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My Child Has Bipolar Disorder

© Colleen Sullivan

What is the Difference Between COBPD and ADHD?

Although many of the symptoms of the two disorders are the same, their origins differ. A child with COBPD often seems to intentionally misbehave and destroy, while an ADHD child with the same symptoms appears to be careless and inattentive. Physical outbursts and temper tantrums seem triggered by sensory and overstimulation in an ADHD child, but a simple "NO" (limit setting by a parent) will cause the same effect in a child with COPBD.

Children with ADHD usually calm down within 15-30 minutes, while it may take the COBPD child several hours to be relieved of his anger. In addition COBPD children often show remorse for their temper tantrums and express that they were unable to control them.

Treatment of COBPD

Due to the difficulty in diagnosing COBPD caution must be taken with prescription medications. Some drugs prescribed for ADHD (stimulants like Dexedrine, Adderall, Ritalin and Cylert) may escalate mood fluctuations, especially in a child who is genetically predisposed to bipolar disorder.

The COBPD must be treated first by stabilizing the child's mood and treating any sleep disorders and psychotic symptoms present. Once the child is stable, therapy to help him understand the nature of the illness and how it affects him is critical.

Medications used for stabilizing mood include lithium, depakene and tegretol. New mood stabilizers such as neurontin, topamax and lamictal are currently being tested and used for children. Psychotic symptoms and aggressive behavior are often treated with anti-psychotic medications such as risperdal, zyprexa, mellaril, trilafon and haldol. Klonopin and ativan are also used to treat anxiety, induce sleep and slow rapid cycling.

Antidepressant medications are very risky and not recommended as they may induce mania and hypomania in children with bipolar disorder.

How Can I (as a parent) Help?

The first thing you must do is never give up! The second thing is to learn all you possibly can about COBPD! The Bipolar Significant Others web site at http://www.bpso.org has links to many excellent sites and articles about Bipolar Children. Bipolar Parents is another site with information and plenty of warm support for parents of bipolar children. Visit them at http://bipolarparents.virtualave.net

In addition there is a brand new book called The Bipolar Child by Dimitri Papolos M.D. and Janet Papolos. Read all about it at http://www.bipolarchild.com

You are the voice for your child. Ensure that he/she keeps all doctor appointments, remains compliant with medications and all treatment plans prescribed by the doctor. Do your best to keep your child on a regular routine including eating, sleeping, exercising and school. If you are not happy with your child's progress obtain a second...or a third opinion.