My 7 year old son

Hello. My son has finally found the correct diagnosis. It's been over a month since we received it.

I thought that once we had the Pediatric Bipolar diagnosis, we would be able to immediately get in with a psychiatrist to start medication. After all, he did tie a jump rope around his neck at school and he has tried to jump out of a moving car.

But all I hear after calling over 25 places in a 100 mile radius is "Sorry, we don't work with children under 12" or "Sorry but we are not accepting new patients"

Wait lists are long. Fastest I've found so far is the end of JUNE. This may not seem long to some, but for us, it feel like forever.

At first, I was so angry. How dare they not help my little boy? But now, I've decided to get on that wait-list. I've bought some books for him and us. We're going to do what we can with what we have. I need to stay positive for my child.

But this still has been very frustrating. There seems to be a real shortage of pediatric child psychiatrists. And while the family doc has no problem prescribing his adderall, he won't touch Lithium.

I went through this with my son, starting at 8, although at the time they were refusing treatment until he was sixteen. Initially they diagnosed him as depressed and he was put on Tofranil. It had the usual effect. A year later he went manic.

It's hard to be told your child can't be medicated to help with all the problems they face. I finally found a pdoc who would listen and told him that this wasn't fair to my son, and that I considered suicide to be a higher risk when he was manic than when he was depressed and paralyzed.

Still, we had to wait until he was 12. I did what I could, learned what I could, and asked school authorities to help and be more understanding. They were amazingly cooperative.

Therapy can help. Family therapy also helps everyone to help and deal with the disorder in a child.

(((hugs))) There is definitely a shortage of specialists for childhood mental illness. I think therapy can really help you all to get through until june, and beyond. And i think its wonderful you are taking an active role to get books and learn and help your son yourself while waiting for the bureacracy of mental health to slowly spin its wheels.

i am aware of many T's and pdocs not wanting to label bipolar on a child. this is primarily because they are in their formative years and it's difficult to obtain a true diagnosis. this may be why you feel you are getting resistance. have you sought out a second opionion with a pdoc?

Well, I have the diagnosis. Agreed upon by 3 specialists. It's the psychiatrists that won't take my son, either because he's too young, or they are full. Haven't had any flack about the diagnosis yet. The school is accepting, no issues yet on that.