My bi-polar son (16) is having a melt down. Can you tell me he'll be OK?

Thanks

Pepper <img border="0" alt="[Teary]" title="" src="graemlins/teary.gif" />

Pepperband, Please excuse me for barging in here, but I read of your son's problems on another forum, and *I* have been through this! (or at least it is sounding so familiar that HUGE bells are going off!!)

Have you considered OCD? (obsessive compulsive disorder) This manifests in 3 main ways.

1) The checker
2) The washer
3) The hoarder

It tends to run in families, and has undergone am amazing transformation in recent years due to new meds.

When I was in Jr High, I was a checker. I would go to the bathroom, and go to bed. Within 5 minutes I would have to get up, check the door to the attic, check the walk-in closet, check under my bed, check beside the vanity, go to the bathroom AGAIN, need to recheck again as I'd been outside of my bedroom, and the WHOLE THING would repeat in about 10 minutes. This would go on for at least 2 hours a night. I never told my mother as I guess I thought it was normal or something. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /> The order in which I performed these tasks was precise, and did not vary. This went on for about a year, and finally ceased when we moved from that house.

I still have little routines about checking that don't feel quite "normal", but I have control over it now, and don't do it more than once. My experience was WAY before the use of meds, and I can only imagine how people who sunk deeper into it must have felt.

Fast forward to my brother. When he was 16, he became a "washer". My mother would realize that she had been hearing the sounds of the shower in the lower level for some time, and would find my brother sobbing, slumped against the wall of the shower, crying, totally unable to get out. He would wash his hands so often that they were red and chapped. She took him to several places to try and run down the problem, and unfortunately got no good advice! (the Catholic priest suggested that it was guilt from mastaubation. LOL....not quite. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> ) He finally pulled himself out of it when he started college, and is the most easy going man I know at this time.

Anyway, it is almost ALWAYS totally curable now with meds. I don't know if any of this will ring any bells for you, but I HAD to post to you when I saw your despair, JUST IN CASE it's the same thing your son is experiencing!

Good luck, and {{{{{{{{Pepper)))))))) <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Thanks.

Yes ... the OCD symptoms are very familiar to me. Son has been on meds (too many to name) for more than 3 years. He's been hospitalized 6 times. I was just hoping that THIS TIME we had found the magic cocktail of meds that made his brain finally relax and function calmly.

He's been doing great for 6 months ... I just hate to see him relapse.

Poor kid.

Pep

<small>[ September 09, 2002, 12:19 PM: Message edited by: Pepperband ]</small>

Oh God. I see, and please excuse my intrusion! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Embarrassed]" src="images/icons/blush.gif" /> I just saw those symptoms, and it all came rushing back! My heart started beating WAY to fast to control my fingers....LOL! Best of luck to your son, and he is very lucky to have you. Hopefully the next combination will be the right one, and there will be no more relapses. Best of luck!

(Just an aside, my brother now has his masters in Civil Engineering, structual, and recently opened his own office. He gets "dirty" now with delight, and has done so for 17 years!!)

Hi Pepper...just logged on and saw you thread.

I don't know a thing about your son except he is 16, right? And bipolar? Right?

Has he been actually diagnosed with bipolar disease by competent psychiatrists?

If he has been hospitalizes six times, I just don't know what to think. I know my husband, Bipolar, never was hospitalized until he was in his twenties and then it was for alcohol treatment, which I suspect had little to do with drinking and everything to do with the disorder and trying to medicate his discomfort.

The problem with Bipolar when he was young was that he was obstinant and rebellious and no one could get through to him. He was extremely self destructive and I also suspect this was also because of his age at the time. Young men tend to be somewhat rebellious anyway, then compound that with a disorder like bipolar and you've got ingredients for some pretty alarming chaotic behaviors.

The ONLY medication that has done anything for Bipolar is neurontin. For some reason, this was the magic cocktail for HIM. Nothing else has ever worked...ever. And he has tried so many medications over the past four years.

I guess the only comfort I can offer you is that if you can find a really good psychiatrist that is well educated in the area of bipolar disorder you might find some help for you son that can change his life.

I sure wish I could do something for you and your son or offer more. I certainly understand your feelings of helplessness and fear. But the good news is that today there are so many advancements and just the fact that this disorder has been identified and medications are available to control the behaviors is a miracle in itself. For decades and centuries people thought bipolar people were just reckless and irresponsible when they were really sick.

I'll be storming the heavens for you and your son, Pepper...God bless and protect and guide you both.

Love

Catnip =^^=

<small>[ September 09, 2002, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: catnip ]</small>

Hi, Pepper,

Just wanted you to know that I saw your thread and will remember you and your son in my prayers. Our family went through hell with my brother's schizophrenia. I know its a different illness entirely, however, I just wanted you to know that I empathize with you.

Yeah, he will be OK.

My husband is OK for the first time in his life but your son won't have to wait until he is 53 like Bipolar did. I never heard of Bipolar disease until three years ago. Until then, I just thought he was an a$$h---.

The meds turned Mr. Hyde back into Dr. Jekyl...actually better than he was before the huge life altering crisis and the loss of 18 years of sobriety. The meds balanced his brain chemistry and he is OK.

Catnip =^^=

Thanks everyone ... I was having a panicky moment ... I feel more focused today and ready to meet the challenge.

You're the best!

Pepper <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" />

No, Pepper... ...YOU'RE the best!!!

...although it is true that we are pretty b****en!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />