Bipolar 101

OK so now that I have shared Jake's story, I suppose it's time to dive into Bipolar 101. I want to continue to point out that I AM NOT A DOCTOR nor am I an expert on this subject. I am just the mother of a child who has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.
Recently, some things happened to make me want to go back and "hit the books" so to speak. I went to my local library and checked out 5-6 books on Childhood Bipolar Disorder and Parenting a Bipolar Child. I started to revert back to my old college days and started my research. In the middle of book 1 I noticed my notepad was already getting pull and I had 5 books to go. I figured I better change my approach. So I took the books to work and pretty much just copied the chapters. Five books later and a 2 hour long organization session at my moms house, the Big Red Binder was born. I was able to separate the chapters out into 5 categories and took chapters from each of the books that fit these categories. I broke it down into 1. The Diagnosis 2. Meds & Therapy 3. Parenting 4. School 5. Other. As I have stated before in previous blogs, most of the books were very "medically" written with case studies and scenarios. I also spent a lot of time on the Internet researching the subject and was able to also find Internet material to put in the binder for each one of the categories as well.
One thing that Jake's therapists always drill in his head is to make sure he knows what to do, how to handle an episode and constructive/healthy ways to control his anger. So as his mother, I figured I should also be informed on the subject as well. When he was younger, we had signs and posters up in his room and in the kitchen showing ways to control his anger, an anger thermometer, and also mood charts. Now that he is older and able to express himself better, we have taken these down for now. He has continued to do well in school and we have not had a major rage episode in over 3 weeks. He's only had one episode at school. So far his grades are all A+!!! He's also getting better about getting up in the morning ( sort of) but I think that also it may be because he has been going to bed so much earlier than he used to (on his own, not by my doing). I think our most recent med change to Invega, Intuniv and Lorazepam is effective and working very well. I hope it continues to do so.
I will spend a lot of time and focus on the parenting a bipolar child part. I am not here to help you diagnose your child. I will share stories about the meds Jake has been on and what has worked for us and what hasn't. Again, just because it worked for him, doesn't mean it will be the miracle drug for your child. In the Bipolar Parents community, we hear a lot about these miracle drugs and how awesome they were, but then 5 minutes later we see another story about how awful that same drug was for another child. We had such a hard time with his old school, which is another reason I added school to my Big Red Binder. School and home are 2 completely different worlds for a Bipolar child and it's hard for a parent and teacher to understand that because they only are in one of the 2 environments. Jake can have the worst day at school and come home that night and have a fantastic night and vise versa. Things that would set him off at home, are not present in school. The way the behavior is handled, treated and dealt with is also different at home and school.

So I will share resources, websites, books, etc as well as anything I can on parenting and school. I hope that someday parents out there don't feel the way I did for years. I seriously thought that I was the only person in my state who was the parent of a Bipolar child. Child care places and most schools are not equipped to handle these children. I also learned that his best advocate is me, so I better prepare myself. I want him to have a good life, I want him to be successful, have friends who care about him. He wants to play sports but we are still working on that. He did Tae Kwon Do for 2 years and that worked well for the most part. We just aren't too sure about team sports yet. I don't necessarily feel that I struggle with this more than others but as a single mother who works a full time job outside of the home, it's difficult. Especially when he has been suspended from school, removed from after school programs and is not allowed to participate in summer camps or programs. We went through 2 sitters over the summer. When your support system is small, it does make things difficult.
Please feel free to post stories, ask questions, etc. This is an open forum! Have a great resource to share? A doctor to rave or vent about? Did your kid do something today that only we would understand? Do you need someone to chat with who understands what you are going through?