Age at diagnosis? Also, Lamictal?

[nobueno]

Hi,

What a day this has been!  Anyhoo ... .

Curious as to how old your BPD child is and if they have an official diagnosis yet? If they do, at what age were they diagnosed?

Doctors and therapists have been skirting the issue with my 16 yr old daughter.  Although, the hospital psychiatrist came right out and told me that he thinks my daughter has BPD.  I also get the impression from other professionals that she may be Bipolar, too.  Regardless, on paper, her diagnoses read as MDD, Anxiety, Mood Disorder.

She has been on 60mg Prozac for a while now (has been on other meds in the past) and now just went up to 50mg Lamictal (think we are slowly working up to 100mg).  The psychiatrist at her IOP said that she wanted to try Lamictal because she is "cycling" too quickly and she wanted to try to slow it down or spread it out with Lamictal.  Has this worked well for anyone else here?

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[DisneyMom]

My DD started getting really ill with BPD shortly after she turned 14. They won't officially diagnose, (as a rule only "traits" for those under age 18 around here)  but unofficially its been noted that she meets all of the criteria.

Lamictal was the one med that I truly believe helped lift my DD from her deep depression (age 14) and significantly cut down her rage and out of control moods. Unfortunately, she got the rash and had to discontinue after only about a month or 2.

We went round and round with many meds for her, SSRI, SSNI, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotic, supplements, etc.

She is 16 and off all meds now (mine and DH's choice). The spark is back in her personality. She laughs more. One of the  problems with some of the drugs is that although they help lessen the severe lows, she didn't get strong joys or positives either. She still struggles. But for the most part, the meds didn't fix anything, and sometimes may have done more harm than good, that's just our experience.

Changing our approach with her works better by far, than any medication.

[lbjnltx]

My daughter, now 19, was diagnosed with ODD, MDD, anxiety, emerging BPD, psychotic features,  at age 12.

She was on Prozac and Abilify for 7 years.  She tried lamictal briefly and it wasn't very  affective for her. 

Meds can create a bit of a stable base from which to build on learning skills.  More skills and less pills is ideal.

lbj

[Bright Day Mom]

My D is also 16 and dr did finally dx her w/BPD, along with others depression, anxiety, etc.  Children under 18 typically aren't dx as their brains are still growing / changing. However, in our case she had been hospitalized 5 x in same year and met the criteria.

Lamictal didn't really have any impact on her one way or the other. It wasn't until she was put on other mood stabilizers that she really started to shine.  In my daughter's case a combination of rtc and meds saved her life, literally.

[Yepanotherone]

My DD started getting really ill with BPD shortly after she turned 14. They won't officially diagnose, (as a rule only "traits" for those under age 18 around here)  but unofficially its been noted that she meets all of the criteria.

Lamictal was the one med that I truly believe helped lift my DD from her deep depression (age 14) and significantly cut down her rage and out of control moods. Unfortunately, she got the rash and had to discontinue after only about a month or 2.

We went round and round with many meds for her, SSRI, SSNI, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotic, supplements, etc.

She is 16 and off all meds now (mine and DH's choice). The spark is back in her personality. She laughs more. One of the  problems with some of the drugs is that although they help lessen the severe lows, she didn't get strong joys or positives either. She still struggles. But for the most part, the meds didn't fix anything, and sometimes may have done more harm than good, that's just our experience.

Changing our approach with her works better by far, than any medication.

My daughter (16) is on a cocktail of drugs that are having that exact same effect . They lessen the dark suicidal thoughts but they also impact on her ability to truely enjoy the positive things that happen in her life . She's not quite as flat as when she initially started on the drugs , but she definitely lost her spark . She says the drugs control her depression be thoughts and feelings but they suppress all other emotions too. For the moment we are scared to take her off the meds although i would dearly love to try . Still feels like early days though and I doubt the dr would even consider it right now .

[Yepanotherone]

Hi,

What a day this has been!  Anyhoo ... .

Curious as to how old your BPD child is and if they have an official diagnosis yet? If they do, at what age were they diagnosed?

Doctors and therapists have been skirting the issue with my 16 yr old daughter.  Although, the hospital psychiatrist came right out and told me that he thinks my daughter has BPD.  I also get the impression from other professionals that she may be Bipolar, too.  Regardless, on paper, her diagnoses read as MDD, Anxiety, Mood Disorder.

She has been on 60mg Prozac for a while now (has been on other meds in the past) and now just went up to 50mg Lamictal (think we are slowly working up to 100mg).  The psychiatrist at her IOP said that she wanted to try Lamictal because she is "cycling" too quickly and she wanted to try to slow it down or spread it out with Lamictal.  Has this worked well for anyone else here?

My DD16 is on 200 mg lamictil . She was on 300mg but she was ever so sleepy so the dr gradually reduced her dose gradually over a couple of weeks . I've been told the lamictil is the " elevating " part of her mood stabilizer combo , with the trileptal being the one to control the hypo mania . Dr said my DD is an extreme rapid cycler. She's also on Abilify (20mg) and Propanolol (50mg) to control the akisthesia that goes alongside being on an antipsychotic drug.
Bear in mind my DD's main dr remains adamant she has bipolar whereas two separate hospital dr's have told me they think it's more BPD or at least BPD traits .