Bipolar Teen?

Hi-

My 15 year old daughter is being dx with what the psychiatrist believes is bipolar. I am confused, however, because her symptoms are often situation related and her moods seem to change due to what is happening around her. Also, she has never had a real depressive or manic episode, but seems as if she is depressed and manic all in one day. The pattern I see, is that in the morning she has a very difficult time waking and seems a bit depressed, during the day she is the most level, and in the evening she is the most manic. She is currently on an anti-anxiety (6 weeks now) and a mood stabilizer (3 weeks now), which is beginning to help. I suspect she has BPD traits and also ADHD. Trying to finish school work is still nearly impossible for her, as after even a half an hour of work, she says she feels like she is going crazy. This is a kid who used to get straight A's, but who now cannot focus at all and is failing 2 classes.

My questions are: Do teens cycle so quickly that they experience depression/anxiety from hour to hour or day to day? Has anyone been dx with bipolar when the real issue was ADHD? Any feedback would be helpful, as to me (while I am not a professional) this does not seem like bipolar.

Thanks.

Most on this board (including myself) are not professionals either, but it does sound a little unusual for straight bi-polar. The important thing is not the diagnosis, it's getting her back to "healthy". So if the meds appear to be starting to work, thats good and I wouldn't worry about exactly what she has. If the meds arn't taking care of it don't be afraid to seek additional professional help, these things can be difficult.

One thing stands out to me, you mention that she went from a straight A student to failing a couple of classes. Too often, thats a sign of some traumatic experience that may be really, really difficult for her to even think about. Have you considered counseling/therapy as an option? And most importantly, try to make sure you are there for her, just to love her, care for her, whatever the situation may be. Let us know how it goes, or pm me if you want

It does, indeed, sound strange to be given a diagnosis of Bipolar after hearing her symptoms. Those quickly cycling moods could be indicative of Borderline Personality Disorder or severe teenage mood swings which are completely normal although they could get out of hand sometimes. The clue here is that you said the mood swings are environmental. Perhaps you could tell the psychiatrist that & see what he says?

Although, if the medication is working & making her feel better, I would continue that path.

Thank you both for your replies. I have spoken to the psychiatrist about my daughter's potential for Borderline Personality Disorder and ADHD. He discounted the Borderline b/c my daughter has stable relationships with friends, but from what I see, she has all of the other symptoms. The ADHD he said he would address after she is stable, but I suspect the ADHD is a huge part of all of this, as her constant "screwing up" (as she puts it), for example, always being later, forgetting to do assignments, doing assignments but forgetting to hand them in etc. has led her to all sorts of self esteem issues and getting in trouble with teachers and being made fun of (jokingly, but still) by other kids. Her identity used to revolve around being "the smart kid" and now she thinks she is suddenly stupid and does not know why. The medication is starting to work. The anti-anxiety takes away her dread, but if she forgets to take it, or takes it too late, she completely freaks out and is worse than before she was medicated. This really scares me. The Lamictal is also seemingly beginning to work, but her titration is going too fast for my comfort and I worry about the dreaded rash. She has only been on it for 4 weeks and is at 100mg with a burgeoning sore throat and complaints that her throat feels restricted, which we are keeping a careful watch on. As far as the rapid cycling (as in, up and down constantly depending upon the situation at hand), has no one else with bipolar experienced this? My impression of bipolar is that the person experiences distinct depressive or manic or mixed episodes that are irrelevant (for the most part) of what is going on in their lives. I imagine that it just comes on out of nowhere. Is this an incorrect impression? Or could this be a mixed episode? She has been seeing the psychiatrist for about 2 months now, and while there has been improvement, she still has episodes that are very scary to me (cutting herself, crying, hysterical).

I have read Daniel Amen's books and watched his programs on PBS. His science (via brain imaging) and correlations are intriguing, and are beginning to be backed up by other researchers' studies.

So, here is a piece that might provide some clues to your daughter's situation, and give you confidence in her doctor's strategy.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5037541_adult-adhd-bipolar-disorder.html

Thank you for the link.