Update on AnnMarie

Well, today was AnnMarie's psychiatrist appointment. It went well...

It's a LONG drive, into downtown Tampa, but the Dr. was very nice. She specializes in Adolescent ADHD and BiPolar, and she clearly knew her stuff.

She asked all the same questions, got her history, etc and then she gave us her thoughts. She said AnnMarie definitely has ADHD, however there is a strong possibility she also has BiPolar along with it. (BiPolar is almost always misdiagnosed in children as ADHD because Dr's don't know enough about it -- that over 90% of BiPolar children ALSO have ADHD). She said she could send her for psychological testing (to rule out BiPolar) but that would take 4-6 weeks to set up/complete and there is no guarantee our insurance would cover it. So she wants to put her on an ADHD medication immediately. She said I should expect to see an improvement within 3-5 days after starting the medication. If we do not see an improvement, or if we see an improvement in some symptoms but others remain (the BiPolar signs) then she obviously has BiPolar.... then we'll change our plan from there.

UGH... You all know me, how I HATE prescription medication, especially in children. So I'm having issues with this. This crud they put her on is a flippen amphetamine !!!! I hate it. But do I have a choice? We've been going through this for nearly 4 years now. I've tried all the natural remedies I could try, and although they'd work for a bit, its like her body grows out of them (another sign of BiPolar, its like you build up a resistence to the medication and you need a different kind to treat the same symptoms)

I trust this Dr. She's having AnnMarie get some bloodwork (that ought to be fun) and an EKG for a baseline. She also started her on half the normal dose. So we're already going to her pediatrician tomorrow for her recheck/annual (she also has scoliosis and the Dr wants her rechecked) so I'll bring all this up to her tomorrow and get the tests done as soon as possible so we can get her started.....

Keep her in your prayers please, I'm terrified about having her on this crud, but we just don't feel like we have any choice. Its the quickest way to get her accurately diagnosed - whether its just ADHD or BiPolar.

Quick note about the storm -- we're fine. People were just making a big deal about nothing. Its still a tropical storm, we will get some rain (they estimate 5-8 inches) plus some winds from 25-60 mph. It should all happen early this morning, so we'll miss most of it. We may lose energy but that's nothing new-- we lose our energy everytime we sneeze out here !!