Hi there

Tegretol is a drug for epilepsy. Common side effects include dizziness, drowsiness, and nausea. Less common are hallucinations, unusual bleeding or bruising, and difficulty passing urine. ADHD medicated children often turn to drug or alcohol use in later life.

Children with ADHD may also be more likely to suffer from food allergies.
They could be losing vital vitamins, iron and even zinc because of their allergy to dairy products, wheat, corn, yeast, soy, citrus, eggs, chocolate, peanuts and artificial colors and preservatives.
In allergic reactions the immune system gets activated, instead of the digestive system, and none of the nutrients can be absorbed, leading to nutrient loss. Allergies to dayry can also lead to leaking gut syndrome causing an iron deficiency

many critical food deficiencies could cause the problem. These could be as varied as deficiency of essential omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidant vitamins like vitamin C, iron and even zinc.

The most common allergen is dairy. As your son is now 5 years old I guess he is not being breastfed any more.

If you think he still needs to suckle pick a smaller animal to wetnurse him, like a sheep or goat, or even smaller, the cat, dog or rabbit.
The truth of the matter is that, after weaning there is absolutely no need to suckle from the cow, indeed no need to suckle from any animal!

It is the biggest scam or con trick in the world. Even bigger than winning the online lottery

Undigested dairy ferments in the gut and the casein transmute and produces casomorphines, an opiate. His little brain is not quite ready for those kind of drugs.

Avoid cows milk altogether.

Good luck

Kinetico

What are the signs for a 5 year old?? I mean how in the heck can one tell with little kids? I really want/need to know. My son is 5 and he is the 'sweetest jerk'. Ya know what I mean? And he also has social issues. Tell me more about what prompted you to take him in to get checked. please.

AGail80

Well my son is very very impulsive,he hates athority.
Has been kicked out of school and suspended several times.He is a very agressive little boy.He also has tons of sensory issues.I called this program called the NCYS Niagra and child youth services...We have a worker who now comes into the home and shows me diferent stadigys (spelled rong) on how to control him at home..he has lots of workers working with him at the school....We took him to a physcoligist and he the diagnosed him with A.D.H.D. and Bi polar disorder....... He is very uncontrolible at home very vilent..He cant stand to ware clothing ''they make him want to throw up''....and that has alot to do with his sensory issues.....I would sugest to make a apointment with your doctor and go from there...
if you want to know more feel free to let me know and i will help you out as much as i can.

My son, who is now 20, did have symptoms of Bipolar from the age of 5. But, at that time we had never even heard of Bipolar Disorder! We just thought he had his "quirks"...until it peaked at age 12 with depression/suicidal talk and rapid cycling. At age 20 he is now on Depakote and Seroquel, and we just can't find the correct dosage that helps.

I took him to counseling at age 12 for depression/anger/rage/suicidal thoughts, but I was told that they did not like to diagnose children! I guess things are different now...Good luck with your son...Bipolar is a horrible disease. I pray the meds work for him.

Milly

When my daughter was 4 and was not sleeping at all at night, thought she could fly, then crying and nobody loved her, we took her to a specialist. She said I think she is bipolar but I don't like to put that label on a child this young, so I'm going to treat her for adhd. If she is bipolar you will notice a huge difference in a day or two. On day two we took her off the meds after she broke 2 windows, tried to strangle two of the other kids (my daughter is adopted at age 2) and jumped out the bedroom window, and more that I probably cant remember - she is 11 now. We found a new specialist that said, yep she is biplor. we went thru many different drugs. She began eating nonfood items (pica) and cycling by the minute. It took months to get her stable. This past summer started the worst behavior I have every seen. She was so violent that she almost broke my jaw, she did break my foot and was uncontrollable for hours. I almost called the police because she would not calm down. Everyday we deal with her outburst. Do we enforce the rules and deal with the violent outbursts or do we back off. We are exhausted. Learn all you can about bipolar. I'm still learning. We also have a disabled son (fragile X syndrome) and we never experienced this type of behavior. We thought oh we can do this, piece of cake. We have dealt with our son for years. He is almost 10 years older than her and she has tried to strangle him a number of times. He will never fight back, she is a girl and his sister. She is on abilify, lithium and I can't remember the other one of the top of my head. Depakote ruined her hair for several years. She had long blond curly hair that turned to hair that was just like that of an African American girl. It did help with her not eating non food items though! We don't have to hide the chapstick, candles, batteries, etc. any more. I pray every day for some relief for her and the rest of the family that never knows when the next rage will occur.

