Bipolar teen help

by Lori
(Ft Worth, Tx )

My son, Charlie, is 13 and has been diagnosed Bipolar with anxiety. He was diagnosed 9 months ago. We are still struggling getting medications right, going to therapy and keeping him in school. It is a day to day struggle. I am beginning to notice that he cycles every 3 days or so. He will be in the best mood, helpful, sweet, talkative, running non stop, goes to school without incident. Then like a light switch was turned off, he is moody, disrespectful, will not listen to anything I ask, tells me "NO" when asked to do something, tells me that I do not care about him. I talk, beg, pleased, walk away, get frustrated and raise my voice. Nothing gets to him. I finally break down and cry because usually he will run outside at 10 or 11pm and refuse to come back into the house. I am worried that as he gets older, and bigger, I am going to have major problems with him.


My biggest fear is that when he gets so angry or upset that all he wants to do is run away, that he will get hurt because he is not rational at that moment. I do not know what to do. He sees a psychologist regularly,my husband and I attend sessions with him. We are at our witt's end and do not know to parent him.


My recommendation would be do be aggressive about communicating this information to his psychiatrist. It sounds as if his mood is more elevated some days in the evening. If he is cycling in this manner, he is not stable, and that is primarily a medication issue. Initially mood stabilization is a medication issue, later once children are stable, stress becomes the trigger that destabilizes children.


Other issues that lead to destabilization can be the seasons, or changes in the way the body metabolizes medication.


It is difficult when children are unstable to talk or process with them. He may need to agree to how you can work on this issue, while he is stable, so there is a plan in place that you can follow without thinking too much.