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Jeannie2
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Autistic daughter in MH unit diagnosed with Bipolar

My 26 year old daughter was diagnosed with Atypical Autism aged 14, she has a language delay and OCD type behaviour, attended a mainstream school with some aid but unfortunately was severely bullied which she still traumatised by to this day. She was given an outpatient psychiatric assessment and was given antidepressants to help manage her anxiety and seen a psychologist to help her with her concerns of mirror checking as she developed Body dysmorphia as she was bullied about pimples and it became another obsessive behaviour. She was doing ok but did have a few episodes where we had to call the Mental Health Team and been seen to review he medication.  3 years ago however she had an episode of mania and was admitted into a Mental Health unit with what was described as Manic Psychosis.  She had been on an SSRI but admitted to not taking them a few times as she felt she didn’t need them which Dr said may have triggered the episode. She spent 2 weeks in a medical ward to do tests to rule out any medical condition and was subsequently transferred to the Mental Health unit, In her 8 weeks there she was trialled on numerous medications with no improvement, she also developed bilateral hand tremors and was Zombie like. I voiced my concerns about the amount of medications she had been given without any improvement and asked the Dr to cease them which they did. She was just given PRN medications for a week and her Mania and Psychosis had resolved.  She was started on SSRI again and started to gradually improve and subsequently discharged from hospital.

For 3 years she was doing great ... She got and job and passed her driving test and was considering moving out of home into supported living. 3 weeks ago we noticed that she was showing a bit of erratic behaviour similar to when she was admitted to hospital previously, it quickly turned to Mania.  She was again transferred into the MH unit again.  Due to staff shortages it took 2 weeks to have a meeting with the Psychiatrist who has diagnosed her with Bipolar and put her on medicationto treat it, she is again like a Zombie and feel like we are going down the same path as last time. As her mother the Bipolar diagnosis doesn’t sit right with me as she has only seen the Psych a few times and apparently unless the Dr knows and understands my daughter like I do it’s very hard to diagnose.  She not shown any signs of mood swings or anything to indicate she has BP. I really don’t know what to do and am at my wit’s end and myself and my husband are struggling with what to do next.

2 REPLIES 2

Re: Autistic daughter in MH unit diagnosed with Bipolar

HI @Jeannie2,

Welcome to the Forums. My name is FloatingFeather and I am one of the peer support workers at SANE. Thank you for sharing some of your story with us. It sounds like your daughter and your family have gone through some really challenging and difficult times over the years.

I can imagine your relief when you daughter's situation stablished - it sounds like she was doing really well over the last three years and really finding her feet and gaining confidence. I would imagine it must of been a bit of shock when you started to see similar signs of your daughter's past concerning behaviour. It must be very difficult for your daughter and your husband too. 

I wish I could offer you some insight or wisdom around your situation but unfortunately I can't. I do empathise with you and understand somewhat what it is like to be in your situation from the perspective of a carer as I am an emotional carer for a close family member with a serious mental health issue. My family member was diagnosed many years ago but I remember very clearly attempting to navigate the mental health system alongside him - it was a very overwhelming and confusing time.

I would encourage you if you haven't already to reach out and get some support for yourself and your husband as this situation is tough on all of you and you all need support. I have attached two links - one for Carer Gateway and the other is for Carers Australia that may be beneficial.

Carer Gateway 

Carers Australia 

Perhaps these organisations may also be able to offer some insight around a good way to proceed with your concern around your daughter's diagnosis? My heart goes out to all of you - as a parent I can understand how this difficult this must be for you. I sincerely wish you all the best.

Warm wishes,

FloatingFeather

 

Re: Autistic daughter in MH unit diagnosed with Bipolar

Hello @Jeannie2  in some people Ssri’s and other anti depressants can cause mania so it could have been the meds she was on that actually caused those symptoms. As for is she has bipolar or not it is hard to say but you are always entitled to seek a second opinion if you don’t feel comfortable. But it is possible to have bipolar and to only experience the ups. As for the meds making her like a zombie that is hard some of the meds just do that but hopefully she can find a med that works for her cause that isn’t a nice way to live. 

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