My son is now 9 but diagnosed at 5 also, he was on chewable Tegretol and had a allergic reaction to it, his body just froze on the left side and we were shopping at Wal-Mart at the time. But you may have a good response from it.

She has been on it. Last Wednesday she flew into a rage over dinner. This lasted over 2 hrs, a record for her. She said she would kill us all, she wanted us dead. She hated us all, including Mom. I called 911. The officer was very nice but did nothing. I am afraid for my family and our lives. This child is out of control and needs help. But we can find no one to help her. She will seriously hurt someone. I have bruises on my legs from her and she hit my husband many times in the head. We cannot live like this. She is defiant, she cannot take no for an answer.

Hi,
In the UK it is not seen as reasonable practise to diagnose anyone with bipolar until they are in late adolesence at least. Although symptoms of bipolar MIGHT start young, the fact that children and young adolecents are undergoing social/physical/psycical changes means that they might present with bipolar symptoms without having bipolar (or ADHD for that matter...). For example, a perfectly well-balanced toddler will frequently swing from extreme rage to euphoria as they learn social norms and that they are not the centre of the universe (as we all naturally believe at that age).
Remember also that perfectly well balanced children have vivid imaginations and that what might be delusional in an adult is perfectly normal in a child. For instance a 5 year old with an imaginary friend (that they believe is real) is not delusional, but a 35 year old with the same thoughts IS. Also, many more children "hear voices" than grow up to be schizophrenic. I had strong hallucinations as a child and heard voices, but this stopped when I was 10 and has never returned.
I understand that you are worried, and your child sounds very difficult to deal with. I truly appreciate the turmoil you must be facing. Perhaps ADHD is a reasonable diagnosis (though I don't know much about it) but I have strong issues with diagnosing children with such severe psychiatric problems at a young age, especially since the mediciation they are then put on could damage their development.
Have you considered a second opinion? Or looked at alternative therapies other than medicative ones?
I wish you the best of luck.

I respectfully respond. Unless you have dealt with a child that wants to kill you, you don't know what your talking about. She was diagnosed as ADHD at 4 because they didn't want to label her as bipolar. after 2 doses of ADHD meds she was invincable in her mind. she was cycling by the minute. That is when we knew she was bipolar. Her bio mom is, her bio sister is, her bio grandma is. There is no doubt in my mind of the diagnosis. She went off on us again tonight. Almost over the edge, but not quite. It would only take a little bit to send her over the edge and she will be attacking us again. She needs serious help that we cannot provide. For all those warm fuzzy love will conquer all, you suck. It will not. Until you have felt the brunt of the punches and kicks, etc. you will never know. She has broken my bones and left bruises all over me. Love doesn't heal all.

jellybeen, are you in the US? I have a nephew who was adopted at age 1, he's now 8. He has done some of the same things your daughter has done. He has been to several therapist and doctors, different meds and now is in counseling. He's gone from a violent screaming ALL NIGHT and wishing everyone was dead, doesn't want to do anything because "IT TAKES TOO MUCH TIME", won't eat.......to a well behaved child who does what he is told and now makes good grades. So yes there is hope for you. I'd suggest you find a GOOD psychiatrist (especially for children). Your daughter needs to learn different behaviour patterns that AREA acceptable. My brother and his wife were at the end of their ropes....and because they have no clue as to what his birth parents were like (if this is a hereditary factor, they di not give up hope. If you feel threatened, do please find a doctor and let the mknow this situation is so out of hand and if they can't help to PLEASE get you in contact with someone that can help. God bless you for taking this little girl into your life. I do hope you will find the right help for her and things will be good for you and your family. I know it takes its toll on the rest of the family....Please keep in touch! F*GM

Yes, I am in Oregon, USA. So far all they have wanted to do was increase her meds, which they did 2 wks ago. And no help. She won't do couseling because she was nonverbal when her sexual abuse occured on top of inheriting the bipolar thing. People can say what ever they want about diagnosing at such a young age, but those people probably dont have truely bipolar kids. She is a rapid cycler and she is defiant of any authority figure. She has tried to strangle 2 of the other bio kids, she broke my toe last summer and has left many bruises all over my body. I'm just so tired. So frustrated. I just want to sleep and not deal with her. and I am a strong willed woman.

