picture about it and tell you about the story… or, if she can write, have her write one simple sentence about it. That’s just an example, but start small… then build up slowly. I used to work with Autistic children and sometimes, at the beginning of the year, that’s all we did - one goal a day. If it was a good day, we could add to that goal. The next day or week, we could add 2 goals to our list, etc etc. It eases the kids in. If they fell apart suddenly, we’d stop - go for a walk, play a game, or something else light hearted until it was time to move back to our goals. Remember, your daughter is her own person - not a grade that the school system says she should be performing at. You are amazing for putting this time and effort in each day. Your daughter is amazing also. Deep breaths and baby steps! :slight_smile:

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Triton17 You will never know how much you encourage me. Thank you for your tips on schoolwork and making things not so tense. This week has been a bad week and I have truly needed the encouragement. Thank You So Much.

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TzuGal you have a gift of encouragement . God knew I needed to here those words. They did help me get through the week. Thank You so much for responding to my post. Suzann4848

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I have a child who is 16 and has Bipolar, ADHD, and autism. I just want to give you encouragement and just take it one day at a time. It does get easier. We have good days and bad days. But overall homeschooling was the best choice I made for my son and the change in him school wise has been so worth it…You can do this!! You are strong and capable of doing this. I will be praying for you and your family.
Marie

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I don’t have a child with bipolar, but my mom was bipolar, so I can relate a little…and I wanted to let you know my prayers are with you.

What people say about it getting better, I can add to that perspective though. Bipolar runs in our family…before there was a name for it my great Aunt, who died before I was born, was put in a mental hospital for what I’m sure we would now be able to diagnose as bipolar disorder. She spent the rest of her life there–they didn’t have any way to treat it then. When it surfaced in my mom as a teen, they then had a name for it…manic depression. And they had a treatment…but not one that dealt with all sides (lithium only, to my understanding, only dealt directly with the highs–and it made her sick to her stomach. I suppose the idea was to temper the swings–lower highs would hopefully mean not as horrible lows).

The new medicine that they discovered in her lifetime, which she used for the last couple decades of her life, was amazingly better. It worked on both the highs and the lows and didn’t make her sick. The change in her was very clear. And assuming that our knowledge about the disease and treatment continues to improve at the same rate, your son will have things so much better in his lifetime than my mom did in her’s. I know that doesn’t make things easier now, but a little hope can help you push through the hard spots.

Thank you so much for your encouraging words. Knowing that you are having such success with your child gives me a lot of hope. Can he work alone very much or do you have to be in the room with him? Cupcake I set timers and constantly telling her to come on keep your mind on what we are doing. They don’t want to give her anything to help her ADHD because the meds make her more aggressive. I would like to know some tricks you have learned that might help Cupcake.

Thank You so much for your encouragement. They have come out with a lot of new meds to help control their mood swings. Cupcake has been on medication seems she was in Pre K. Thank You so much for your letter it really helped me.

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I’m glad if it helped in any way. I can imagine how hard it is dealing with this in a child. (Even diagnosing it in children is a new thing…they didn’t spot it usually until the teenage years until a few decades ago).