I’ve had the “off-label” argument with medical practitioners before, usually in terms of trying to figure out why a client is on this or that medication in the absence of a clear diagnosis. Since I don’t deal with children, I’ve been mercifully spared cases such as the one that is described here. Using a heavy-duty medication such as clonidine in a small child pretty much requires careful monitoring. Especially since there have been previous cases of sudden death with this medication (http://www.fragilex.org/html/sudden.htm). I hope clearer guidelines for appropriate medication use come out of this tragety.

I think that for the diagnosis for a child up to three years should be considered with caution. The drugs and doses to appoint on the basis of its usage, and not only recommendation from the pharmaceutical company.

There is really no correlation between an adult’s organism and a child’s organism in handling certain types of medicaments and medications. It is expected that any adult meets the criteria to take a certain dose of medicine, however, it is recommended that he or she prevents from participating in their regular activities because there might be side affects. A child’s immune system is weaker and it can not defend itself from such side affects, therefore it is unethical to make such a comparison. Unlike an adult’s body a child body is not yet fully developed. The medications intended for an adult body can affect a child’s body development and can cause a great deal of harm. Professionals should not risk patients’ lives because they have based their decisions on text. In order to make moral decision they should base their prescriptions on studies and their results. With today’s technology there is no necessity to expose anyone’s life to death. The only thing that would be left to ask is how many more children would have to die before someone puts their foot down on this situation.

I’m a mother of 2 bipolar sons and a daughter with tendancies. The boys are now 6 and 7, our daughter’s 4. For us, it was not sudden onset. I think often, it’s too painful for the mother to even process. It’s easy to overlook symptoms that aren’t harming anyone. With all the other responsibilities of raising children, it can fall into the category of “They’re just being boys” or “It’s just a weird phase, they’ll grow out of it”. With the cycling of BD, the “phase” does sometimes go away. Our experience was, only to have it replaced by other “weird phases”. At 2, our oldest son, every morning, walked to his same breakfast chair, stood on it with his hands flapping straight up above his head, yelling “Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!”. This went on for weeks, until I eventually cried at the realization. I first noticed his symptoms at 5 or 6 mths old. He was delayed in his milestones, and something just didn’t seem right. Later he isolated himself and seemed flat emotionally. He put his cars in rows during playtime,a lot. We thought he was autistic and still believe him to have a dual diagnosis. With medication,he’ll have a high functioning, hopefully very successful life. The 1st step to solving a problem is admitting there is one. If you think symptoms may be present they probably are. They may not be debilitating,like with my daughter. But early detection really does make all the difference. Hope this helps God be with you and your family.

Thank you, Steph, for sharing your story. It’s always nice to round out detached academic theories with some real-world experience.

It’s nothing short of preposterous to assume that all children’s “psychological” problems can be resolve with family-systems therapy. To suggest as much to a family with a child suffering from any other physical ailment — from diabetes to Lyme’s disease to brain tumors — would be considered some kind of insanity. Because it is.