Bipolar only at Home with Mom?

by Colleen
(SW Washington State)

My 7 year old has been difficult from the beginning. The pediatrician at one point prescribed phenobarbital to make him less agitated and hopefully sleep better (he was only 2 months old!).

As a toddler we had tubes put in hoping that might help. Next his tonsils were removed. Finally he was in therapy for minor sensory issues. Nothing seemed to work. No one else saw it though.

Even his dad thought it was how I was parenting him despite the fact that we have an older wonderfully behaved child. His teachers all tell me he is an absolute delight and angel. He is verbally nasty to his brother and I mostly, using language he knows we don't approve of, hitting (brother not me), and has violent outbursts when he doesn't get his way.

He also has been fixated on things like war, what it feels like to be hurt in certain ways, dying, bleeding/bleeding to death, etc. I'm sure there is much more but this is getting long.

I guess my question though is do the symptoms have to be extreme or can it be having a multitude of them?

And can a bi-polar child control their behavior at times? Like in school or at grandparents. I'm very concerned about a doctor diagnosing/medicating because I ask about it. Thank you for any help you may have.
Colleen

p.s. I have been medicated for depression since my teens and am now on a "cocktail" that works wonderfully. My biological father has undiagnosed mental illness (very likely bi-polar/narcissistic). My maternal grandfather had a 'nervous breakdown'. Definitely a strong genetic history!

Hi Colleen:

My experience is that children who have an early onset of bipolar very often begin their behavior primarily with their primary caretaker or in the family.

Frequently I will have psychiatrists argue that it is behavioral on the basis that they are not having the same behavior problems across different settings.

I disagree with this assessment because what I see happening is that children begin at home and then it spreads to other areas as the illness progresses and advances. They also may begin with one person ( like mom) and then as things get worse it spreads to dad, grandma teachers etc.


I also believe this about symptoms. They may start in one area ( for example ) anxiety and later spread to a more typical display of mood instability.

I don't know how much research their is to prove this, but this has been my own personal experience.