Okay, the Dr. really thinks it's bipolar--confused!

June 16, 2006

I posted recently about my OCD daughter, Mikayla, and how she's having

a tough time right now. She started having severe problems suddenly 3

1/2 yrs. ago and has been on Celexa, which didn't do much, and now a

year of Prozac, which did wonders. She was completely symptom free

from last June until April this year. Then the vomit thoughts crept

back in and have been constant for the past month or 6 weeks. She

upped her Prozac from 30 to 40 mgs. and added Risperdal at 1 mg. It

hasn't done a thing, anxiety is still off the charts. She's crying,

following me around the house saying, " It's different this time--I'm

really sick! " and is not functioning. She went to school, but was

uncomfortable the whole time. After 3 weeks of the Riperdal, I called

the Dr. to ask about upping the Prozac again, or to switch SSRI's--do

something! So, she said that she's been thinking about it and thinks

Mikayla is bipolar. So, she wanted to start her on Lithium to see if

it helps and took her off the Risperdal. That was Monday. Here it is

Friday and Mikayla's in complete distress, so I called her back. She

added Zyprexa, which has helped Mikayla in the past when she was

getting on the Prozac and said again that we just need to wait until

the Lithium takes effect and that she probably won't need the Prozac

because it's bipolar. I'm so confused! We have an appt. Monday

again, but it sounds to me like she is basing this whole bipolar

diagnosis on the fact that she went through a med. change last spring

from the Celexa to Prozac and now it's spring again and she's having a

hard time so it must be cyclical. I guess what I'm afraid will happen

is that she will have a positive reponse to the Zyprexa/Prozac combo

and that the pdoc will think it's the Lithium. I looked at multiple

symptom lists of bipolar in children and she doesn't fit any of it

except for the cyclical part and " racing thoughts " because she does

have constant thoughts about vomiting.

I guess my question is this: Does anyone have a child with bipolar

and OCD and how was it diagnosed? I'm not " afraid " of the bipolar

label, I just don't want to waste time trying to treat something that

she doesn't have while watching her suffer.

Thanks all!

Dina

Recommended Posts