BP2 mom 12 year old diagnosed Bp2 today

I knew it was just that.
I wanted to believe it was anxiety disorder and depression. I knew different. I didn't want to accept my 12 year old would go through his young life feeling as badly as I do so often.

I'm having a really hard time. I can sleep I'm having trouble sitting still. I feel a heavy depression setting in but I feel I can no longer have an off day, I need to be there for him.

He doesn't seem too bad. Is it possible we. Aught it early enough and he won't need 5 meds and months or years of triple and error and loose what little I have left of my happy boy. I look at pictures of him from 5 months ago and it doesn't even look like him he is so sad.

I'm so sad I don't feel well

Hi Bellag. Welcome to Psych Central. I am sorry you are suffering from challenges with your child and your own depression. Sleeping is really important, so talk to your doc if you can't get 7-8 hours of sleep.

Besides helping support each other many people here at PC also have a therapist to talk things out and a psychiatrist or psych doc to diagnose and prescribe meds to help balance things our.

The depression chat meets every Thursday night 9pm EDT EST. You need 5 posts or replies to other posts to use the chat room. schedule is here.
Anxiety chat is on Friday night 8pm EDT EST.

Some people find the forums give them the compassion and empathy they seek. http://forums.psychcentral.com

Please feel free to private message me or any of the Community Liaisons by left clicking on the name in blue to the left of their post) for questions or just to share.

lifestyle changes can give a little boost. Here are some of the things that help me. I have to watch what I eat because foods I eat can stabilize my moods or exaggerate them. A high protein low carb diet with snacks or meals every 3-4 hours will over time reduce my swings. I also avoid alcohol and recreational drugs because those can really increase depression.

Other lifestyle changes that help me are doing yoga, exercises, mindfulness, calm music, and being active on Psych Central.

I'm happy you posted this. My daughter whome is 14 is having major anxiety and is on some meds. She loves them but then I see the back and forth emotions like I have and panic. What was some of the stuff he did that made you wonder?

My 13 yr old has mental health issues. We suspect bipolar but his new pdoc is only treating him for adhd. However his old pdoc treated him for bipolar and things were a lot better for him.

Welcome to Psych Central, Bellag. I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time with your son's diagnosis. Try to hold on to the hope that, having caught it early, your son may have less difficulty with the illness than you have. And take comfort in the caring, understanding people of this site. You'll find a lot of us here, and we're always ready to listen.

It makes me sad every time I hear of this happening. There is no denial that BP is genetic. As a parent myself, I can imagine how hard this is for you. The possibility is there for my son, as well as for my nieces and nephews. I think it is in the back of our minds, all of us who have BP and are parents. But being that he is diagnosed so early in his life, it migth make things easier for him. He can get the rigth meds to stabilize him, and learn tools to cope a lot earlier than a lot of other BP-sufferers. People can go through half their life with out a proper diagnosis, or their whole life for that matter. And he is fortunate that he has you by his side, an understanding parent who can help him through it. But I don't mean to minimize how hard this must be for you Take care of you, so you can stay srong for both. Lots of love and caring thougths to you and your son