Uggghhhh! I know it's all part of the territory and this is nothing that any of us are none to familiar with when raising a bipolar child. Good weeks, bad weeks, relapses, stability, calm. And as always, the medicine dilemma.. So here is how things have been.. About 2 weeks ago we weened off the invega due to the weight gain. The pdoc wanted to put him on Zoloft or Prozac in it's place ad I was leery of it. First week with no invega was great, didn't adjust other meds or add in any new ones.. Really? Could this work? Trileptol is rumored to work better when paired but I thought maybe we won't have to, or at the very least, lets up the dosage since he's still on a really low one before we add in a new med. Week 1 passes and week 2 starts, not so hot this week. Soo much trouble at school, plus a little more at home then we've seen in a few months. Craptastic!! Luckily no suspensions from school or trips back to the hospital yet though because I still see some control in him that he didn't have before. He's still able to pull it together and get it under control.. now if we can just work on all that from the beginning. I still see the progress from the last hospital visit and treatment and there's still days when he wants to be in full control ( I don't allow many but we do try on weekends sometimes). He's also very on board with taking control of it, not letting it control him. Show it who's boss, & kick it's ass, we always say!! I'm still so very proud of him and know that he won't let this beat him or that he won't use it as an excuse as he gets older.
He's growing up so fast and soon we will have to deal with puberty and him being a teenager. He's got such a heightened curiosity about things that I am not ready for him to be curious about yet and I'm not sure Mom is the best person to help him through boy puberty stuff, but I'll do the best I can and hope I just don't scar him for life. He knows he can ask me questions about anything he knows not to hide things from me so hopefully as he gets older he will remember that.
He's got a lot of anger for such a young kid and I hope that someday as he grows up, he will either be able to move past it or work through it. Unfortunately, this is a fight I have to watch from the sidelines and can only cheer him on but cannot be his coach. I hate that he has to deal with it as a kid and I know from experience, it's not an easy fight.. But I know he'll come out on top someday and will prevail in it. He may not like how it happens or what he needs to to do get there but I know he will do whats right for him in the end.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
When did that happen and other random stuff
Yeah, Yeah I know.. Slacker comes to mind. I was doing really well with keeping up with the blog, then the holidays came AND WENT.. and now, well no excuse. So, I promise to keep this updated.. But I can't always promise anything exciting so hopefully you will still stick with me to find out.
So first and foremost.. the reason for this blog.. Jake!
So far we are off to a good start for the year and sometime while I wasn't looking apparently, my little boy grew up! Oh my! In less than 2 years, he'll be a teenager but after dealing with the behaviors and actions he's exhibited over the years, the teen years should be a breeze right?? No, Seriously, I want someone to answer that for me!! I have spent so many years with the rose colored glasses and kid gloves on, I guess I missed a few things.. and it may be time to take them off.. (but still keeping them both within reach of course). No I am not ready to ship him off yet and he's still a kid but he's grown up so much in the past 6 months. So many things I protected him from in the past, I don't think I need to anymore. I have always been the reluctant mom of the bipolar kid, so I went to birthday parties with him, kept him close in certain situations, worried about things that most mom's never have to worry about. He has shown me lately that I may not need to worry as much as I used to. I need to loosen the rope a bit and see what he does with it. He stays home by himself in the afternoons after school and is really enjoying the responsibility. He has a school field trip coming up in Feb and at first instinct, I contacted his teacher to talk to him about it, telling him I would go so that J could attend. The teacher said I could go but I wouldn't be with Jake during the day so it wasn't really necessary and of course I thought that if I did go and couldn't be with him, it would upset him. We talked about it and he already knew that if I went he couldn't be with me and was ok with it. Um?? Really!! Ok.. He still wants me to go though.. but will be ok with it either way if I do or don't and I won't be nervous nelly at work all day if I don't, waiting on the phone to ring.
(ok well maybe will a little bit, but old habits are hard to break right??)He's not showing as much of the immature tendencies as he used to either. Yeah!!! I took him off one of his meds last week due to some weight gain issues and so far so good without it. But still watching for any major changes in mood, behavior and whatever else.. He's doing well with the new doctors at Aspire but not so keen on the group therapy yet but I keep trying to push it and get him to go. He did soooo well at the group therapy sessions at St.V's while he was in that program and although I am glad he is done with it, I know there are days I really wish he still had it. He's talking to me more about his feelings and problems and this is huge for him to open up like that. I am soo proud of him and hope that he continues on this path towards success.
This weekend, I need to do a little reorganization on all other things bipolar in the house, I need to update some binders and start some new ones. The big red binder now has company. There's the Med Hx binder, the resource binder and the everything else binder. Well ok there is a Med Hx binder but the last 2 are conceptual at this point with full intent of being created soon. I have the info, just haven't had the time to organize and put them all together. So much information, so many resources. Once I get a better handle on everything, I will also get back to sharing them in the future blogs.
For now, however I can share a few pieces that every parent of a bipolar child should have..
For your Med Hx binder-
http://www.nami.org/namiland09/BASICSrecordkeepingsystem.pdf
Another good one to have on hand, especially if you are first starting out is the treatment guidelines:
http://www.bpkids.org/sites/default/files/treatment_guidelines.pdf
and the medication guide:
http://www.aacap.org/galleries/default-file/aacap_bipolar_medication_guide.pdf
Good Luck out there, and know that you are not alone. Reach out to local organizations for resources (ASK, in IN, or CABF and NAMI for national resources which will lead you to local resources in your area).
www.aboutspecialkids.org
www.bpkids.org
www.nami.org
Join a support group, become a parent volunteer with one of these organizations, do whatever you need to do for yourself to be the best parent to your bipolar child. Be educated, be informed and BE AWESOME!
