Comments on: What Killed Rebecca Riley?

Katie Couric Reports On The Diagnosis Of Bipolar Disorder In Kids

[alikirsten]

I am the mother of a three year old little girl. And I am only 21 years old. In watching this clip tonight and reading some of the responses I honestly have to say you people make me sick.There is no such thing as a toddler being too hyper or even bipolar. It is called POOR,LAZY parenting. If you can''t off your behinds to raise your children and you actually have to go to a liberal money hungry "doctor" to dope your children up so that they don''t drive you "crazy" then you had absoultely NO RIGHT becoming parents to begin with. YOu people honestly make me sick to stomach. And to say that the medication is helping your children wait till five years from now when their brains are so DOPED up from all the pills you have given them cause you dont have a clue as to how to raise them. Think about all the side affects...I mean come on people. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?!?! THis poor little girl died because her ghetto mother couldnt get off her fat *** to interact with her child and thought the best thing for this FOUR year old would be to put her soo many DIFFERENT kind of pills...the kind of pills that havent even been tested much like the pills you lazy mothers are putting your kids on NOW and claiming it''s "helping" them. I just hope and pray that there will not be another child that ends up like this little girl and shame on you for not using proper parenting.

[tink517]

Sally, Stigma, mortgage insurance, getting into college? There are people on this board with children who don''t want to live to see the light of tomorrow.

[jsc5610]

I will say this and then I am done (and leaving this board)

Those who know and love my son know the way that he lived for the first seven years of his life. Those same people will also tell you that he is now a completely different child. They will also tell you the many doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, and allergists we visited. Also, the play therapies, behavior therapies, CAT scans, blood tests, diets, cod-liver oil pills and vitamins we tried for the four years before we finally decided to try medication.

My son laughs now, he tells me he loves me, he is able to play with other children and he is doing wonderfully in school (all A''s except for a C in Religion!!) He doesn''t wake up crying anymore.

I believe the medication has brought my son back. Yes, I worry about future side effects, I would be ignorant not to. But I also worry that without the medication, he may not be here right now. Maybe he would have been successful in trying to jump from my moving car before I could pull over (as I was luckily able to do the first time he tried) or maybe he would have cut his neck with a knife as he stated he would do years ago.

I personally am glad that I didn''t wait for something tragic to happen. My son is doing great and I am SO proud of him. I feel good about how he is doing and I don''t need anyone who hasn''t a clue to make me feel guilty.

[jsc5610]

Sallyfr...
You are kidding, right? Do you even know how many people live with Bipolar and are able to function in society? No, I guess you don''t.

I find it so interesting that people without medical degrees who spend their time on message boards are able to dispense medical advice as if they are all-knowing.

As another mother said, spend a few years in our shoes watching your beautiful child wake up every morning sobbing because they want to die, raging for hours for reasons they can''t explain, listening to them talk about the ways they are going to kill themselves and then pass your judgement.

Do you guys have any idea of the stigma you give your child by labeling him or her bipolar? These children will never be able to have professional careers, serve in the military, get health or mortgage insurance or have custody of their children, and considering the way things are going, even being admitted to college with a diagnosis of bipolar is unlikely. You may be right that your kids have symptoms, but there''s just no proof of a disease to go with them and they''ll be brain damaged from the drugs and die 25 years earlier than if they hadn''t taken them.

[karenjury]

Go to the website, bipolarchild.com, click on newsletters, click on Happy Mother''s Day newsletter.
This is what it is like to have a bipolar child.
Until you have experienced these conditions (my family has endured all but one), please don''t pass judgment, condemn, or give your opinion. We families struggling with bipolar children want compassion and empathy, not advice from people who have not been in our shoes.

