9yo ds and Seroquel

[blessedwithboys]

My son has shown signs of early onset bipolar disorder since he was an infant.  Yes, an infant.  :)  His current dx is Mood Disorder-NOS bc we live in a small town with crappy docs.  If I took him to Papolos in NYC, he'd be dx w/BP right away, as his dad is already dx with it and depression runs in my family as well.

We tried Risperdal but after 6 weeks, including a dose increase of 100%, it had changed nothing.

Tonight was ds's 5th dose of Seroquel, so as of this morning, he had really only been on it for 3 days.  Instead of waking up angry, he awoke pleasant.  He politely asked me if he could serve himself some granola.  He didn't have anxiety when I went in my room alone to take a shower.  He didn't have a melt down when I told him to turn off Phineas and Ferb at the end of the current episode. 

He did not have one single major mood swing all day.  He did start to swing, but was able to halt it before it went all the way to violent rage.

OTOH, he was maniacally euphoric all day.  He spent the whole day acting giddy and silly, laughing and making jokes.  He wanted to wrestle me and jump all over me and I was able to give him my completely undivided attention all day since my older ds wasn't home.  I'm sore and bruised, but I'm ok with that, bc we were playing and it was a refreshing change from being bruised by him in a rage.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.  Is this normal, for there to be such a drastic change after only 4 doses?  And is the mania ok, or should I worry and call the doctor?

TIA!

[Katwoman]

I don't know the difference between adults and children, but I do have experience with seroquel so I thought I'd tell you what I experienced.  I loved it!  It made me feel so much better.  I did have times of what some people would consider mania - the docs started talking about me being bi-polar.  But from the inside out, I was just so happy not to feel so bad all the time.  It was such a relief to have so much heaviness lifted from me, that I just felt really happy. 

I think calling the doc and talking to him is a good idea.  (Better too many calls with kids than not enough.)  Also, make sure he's getting his blood work done.  There is a particular side effect than needs to be watched for.  (Which is why I had to stop it.)  But if the meds are safe, they really do a much different job than the antidepressants I had taken prior to it. 

[blessedwithboys]

Sorry I didn't get back here sooner I got locked out of my account and the admin was no help to me in getting back in.  :( 

Thanks for sharing!

Ds is still taking Seroquel and it has taken his unbearableness down from a 15 to a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1-10.  So I guess that is progress.  His doc hasn't mentioned blood tests but I know they are needed so I'll address that next week at his check-up.