So first and foremost.. the reason for this blog.. Jake!
So far we are off to a good start for the year and sometime while I wasn't looking apparently, my little boy grew up! Oh my! In less than 2 years, he'll be a teenager but after dealing with the behaviors and actions he's exhibited over the years, the teen years should be a breeze right?? No, Seriously, I want someone to answer that for me!! I have spent so many years with the rose colored glasses and kid gloves on, I guess I missed a few things.. and it may be time to take them off.. (but still keeping them both within reach of course). No I am not ready to ship him off yet and he's still a kid but he's grown up so much in the past 6 months. So many things I protected him from in the past, I don't think I need to anymore. I have always been the reluctant mom of the bipolar kid, so I went to birthday parties with him, kept him close in certain situations, worried about things that most mom's never have to worry about. He has shown me lately that I may not need to worry as much as I used to. I need to loosen the rope a bit and see what he does with it. He stays home by himself in the afternoons after school and is really enjoying the responsibility. He has a school field trip coming up in Feb and at first instinct, I contacted his teacher to talk to him about it, telling him I would go so that J could attend. The teacher said I could go but I wouldn't be with Jake during the day so it wasn't really necessary and of course I thought that if I did go and couldn't be with him, it would upset him. We talked about it and he already knew that if I went he couldn't be with me and was ok with it. Um?? Really!! Ok.. He still wants me to go though.. but will be ok with it either way if I do or don't and I won't be nervous nelly at work all day if I don't, waiting on the phone to ring.
(ok well maybe will a little bit, but old habits are hard to break right??)He's not showing as much of the immature tendencies as he used to either. Yeah!!! I took him off one of his meds last week due to some weight gain issues and so far so good without it. But still watching for any major changes in mood, behavior and whatever else.. He's doing well with the new doctors at Aspire but not so keen on the group therapy yet but I keep trying to push it and get him to go. He did soooo well at the group therapy sessions at St.V's while he was in that program and although I am glad he is done with it, I know there are days I really wish he still had it. He's talking to me more about his feelings and problems and this is huge for him to open up like that. I am soo proud of him and hope that he continues on this path towards success.
This weekend, I need to do a little reorganization on all other things bipolar in the house, I need to update some binders and start some new ones. The big red binder now has company. There's the Med Hx binder, the resource binder and the everything else binder. Well ok there is a Med Hx binder but the last 2 are conceptual at this point with full intent of being created soon. I have the info, just haven't had the time to organize and put them all together. So much information, so many resources. Once I get a better handle on everything, I will also get back to sharing them in the future blogs.
For now, however I can share a few pieces that every parent of a bipolar child should have..
For your Med Hx binder-
http://www.nami.org/namiland09/BASICSrecordkeepingsystem.pdf
Another good one to have on hand, especially if you are first starting out is the treatment guidelines:
http://www.bpkids.org/sites/default/files/treatment_guidelines.pdf
and the medication guide:
http://www.aacap.org/galleries/default-file/aacap_bipolar_medication_guide.pdf
Good Luck out there, and know that you are not alone. Reach out to local organizations for resources (ASK, in IN, or CABF and NAMI for national resources which will lead you to local resources in your area).
www.aboutspecialkids.org
www.bpkids.org
www.nami.org
Join a support group, become a parent volunteer with one of these organizations, do whatever you need to do for yourself to be the best parent to your bipolar child. Be educated, be informed and BE AWESOME!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
New Year, New Beginnings
OK so wow, it's been awhile since I blogged last.. Guess, I better catch everyone up. We got through the holidays with flying colors and surprising success. (even tho I hate that term, "made it through" because that just sounds so lame and awful!!)
Thanksgiving was quiet as we opted for a small party of 2 meal this year with no extended family. It was stress free and quiet. Christmas, well wasn't as stress free and quiet but no major issues to report there.. Spent A LOT of time with family, running around, being away from home, blah blah blah.. BUT he did great.. Had 1 or 2 issues that could have escalated into his old behaviors but they didn't. I think he did better with the holidays then I did.. but as a mother, it was easy to "keep up appearances."
( but that's a log for another day)
We are back to school now after 2 weeks off and 2 days in, we have had 1 good day & 1 well- not so good. Around the time of my last blog, we had an issue with after school care and since the end of November, he has been staying home by himself after school. He's been doing great and has taken really well to the responsibility.So proud of him!!
So with good things to report so far, I will keep this short. Still not physical violence, no damaged property and the outbursts are small and easily contained these days. Still battling with some med issues tho health wise and hoping to get that under control soon. The med's are doing great right now for the behaviors but causing some issues with weight gain & fatigue. Good Luck to you all out there in the bipolar world & here is to a Happy, Healthy & Successful New Year!!
Thanksgiving was quiet as we opted for a small party of 2 meal this year with no extended family. It was stress free and quiet. Christmas, well wasn't as stress free and quiet but no major issues to report there.. Spent A LOT of time with family, running around, being away from home, blah blah blah.. BUT he did great.. Had 1 or 2 issues that could have escalated into his old behaviors but they didn't. I think he did better with the holidays then I did.. but as a mother, it was easy to "keep up appearances."
( but that's a log for another day)
We are back to school now after 2 weeks off and 2 days in, we have had 1 good day & 1 well- not so good. Around the time of my last blog, we had an issue with after school care and since the end of November, he has been staying home by himself after school. He's been doing great and has taken really well to the responsibility.So proud of him!!
So with good things to report so far, I will keep this short. Still not physical violence, no damaged property and the outbursts are small and easily contained these days. Still battling with some med issues tho health wise and hoping to get that under control soon. The med's are doing great right now for the behaviors but causing some issues with weight gain & fatigue. Good Luck to you all out there in the bipolar world & here is to a Happy, Healthy & Successful New Year!!
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