Hi everyone,

I was just wondering if your bipolar child is hard to wake up. I have read this on several websites and it is not something my child has at all. He is hard to get to bed and often doesn't get enough sleep, but he hops out of bed without a problem in the morning.

We have not been formally diagnosed. I was back at the therapist yesterday and we have completed at home and teacher assessments but don't have the results in. We have on the table right ADHD, bipolar and ODD. I spoke at length with his teacher, and as with past teachers, they don't feel it is ADHD, nor do I. He is oppositional, especially when raging or in one of his moods, but is usually very remorseful and almost destroyed at times by the things he has said and done to hurt us. He can be very oppositional though.

Anyway, as I read symptom lists and I am amazed at how much like him this sounds, the only thing that doesn't fit at all is the hard to wake up part.

Thanks so much. I hope you all have a wonderful day today.

Hi,

The teachers are making helpful observations but they might be all wrong about diagnosing.
I'm curious about the word "oppositional."
When an adult is "out of control," the docs can treat with meds.

I'm not choosing my words right but I feel bad seeing the child be called "oppositional" when he seems to have a medical condition.

M.

I am only using the word oppositional as a diagnostic term. The therapist thinks he may have oppositional defiance disorder, or he may be oppositionally defiant as part of his bipolar diagnosis.

I think he is hyperactive and fidgety, so a lot of the ADHD stuff fits, but it doesn't take into account how upset he gets over the littlest thing and how it took me an hour and a half to get him to calm down last night after his feelings were hurt when we told him we didn't go to bed when he did because we had things to do.

I have kind of a odd question?

But how is he when sitting watching movies? Or playing video games?

If he can stay on the task of playing the game or watching the whole movie
without interruptions. Then I have a feeling he is more ADD. Even though
you are seeing the hyperactivity and fidgity things.

The oppositional defiant is something that many use. And honestly any child
or young teen that is having problems confroming to the things others wants
get this term. Its something that the schools use a lot.

Personally I believe its used to term the child more than anything.

If you are having trouble getting him to sleep at night, or in the case of
going to bed when you are up. Try melantonin, its a natural herb that
makes us tired and sleepy.

You give it to them about 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want them to
think about going to sleep. You can also then let him think its his idea to
go to sleep. Praise him later for going without you going too.

Make a big deal about this if necessary.

Donna

I am not sure he is ADHD at all. He can play a whole game of monopoly, draw for hours on end, engage in imaginary play for long periods of time and he gets good grades and is an excellent writer. His problem is more emotional, irratibility, extreme crankiness at times and then supersensitive to getting his feelings hurt and not being able to come out of a situation of perceived or real hurt or anger for a long time or without extreme intervention on my part (praying, using calming techniques, etc). He hates the word NO. He thinks he knows more than I do. Yesterday I had him sort books into a pile that we would donate to his school. When I went up he was only half finished but he had some Spongebob books in the pile "to go". I double checked with him and he said he didn't put them in there - I must have. I said "No, they were in the go to pile" and he kept saying I did it and was angry.

Also, how much melatonin do you give?

Hiya! I can relate to your question most of the time. I think it's individual by child. My son is impossible to wake up sometimes, no problem other times. Same goes for going to bed. Are you dealing with mental processing problems at school or oversensitivity to input? That's one of our most difficult issues. I get calls from the teacher that he's refusing to work, and when I talk to him it is usually because they're asking him to switch subjects when he hasn't completed the assignment on the previous subject. He can't seem to manage the switch. Hope your day is smooth.

My daughter can stay up for hours at a time and happily sleep for twenty. She has OCD, with a very dominating, aggressive personality - only people she is close to bear the brunt, so it is felt at varying degrees according to her emotional attachments. Once she loses it - thats it, only blessing is that she is not physically aggressive. To control her she has to be shouted down, and she has a huge, deep voice so it is not easy to shout her down. And she is NOT remorseful. She will seldom listen to advice. With people she doesn't know well, she is good as gold. She is confident (over), and will not be made to do what she does not want to do.
Sometimes I get anxious enough to start having palitations.

She is on Paxil CR 37.5 once a day, but I do think we need to evaluate her for something else.

She is dyslexic. Severly so.
She was adopted in a very bad condition at six seven weeks. She weighed 20% less than her birth weight.

Now she is almost 19, very bright in interpreting situations or problems.
But her attitude to life is often that of a fourteen year old.

She is truthful to the point of cruelty - "I am not going to lie". It is all either black or white.

Trouble is that the doctors don't see all this. There she is highly popular.

I want to throw up my hands up.

All I can hope for is that she learns from experience. That has begun to happen.