I think that my sone may have been misdiagnosed as adhd when I beleive he is in fact manic depressive and I have some questions from parents that may be dealing with the same issues. I have an appointment with a group of doctors at a very reputable childrens mental health group but I really would like opinions from parents who have been there. I guess I need history first. I have a 9 year old who has been on medicine for adhd since age 4. He has taken tennex, addreall, tegretol, respiridal, chlonidine,ritalin and is currently on Abilify and lamictal. The doctor has said that he beleives Mike is adhd with an undetermined mood disorder.

What I see is a child that is hyper about 50% of the time with mood swings that are nothing short of aweful. His moods are to the extreme and change at the drop of a hat. Something small can upset him and he cries like it's the end of the world. 20 minutes later something samll can make him happy like he has just won the lottery. (excuse my bad examples) At school when he gets frustrated he just throws a fit or gives up or both.

After reading alot of different articles and information I really beleive that he is manic depressive and the behavior is something that I have read about called mixed cycling.

So my questions are these:

1. Is bipolar and manic depression the same or two different disorders?
2. Has anyone seen these behaviors in children before?
3. what medications are used to treat this type of disorder? I reall want to read up on the meds and side effects before I go to the doctors office again?
4. Are there changes that I can make as a parent to help correct this behavior on top of the medicine or is it strictly a medicine propblem and I just need to find the right medicine for him?


Thanks

Robert

Hi TexasRob,

You may want to read this topic which is pinned at the top of the forum: Bipolar Children

I'm going to keep this brief as I'm certainly not an expert with this subject but there are those here who are very knowledgeable and will be able to give you some personal examples.

Bipolar is the name given to Manic Depression these days so they are the same disorder. There are different types of bipolar too and it is pretty difficult to get a diagnosis, especially in children. However there are many children who do exhibit the symptoms. There is in fact the case study of a nine year old in the topic above. Like you said they often are diagnosed with other disorders.

I have a nephew with attachment disorder who behaves pretty like this but he is only 4 and he hasn't learned how to deal with his emotions yet.
Visit the Bipolar forum and our meds forums to find out about the different medications. There are many combinations available although I'm not sure if the options are more limited for children. Lamictal I think is quite common though, although I may be wrong about that.

It's definitely not strictly a medicine problem and there will be things that you can do however I'm not the person to tell you what these are. I would think there may be some books available on the subject because you're not alone in this.

Like I said, this isn't something I know a lot about but I am sure others will come along with a lot more insight to help you out. There are a great many resources on this site though so have a look around and let me know if I can help you in any way.

PRT xx