[tink517]

Sally my pain stems from the pain that I have caused others due to my extreme behavior when in a manic state. Body, mind and soul is not just a concept to me, but a reality. When one is out of kilter all hell can break loose. I can only hope that those that read this blog have found out that they are not alone and are dealing with a very real illness. Do the doctor''s, the hospitals and the drug companies have all the answers, no. Acceptance of a condition of the mind is a very hard place to come to. But with acceptance also comes the responsibility to deal with our illness. Many people self medicate themselves with street drugs and alcohol. It''s a shame that in this country if you are an alchoholic you are looked on with pity, but if you''re diagnosed as manic depressive or any of the other host of mental illnesses, you are looked on with fear.

[sharinginc]

Look at Rebecca''s forensic evidence, look at the lack of attempt at Bi-Polar education of the parents. Also, look at the horrific facts on over medicating by physicians today.

I will ask everyone on this blog to do a poll and ask other parents at their child''s school if their children are on any meds. My husband coaches 11-12yr old rec football. Half the team is on something and so are the parents. His father teaches middle school and has for 30+ years. The statistics would blow you away, just at his school.

We all know the real issue here and we need to get a handle on it NOW. It is not bi-polar that is the epidemic problem. It is the mis-diagnosis in children and others, over-medication in all areas and the root causes/triggers of these supposed RAMPANT illnesses.

The doctors are not just doing this to children ask any senior citizen you pass on the street the same questions. It is the power of the drug companies, medical field and the lack of public education and misguided trust in those systems. See our earlier posts.

We are now asking that you help us petition to STOP this abuse of our children. We need your support to be able to get the law makers to act on this epidemic NOW.

www.sharinginc.com

[kcgsl]

It is utterly appalling that the parents are convicted while the psychiatrists who prescribed these extreme drugs for a little tiny child go free. Clearly they are guilty of malpractice. Society is also to blame for so blindly accepting that drugs are the "answer" to all of life''s difficulties. We need to get a lot more creative with true help for people in distress.

Dr. KMC

[atiredparent]

Anyone that truly believes that a parent would put their kid on drugs because of a drug company should have thier own heads examined. My son has bipolar disorder and was dx at age 9. It is a disorder that devastates the family and the child. How dare anyone criticize parents ofthese kids based on Katie Courics irresponsible one sided reporting. Rebecca''s parents may have been irresponsible or uneducatd but it doesn''t mean that because one parent does that, that there is no mental illness in kids at all. Shame on you all for believing her reporting.

[nlyles77-2009]

I also would mention that these children are by no means bad children,they are unique children. These parents are not just concerned about themselves either, they endure everything they do because fof the love they have for their children. I endure everything I do because of my son. I have given up my job to stay home with my son, I advocate for appropriate accomodations for him to succeed in school, he has a psychiatrist, and he also receives intense therapy, and he has had and is getting ready to have another behavioral interventionist. We are not perfect parents but we learn as we go. I am very proud of my son''s accomplishments and the progress he has made. If my son had diabetes or cancer, no one would be questioning if we should be medicating him or not. In fact, I would look like a horrible parent for not getting him the treatment he needs.

[nlyles77-2009]

You know what Sallyfr, you may be on to something. I think that is a great idea to do a story on how the children feel. Many times they are acutely aware that they are different, and that something is wrong. I think that is a good idea.

Niles, we want to hear what the people who are supposedly sick, the children, go through. If CBS did a story about a childhood disease like leukemia or juvenile diabetes, the parents would be focusing on the needs of the children not focusing on themselves.

[sharinginc]

We have started a petition for a movement to deal with this issue. Please go here to sign and get this off the ground. Forward the petition message board to all who you think would like to see this get dealt with NOW. Don''t wait on elections.

We will send this message board to some very important groups who will begin to put pressure on those who can make a change. We have to come together to get the focus on the fact that we will not tolerate this physical attack on our children for profit anymore. The laws cannot be changed by one. When we ban together with our supportive leaders, that is when things get done.

http://sharinginc.com/


Thanks so much,
www.sharinginc.com

[nlyles77-2009]

If you want to learn more about what parents go through, below are some links to a news article PBC did from an objective news reporter.

