Hi,

I missed this the first time through.

Why is she getting Concerta when her moods are not controlled? ?? ?? Usually psyhciatrists first try to stabilize the moods. Only secondly they try to work on the ADHD - type behavior.
This is how it works with adults anyway. I know that children are different.
Still, I might question why she is on Concerta. Getting her off it might solve parts of her problems.


Is she seeing a pediatric psychiatrist who specializes in young patients with bipolar?


You should get much more help from the school than you are getting. As a child with bipolar, she is supposed to get accommodations at school that make it easier her to be successful. Probably school is stressful for her, making things at home harder for her too.

Ask her psychiatrist if she can have some emergency medicine. Sometimes those kinds of medications can take 45 minutes to an hour. Anyway, talk to the psychiatrist.

I am concerned that the child "forgets" to take her medicine some days. She's 10. This should not happen. Work this out with a therapist and a psychiatrist.

Alsot, take anything valuable out of the house. Put it in a bank box or somewhere else safe so that you are not concerned about stuff getting stolen and you can focus on the child.

Some of the things you describe are behaviors. Determining what is bipolar and what comes from somewhere else will be useful if her health care team can figure that out. Sometimes they can't figure that out until the child is much older.

Please let her therapist and psychiatrist know how bad things are. Write things down to bring with you to the appointments. Sometimes the healthcare team can be pushed to come up with better ideas / better plan.

Find a social worker who can connect the 10 year old and the rest of the family to special services in your town and state.

M