Wow, Wow, WOW! So he will need to strap a medicine chest to his back everyday as an adult? If this is "treating bipolar" it's no wonder so many adults go off their meds. I would never be able to remember to consistently take that many drugs every single day. No freaking way!

IIRC, you stated the doctor's didn't want to discontinue medication prescribed by another physician. That struck me as funny then and looking at his meds list, that terrifies me now.

Topomax - Anti-seizure - can cause liver/kidney issues.
Trazadone - Anti-depressant -
Propranolol - A high blood pressure med, sometimes used to treat anxiety
Lithium ER - mood stabalizer
Seroquel - Anti-psychotic
Depakote - Anti-seizure -can cause liver/kidney issues.

The Depakote and Topomax are in my highly uneducated opinion, duplicates. Same type of effects, same long-term risks for liver/kidney failure. I don't understand using an anti-anxiety med for a bipolar, it's not anxiety, it's mania...they are different.

Is their a patient advocate who can help you? Maybe a nursing agency where you can get a medical pro on your side to examine his medications for interactions and increased health risks?

With my son they started him on Depakote ER and began tapering his Risperdal to a lower overall dosage at the same time. I thought that was the way doctors were supposed to handle meds, if you can't cold turkey a drug.

Are they 100% certain Cody is bipolar or is it possible he's been misdiagnosed? Or does he have bipolar with elements of psychosis? The voices you mentioned in a previous post is what has me wondering. That could be indicative of another issue. And with doctors like you're dealing with they could be resisting correcting a "peer". *eyeroll*

Kellee,
I found your blog through Bipolar Planet, and I thought you may be interested in a new campaign that I'm helping to start up. everyminute.org is helping to educate and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans with mental illnesses. We exist to persuade Congress to accelerate research to promote recovery and resilience, and ultimately to cure and prevent mental illnesses. We just launched our website on leap day at http://www.everyminute.org . Please feel free to check it out, and I'd love more than anything to get your comments and perspective on our campaign. Thank you for your time, and please keep up the good work on the blog!

I am a mother of a child with bipolar. I myself have it my mother had it siblings etc. I just found this blog and I am about to leave for a mental health support group picnic, so I didn't have time to read all the entires on this blog. I did however read the list of meds by Kellie that her son is taking. I am blown away. I will come back to this blog later but I do want to write this before I leave. I am also a mental health professional although not a doctor. It is a fact that ANTIDEPRSSIANTS CAN CAUSE MANIA IN PEOPLE WITH BIPOLAR. Unfortunatley the messasge hasn't reached all doctors. I first learned about this at a seminar at John Hopkins from a panel of well-reknowned doctors. Again I will try to get back to this website again. I just found it..

Children, teenagers, and young adults who take Seroquel may be at increased risk for suicidal thoughts or actions. Watch all patients who take Seroquel closely. Contact the doctor at once if new, worsened, or sudden symptoms such as depressed mood; anxious, restless, or irritable behavior; panic attacks; or any unusual change in mood or behavior occur. Contact the doctor right away if any signs of suicidal thoughts or actions occur.
This is something I pulled off a site about seroquil. My son experenced alot of these symptoms and when we stopped things improved greatly. It may help for a while before things can start to go downhill we must watch closely even if they have been taking it for months with no problems. Some of these medications may work well with adults but effect children differently. My son was on singulair for his asthma for many years. This past school year (8th grade) he started having aggresion and behavioral problems after I saw a report on the world news about singulair causeing these problems in teens I took him off. he did an immidate turn around and was my old child again..