5 YEAR OLD GIRL OUT OF CONTROL

[Becky20]

When my daughter was 4 she was referred to a child psychologist because I felt she had adhd.
Her 10 year old brother has a.d.h.d. and her 7 year old brother has a.d.d.
My father has bipolar, my grandfather was diagnosed as having split personality, my aunt suffered from  severe depression, and so to do I suffer with depression awaiting further assessment because
I felt I have bi polar because I have major up's and downs, with previouse self harming. They said my
daughter may grow out of it and left it at that, 1 year later I have had her re referred because
she is becoming worse on a daily basis, I have recorded footage of her screaming in the streets,
screaming in our house, kicking, scratching, she tried to strangle me, she has a beautiful side,
where she is so innocent and I am convinced she is not able to control these severe outbursts
she screams because her socks arnt right, every day, bobbles underneath or where
there's toe stitching, it can take forever to get her shoes on, she is sweet at school, but in every other situation she goes mad, she screams for hours at levels beyond comprehension, she screamed for hours because I put her blanket wrong, She is upsetting everyone, and her moods are becoming more and more severe, and aggressive I have been given phenergan to calm her down (doesnt help at all) and am due to see psychologist on the 19th of feb, but that date seems so distant, can you offer me any advice.  

[Becky20]

Sorry it's taken a while for me to post, I have now been diagnosed as having bi polar, and my 5 year old daughter has seen her psychiatrist now, bi polar has not been ruled out, her p.doc says it is not called bipolar for kids it is called something like emotional instability, cant remember the exact name she said, she said she would rather hold off giving my daughter meds untill she is 6, so long as she is semi stable, she is in a mixed state at the moment, rapid cycling, she will give her a mood stabalizer if she goes manic, for now we live day to day, her oldest brother is also now getting re assessed as previously diagnosed as having a.d.h.d. we now think he has bipolar. If there are any comments you would like to leave, I will gladly reply, I know there are alot of people who dont have experience with mental health issues and think they are made up, but I can assure you, bipolar disease is a very real mental health problem it destroys lives, I have lived with a father with bipolar, i grew up undiagnosed and nearly took my own life on several occasions, I now have children with the same disease and I will do my utmost as a mother to keep them safe, from themselves, and if that means medicating them, then that is what i shall do.

[Becky20]

Thanks very much for you'r knowledge, I am seeking out a psychiatrist that is familiar with bi polar, Thanks for the information on the med's that is sort of the last thing on my mind at the moment, first and formost is that my child gets a complete and thorough evaluation,. It goes without saying that a diagnosis will be welcome because then at least I will know exactly what we are dealing with, instead of guessing what we are dealing with, . I will keep updating and thank you.

[SL345]

Just remember that true Bipolar Disorder is relatively rare in young children, although it is surely the diagnosis de jour in the states. It is also difficult to diagnose in a young child. Make sure this person spends a good amount of time with your child. Consider psychological testing to be more thorough in making the diagnosis and ruling out other underlying conditions. This diagnosis will have great meaning for you in light of your family history. Try to move slowly, and carefully, as it sounds like you are doing. Although you may be absolutely correct, think about this in terms of what is most helpful. Many of the treatments (other than medication) for emotional and behavioral disorders in children cross diagnoses. That is, intervention is more often based on behavioral manifestations than underlying disorders (for the most part). Also, there is new research (Biederman et al in Boston) that shows children with Bipolar Disorder do NOT do well on mood stabilizers, such as Lithium and Tegretol, and tend to be much more responsive to low doses of medications such as Resperidone. Good luck to you and thanks for the update. Do let us know what happens next.

[Becky20]

Well I got to my appointment only to realise that the woman I was seeing was only a mental health worker, so basically I have delayed the diagnosis, by seeing people who are unable to diagnose my daughter, I am now having her re-referred to a psychiatrist able to diagnose bi polar and am pretty certain now that it is bi polar...... I will post more in the near future, and for all those who face the same uncertainty, persevere.

[Becky20]

It seems like you have travelled a long road, and are probably at the same stage as I am with my daughter,
I am not sure if my daughter is a.d.h.d. or bipolar, she definately has 2 sides to her and the difference is dramatic, is all I can say is persevere and record her behaviour as evidence, I cant say untill I have my daughter diagnosed wether they will diagnose bi polar, but I have pushed my appointment forward to this friday, so I will post on here what the outcome is.

[Joan959]

We do have mental illnesses in our family. The pediatrician said she doesn't have add or adhd.  The educational psychologist in school doesn't assess until she's in kindergarten which will be in September.  We have a normal family life, have lived in the same house for 3 years.  This behaviour seems to have started when she was about 2.  We've had her allergy tested and nothing came up except pollen, ragweed.  We've tried a Naturopath and followed a strict diet which I must admit did seem to help in her behaviour after a few months. BUT my Dr.'s say this isn't possible and it's so hard to feed us without wheat, eggs, dairy, sugar. So now we're just eating regularly again.