Any single parents of bipolar kiddos?

[Moochie Mamma]

(x-posting to mental health)

10yo DS has been stable for the past few months. Now cycling rapidly- he goes from depressed to a hypomanic/ irritated/ out of control state. He hasn't gone to school in 3 days, kicked a hole in the wall the other day when I said no to more food at bedtime. Alternates between normal/ laying in bed talking about not wanting to exist/ going bonkers. Called his psychdoc this am and left message- need to up meds- he's on Lamictal.

DH and I just separated, are filing for divorce soon. DH doesn't know how to deal with DS moods and yells which scared DS. (I just talked to a friend who got a call from another friend saying she saw DH "losing it" and yelling at kids in front of school the other day, kids crying.) DS says he wants to only live with me but I work 2 or 3 12-hour shifts/ week at a hospital and don't want to have a babysitter from 6am-8pm. I've been only working when kids are with DH.

I'm rambling but the last few days have been rough, don't know if I'm going to be able to work this weekend if DS is unstable. Don't know if I should try for sole custody or continue shared if DH can't handle taking care of kids when DS is cycling.

Other moms of bipolar: how do you deal when kids are cycling? Do you let go of all semblance of normalcy (he won't brush teeth, shower, nothing) or try to stick with regular routine? How do you cope if you are single parent?

[~PurityLake~]

Can children actually have bipolar disorder? I thought it was one of those things that didn't manifest until adult-age.

[quaz]

Yes, kids can be bi-polar.
Tammy

[DTmama1]

I'm a single mom and one of the children I'm adopting is 11 and suspected bipolar. Right now I'm watching to see. She was diagnosed with depression so far, but it is seeming like it may be cyclical.

[PoppyMama]

My dd is 13. I wish I had some help for you...or me. Honestly, right now I'm just losing my mind.

...I should add. I am remarried but I deal with all things dd except getting her up in the morning because otherwise I probably wouldn't have a partner or I wouldn't have a dd. Dealing with her behaviors is only possible for me because I am on a mission from God (parenting basically) and she was a really adorable baby and little girl. I can hardly stand to be around her a lot of the time despite all that. Luckily my partner is willing to financially support me because working with all the calls from school and all the doctors appts and the exhaustion, etc. wasn't panning out very well. I was finally taking her to work with me (awesome that I was able to but sucked in practice) and homeschooling her.

[provocativa]

my kids have lead poisoning, different etiology similar pathology- but other family members are bipolar, so i've read up on it a bit. there are many food triggers for bipolar. chief among them is wheat (my kids are extremely violent with even miniscule exposure), and the other top allergens like soy and dairy. after that, any food additives and chemicals, and inhaled chemicals are triggers for outbursts (see feingold.org). consider also looking into phenol and salicylate intolerances (there is a page in the allergy section here). the body's number one inhibitory neurotransmitter (calming neurotransmitter) is GABA- gamma amnio butryic acid (i often misspell it) and it is safe for an adult to take 4 grams. i give it to my kids often. i also supplement them with b6 (well, a b complex) and magnesium and d3 to encourage their bodies to make more of their own gaba- with the lead poisoning most of their b vitamins get siphoned off for detox. i also give them 5htp to increase serotonin and calm them down- but some manic folks don't need more serotonin. really, gaba is your friend- and they make sublinguals. my small kids can handle 2-4 of those a day if i could afford it. i take some, too. the magnesium is also key- most bipolars can have the calcium channels of the cells screaming open and refiring, and not enough mag to close them. you need d3 to absorb the mag (citrate or glycinate, not oxide!) also, too much tyrosine can cause adrenaline and noradrenaline to recirculate- so stay off of cheese. other important nutrients are choline and inositol, and more vitamin c. nutritional healing really changed our life; and i do believe now that wheat is poison!