New Article: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20070916/NEWS/709160363/1051/NEWS01

Slide Show:
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20070916/MULTIMEDIA200/70914008/1051

Video:http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=multimedia02&bcpid=446437106&bclid=440984115&bctid=1173351993

[karenjury]

for those latecomers who didn''t see my response yesterday....

Shame on 60 Minutes for presenting such a onesided story about juvenile bipolarism. They had a great opportunity to educate the public about this very misunderstood mental illness. With that said, if you want the real story, please go to the website by Drs. Demitri and Janice Papolos entitled:thebipolarchild.com
Once you get there, click on newsletters and go the newsletter entitled, "Happy Mother''''s Day." This article paints a very accurate picture of what it is really like to live with a bipolar child.
I am a mother with her Master''''s degree with 4 children, of which two are diagnosed with bipolarism. This diagnosis was given after two years of mood cycle charts were reviewed, after an extensive family history on all sides of our family was critiqued, after meeting with a registered dietician to make dietary changes, after family counseling, play therapy, individual therapy, school specialists'''' intervention, and lastly, after getting a second opinion from a pediatric psychiatrist from Johns Hopkins University. Needless to say, this illness is real and my daughters have a diagnosis and are receiving meds. to help them function on a daily basis. I beg readers of these comments to please keep an open mind, refrain from passing judgment and educate themselves if they are confused or don''t understand this illness.

[miamalone]

This report is so sad. In most of the cases it sounds like parents who are incapable of handling their children so they search for a quick medical fix for normal childhood behavior. Maybe the parents should have been prescribed the drugs and not the children.

The doctors should all be charged with malparatice as well. This is really criminal medical behavior.

Nyles77, your concern for people who die from suicide is well founded however it seems like it would be impossible to know the suicide rate among undiagnosed people labeled as having bipolar disorder as they are undiagnosed and of course there is no diagnostic test. However between the stigma of being labeled bipolar and the dangers inherent in the medications people labeled bipolar are forced to take, it is predictable that people so labeled have a higher suicide rate than the general public.

In addition the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is heavily funded by drug companies and thus information from it is inherently suspect.

[mike-dallas]

Congress needs to set up a task force, not influenced by the pharmaceutical companies, to determine the meteoric rise in Bi-Polar, Austism, and other neurological conditions. In the 70''s the rate of autism was one in 10,000. Now, today for boys it is about one in 93.
The drug companies answer is to find something that subdues the symptoms, but doesn''t address the root cause.
If your child was being kept up at night due to the upstairs apartment neighbor practicing his drums what would you do?
1. The police would tell him to stop.
2. Dr. Phil would suggest you talk to the neighbor.
3. The drug companies would develop a drug to reduce hearing in your child, so he or she couldn''t hear the drums.

Am I too harsh? Only one obscure drug company - Cubist Pharmaceuticals - is working to develop new antibiotics to treat the new drug resistant pathogens. Why don''t the others such as Lilly do the same? The answer is simple - the money is not in it. You take antibiotics for two weeks and you are done. They prefer to work on the drugs that you take for years or life. The younger the patient, the more money that comes in.
George H Bush is on Lilly''s Board of Directors. Is it because of outstanding scientific credentials or his political connections? I like Bush, but he shouldn''t be on Lilly''s board.

[nlyles77-2009]

Below are some facts that have been taken from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website.

The death rate for untreated bipolar patients is higher than that of most types of heart disease and many types of cancer.


Studies of bipolar patients indicate that 25-50 percent of persons with this illness make at least one suicide attempt.


Studies indicate that most bipolar patients who die by suicide communicate their suicidal state to others, most often through direct and specific statements of suicidal intent.


People suffering from bipolar disorder may die by suicide earlier in the course of this chronic illness than patients with other mental disorders. Recent hospital discharge is a very high-risk time.