My son needs help

[meishi50]

My 12 year old son has been diagnosed with a "mood disorder" and ADHD.  His father is a rapid cycling bipolar and I see so many of the same bahaviors in my son.  How do I get his psych dr to agree to try a mood stabalizer on him?  He is currently on Clonidine, Resperidal, and about 6 weeks ago they put him on Adderall as well.  Over the last 2 weeks he has been having severe anger issues where he punches and kicks walls, he has also beat a girl up using a stick, and on Saturday he punched me in the head when I told him to take a time out.  I am at a loss on what to do anymore.  It seems any punishment I give him for his behavior doesn't make a difference.  This type of behavior has been going on since he was about 2 years old.  His daycare would have to strap him into a highchair and make me go get him early because he would throw the chairs across the room and knock over the tables.  Any advice would be appreciated, I just don't know where to go from here.

[113]

If he was my child I would be looking for a different pdoc. I'm not a professional but I do know that if a child with ADHD is put on some antidepressants it can make it worse if they are Bipolar. It can take up to 10 years to diagnose a bipolar disorder. I hope someone can help you. I know how hard it is to have a child that is ADHD. My grandson is.

[meishi50]

He seemed to be doing ok with just the Clonidine and Risperidal, but just ok.  He does have some ADHD tendencies where he will get super hyper to the point that he just can't hold still and I think that is why they prescribed the Adderral.  Being on the Adderral he brought home the best report card I have ever seen from him, so it obviously helped at school, but then the extra anger started.  I have a call in to the doctor to get him in for a med adjustment, but I'm not sure what to ask for.  We have Kaiser for our insurance and they keep switching his doctor on him, but they will not cover us if we go elsewhere.  I feel like I am just spinning in circles with all of this when all I want is to get help for my son.  

[ILADVOCATE]

They would specifically have to diagnose bipolar disorder and see that a mood stabilizer was warranted to treat it first. Ask them what specific mood disorder they diagnosed him with. However although Risperdal is an antipsychotic it is FDA approved as a mood stabilizer as well so it should be helping with this. Clonidine (which I take but for a different disability) has mood stabilization properties as well (it works in this regard for myself even though it is prescribed for me to control dystonic spasms). Adderal is of course used for ADHD but it can sometimes cause agitation so if his behavior became worse since he started taking it you need to call that to their attention. If nothing is helping you should consult with a child psychiatrist who has specific understanding in this area. Its important to understand that what appears to be willful behavior is part of ADHD and should be treated as such (there is a separate forum for this as well), although of course destructive behavior should be helped through treatment and therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy can be helpful for children in this regard, to help them to control destructive urges and not act on them. Family  therapy can be helpful so people can learn specific coping solutions.