I do apologise, my response was to Mommyofthree and I did not mean for it to be applied specifically to your case.
I agree that your child sounds psychiatrically disturbed and I did not at any point intend to imply that "love heals all" (though in all mental illness there must be a degree of "chin up" for the patient - when adult of course - rather than the family, who could not be reasonably asked to maintain a stiff upper lip). In fact in many cases, even in children, the warm fuzzy love approach would, in my opinion, actually make things worse. Where love should always be expressed, neither should discipline be sacrificed. (Please note that this is a general observation and not specifically about your case where I am in agreement that it requires more than love or discipline to help).
I sincerely hope that you find a treatment for your daughter that can help her, you and the rest of your family lead a normal and peaceful life. A case like yours is clearly the exception that is better suited to a US policy than the British one of "wait and see". Though childhood psychiatric disorders like those of your daughter's are rare (as most, particularly bipolar, don't generally rear their ugly head until later years) and this is the reason I prefer the British system, as a broad generalisation.
I offer my sincere apologies for any offence caused and hope that my previous post did not sound too unsympathetic to your situation. My intentions were only to sympathise with the worries of Mommyofthree over medicating children so young.
I wish you the best of luck and hope you are able to find an answer to the ordeal you face.

You really need to consider a controlled environment (group girls home, private institution if you can afford it, or state school) These are all very realistic options and professional staff can deal with her in a safe, controlled environment. There is nothing more you can do at home except love your daughter enough (as well as think of the well-being of your other children and yourselves) and put this struggling, hurting child into an environment where they can help her help herself. What it boils down to is she MUST learn to control her impulses and rages and understand there are consequences to her actions. The medications are only part of the solution. Parents MUST be on board with the care-givers and doctors treating her. Get on the same page and get this girl some professional help before she seriously injures herself or someone else in your family. You CANNOT continue to live your life in this manner. It simply is not fair to the other children in your household. If you do not get serious about putting her into a controlled environment, group home etc., then your chances this child will commit suicide in your own home still rest at 50%. At least in a home she will be monitored and safe until she can learn to actively participate in her own impulse control. This takes time, patience, and yes money. If you cannot afford a private institution, state run schools can be just as effective and still get the job done.

You really need to consider a controlled environment (group girls home, private institution if you can afford it, or state school) These are all very realistic options and professional staff can deal with her in a safe, controlled environment. There is nothing more you can do at home except love your daughter enough (as well as think of the well-being of your other children and yourselves) and put this struggling, hurting child into an environment where they can help her help herself. What it boils down to is she MUST learn to control her impulses and rages and understand there are consequences to her actions. The medications are only part of the solution. Parents MUST be on board with the care-givers and doctors treating her. Get on the same page and get this girl some professional help before she seriously injures herself or someone else in your family. You CANNOT continue to live your life in this manner. It simply is not fair to the other children in your household. If you do not get serious about putting her into a controlled environment, group home etc., then your chances this child will commit suicide in your own home still rest at 50%. At least in a specialized home she will be monitored and safe until she can learn to actively participate in her own impulse control. This takes time, patience, and yes money. If you cannot afford a private institution, state run schools can be just as effective and still get the job done.

It does sound like the meds are not really helping, and trust me when people start listening to you and trying to understand what YOU are going threw things can get better. My son is now 9 he takes concerta (For adhd in school), risperdone, clonidine, and benadryal. It has really done wonders with him. He is kind and caring, he plays well with others, and we have not had a outburst in about a year. Now i'm not saying this will work for ever child. But he is really doing well. It's very hard trying to figure out what will work what wont. You just have to give it time and when you see improvements thank your lucky stars.... Good luck to all who are going threw this