Kat was eight when she first started having trouble in school. First counselor we took her to thought she was having repressed feelings about being adopted. Around this time we found out that she had been having seizures in her sleep. She was started on Tegretol. Around 11 she was diagnosed as ADD and we put her on Ritalin for three years. The 2 meds did ok for her for awhile but she put on a lot of weight which no one ever told me was from the meds. When she entered puberty they did an ECG and said she had no more seizure activity. Age 14 was wonderful. She was an A/B student, accepted at a college ed private school, active in clubs. The following summer she suffered a huge depression and was started on antidepressants. By age 15 we had a wild child on our hands, breaking curfew, running with street kids, barely doing anything in school. One of my daughters who worked one summer in a mental hospital came home for a visit and said she looked BP to her. Then began the cycle of drugs to find something that kept her stable.
Anita, mom to Kat, 19, BP, lithium, topomax, abilify, buspar,currently enrolled in college and living away from home