First bipolar symptoms

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I'm worried about my 15 year old son. He's been diagnosed with AS, ADD and OCD, the OCD starting in the past few months. He takes Concerta for the ADD and Celexa for the OCD. For the past year, he will have several days of a really bad mood, where he is explosively angry, punching walls, cursing me out, being generally mean and unreasonable. When I ask him to do something when he is in this mood, he screams "leave me alone" in the way that I would scream if somebody was TORTURING me. Then after a few days, he calms down, or stuff just doesn't bother him as much. Only now am I starting to wonder if these bad moods could signal bipolar. What were the first symptoms of your BP? How often did your moods change? Is anyone out there AS and bipolar? (He is adopted, but I know that there are a couple of relatives in his birth family with BP).

Hi pekkla,

I'm not dodging your question. I'm not going to talk much about my own bipolar symptoms because I would like to help to keep the focus on your son. However, I am diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and bipolar disorder type I.

You have some well-founded concerns that your son may have bipolar disorder. Please, please, please, please, please get him into his doctor's office and get a referral to a psychiatrist if he is not already seeing one. Mention the mood swings. It would help, too, if you kept a simple log of the mood swings you observed in him.

If he does indeed have bipolar disorder, the sooner it is recognized and treated, the better chance he has of the illness having less disruptive effects on his life. Taking action today (or tomorrow, depending on how late it is when you read this) would not be too soon.

I'm a J.D., and not an M.D. or Psy.D., but what you're describing sounds much different from simple teenage angst. Bipolar disorder is notoriously difficult to diagnose because of how the illness presents itself. I began my medical treatment getting a diagnosis of depression. I was treated with antidepressant medication and my own mood swings were not severe enough for me to mention to the doctor. I really had no way to know my experience was abnormal.

But if it is bipolar, the doctor will want to work with your son to first stop the cycling, because each cycle tends to be worse than the ones that preceded it.

You'll need to discuss this with the doctor, but if bipolar is involved, it's possible that the Celexa (an SSRI antidepressant) for the OCD will make the bipolar condition worse. That's something to explore with the psychiatrist.

There's a great organization with a lot of info about bipolar. Here's the link and I hope you'll find it useful.

http://www.dbsalliance.org/

If it seems I am passionate about this issue, it's because I am. You're taking good care of your son, so please continue to do so. Good luck with this, and always remember that help is available! NO situation is hopeless. May you and your son be at peace and live happily, healthily, and at ease.

Unforetunately that does sound a lot like bipolar - and concerta plus bipolar is a BAD combination. If he does have bipolar, then he certainly should not be on stimulants. Are you seeing a psychiatrist with him? Have you discussed your concerns with the psychiatrist?

As far as bipolar goes, I think it can be highly variable and different for everyone. In my case, I was also initially diagnosed with AS and ADHD and put on ritalin during year 11 and 12 (however, a fairly low dose) - and apparently I became very irritable/stressed out and difficult to deal with. I would probably react in a similar way if being asked to do something when in this state, and often would react just to being spoken to. I had periods of very extreme depression also during this time, but my productivity was high (whereas before I was on the brink of failing school due to my inability to concentrate).

Anyway, there is a small population of people on here with AS/Bipolar and some of those, like myself, would be AS/ADHD/Bipolar. If you check out the chat/support thread I have recently created in this sub-forum: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt182151.html a few of us have been posting on there.

Also, theicarusproject.net is a good resource. They have a very positive attitude about bipolar, and also a lot of discussions about ways you can alter your habits and diet to help.

Last edited by Burnbridge on 07 Dec 2011, 3:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

I could not agree more. I wish both that my symptoms had been recognized years earlier (I believe onset occurred for me at around 16) and that I hadn't been misdiagnosed with depression, plus treated with ADHD stimulants (that undoubtedly made it worse). However, I think when you have co-morbid conditions it's difficult to spot (especially Aspergers as there's a lot of overlapping symptoms, and the fact that I had Aspergers was already known as I was diagnosed at age 12).

So yes, please get your son to the psychiatrist. None of us here can tell you for sure whether or not he has bipolar, but a psychiatrist can start looking in the right direction. Also - if you're not happy with what the psychiatrist says, or there seem to still be gaps in the logic, then try another psychiatrist. I had to go to three before I finally got the correct diagnosis and correct treatment (although 2 out of 3 were able to correctly diagnose bipolar, at least).