Aspergers and mood swings or Bipolar

Post Reply New Topic

The Speech Thearpist rung me or I phoned her. She said she has just finishing assessing my daughter. She didn't notice any autistic like language problems. She said "there could be and that she is very bright." The Speech Thearpist wants her referred to child and adolescent mental health service because she thinks some thing else is there distrupting her thought processes. That is what her teacher said last year. That she beleives she has AS but there is something else. Her 1st grade teacher thought before she was diagnosed as being mildly to moderately autistic that she was bipolar.
The psych that interviewed her and assessed her as being mildly to moderatley autistic and highly probable for ADD amongst other things was going to apply for funding under High Functioning Autism and possibly and schizophrenic type disorder. Not as severe as schizophrenia but like a personality disorder.
All this makes me feel worried because she really does go like she is manic sometimes.

look up multiple complex developmental disorder. thats what i have. sounds like me as a kid. its a mix of aspergers and schizo symptoms with bipolar moodswings and adhd.

How old is your daughter? I would throw out all the other labels if AS or HFA fits. The professionals at school will apply the most dire labels to your child. Bipolar is hugely popular right now. ADD/ADHD has been popular for quite a while too.

A kid with AS or HFA will probably have some kind of executive function disorder, but one psych who saw my son said that the separate label was unecessary. It's all part of the autism spectrum.

The weirdness, strange babblings, and seemingly erratic mood swings might be nothing more than a young Aspie (very stressed out or overstimulated) at school. The head of the special ed dept was convinced that my son was the weirdest of the weird and that he had bipolar. Only he has HFA, but he could sense what she thought of him. With no other way to cope, he acted in the way that she expected. He was quite animalistic and off-the-wall on the days when she was at his school. I once saw them together and I couldn't believe his behavior. I had never seen him like that at home and he wasn't so severe when he was just with his regular teacher.

If the people working with your kid believe the worst, it's an uphill battle for a child with little coping skills to make it through their school day with "good behavior".

Speech therapists are not qualified to diagnose things like bipolar, ASDs or ADD. The speech therapist can only diagnose delays in language development.

I suggest you seek the advice of someone who is qualified to diagnose, such as a child psychologist or an autism specialist.

The speech thearpist wants her referred to a child psychologist or psychiatrist. That what the child psychaitric service is made up of psychiatrists and psychologists.
She has already been assessed and diagnosed by a clinical psychologist with High functioning autism. even she thinks there is something else there more than autism but she isn't qualified to diagnose mental illness. I agree with that, I think I will just keep to the AS or HFA diagnosis. It is just other people that keep thinking different especially teachers. She has never got any extra help at school and I think teachers feel frustrated.

depending on her age, it may just be too early to really accurately dx anything other than what she's already been dxed with....

I'm sorry to hear this, I hope that's not the case because I am bipolar aspie and it's awful.

It was our experience that when the teachers were too frustrated, they would start case building against my son to have him moved to a different classroom. The more frustrated they were, the worse his behavior became.

Just keep believing in your daughter, no matter what.

Thanks Torguta some one has to beleive in these kids.

My daughter said to me yesterday she thinks I have Bipolar because I go from laughing all the time, to being in a bad mood. I thought maybe I should get some counselling in understand and dealing with feelings. So i can be a better role model. It isn't that I don't understand feelings. I think I am very introspective. It is just being able to control or moderate how your feeling. I think emotionally I can be impulsive and with that very immature. I think it is normal to get mood swings as having AS.. I think

I want to be a better role model for her. I really do.

I can't figure out if I have Asperger's, PDD-NOS (how do you even diagnose that?!), or Bipolar. I have been diagnosed with Asperger's because of "an inhability to control emotions" and "doesn't talk to anyone but herself", but I seem to have more similarities with Bipolar I or II disorder. For example, I can have these outbursts when I can't do something as well as I think I should (perfectionism---not sure if this is anxiety or just part of my personality), I get extremely depressed. When I don't understand something, I get depressed and inconsolable. When I think I'm hurting other's feelings or offending others, I either start apologizing excessively, or I start self-mutilating and say, "I'm evil! I'm a monster!". Yet there are times where I feel extremely happy or hyper, and I can't stop laughing and I go on a creative fit and start writing everything (then again, I'm what my mom calls, "artsy", and a lot of famous poets such as Emily Dickonson did that, so...). I'm going to get psychologically tested again next year, so if my results change or are inconclusive, bear with me! I'll get the Mystery Diagnosis crew for them to figure me out!

Anyway, contrary to what everyone thinks, people with AS can be more emotional than others, which is why they can't contain themselves or shut down. Or, at least, that's what I think....hope it helps, or my mom will feel the wrath of my guilt!

I wonder how many aspies and auties have comorbid bipolar issues? I'm another one.

I'm sorry to hear your daughter is going through this. You didn't say how old she is, so it's hard to say if she has it. If she's coming up near puberty, or just passed it she may be dealing with mood swings from getting used to the menstrual cycle. Even neurotypical girls get mood swings when they hit puberty.

I don't know if your child is being treated with antidepressants, but they can cause Bipolar issues. I recommend this book: Bipolar Kids: Helping Your Child Find Calm in the Mood Storm [Paperback]
Rosalie Greenberg. It discusses why bipolar presents co-morbidly with AS and what you can do about it.

My DS has been dx'd:
Bipolar & Aspie (aspie child psychaitrist)
Mood Disorder NOS & Aspie (Pediatric Neurologist)
And Bipolar NOS, ruled out all autism spectrum (Pediatric neuropsychologist)

So does he have one issue, many issues, co morbid???? I don't know.

What I do know is.... When the meltdowns are described here, that fits my child more than on the BP kids forum.

He seems to react to meds more like they say is typical for an aspie, much more likely to experience the rare side effects, need smaller doses...

Hypomobile joints (that's loose joints right?)

Freaky sensory stuff (and I say freaky, because in some cases he is sensory aversive some cases sensory seeking - and he doesn't know it)

However - great eye contact. Can have a back and forth conversation (so long as it's about what he's interested in). Will show you things. His special interest is very broad and changing.

As I have spent time in both worlds trying to help my child find some happiness (because trust me - having public meltdowns and not being socially included is painful for him), I see how mixed up these dx's can be.

Anyway - I have no great wisdom or suggestions. The bpkids website is a great resource. Check it out and see what sounds like your child.

Kailuamom - are you on the bpkids forums? I thought your handle sounded familiar. I spent so much time there. My son's rages fit the BP rages to a T but he didn't have mania and that really confused me. This was before we got a diagnosis and before medication - he also needs very low dose for a 180 degree turnaround (3.5mg Abilify) which would meet more the PDD-NOS diagnosis than the Mood or BP. Bpkids is a really great website. After having been on those forums and going through the rages with my son, hearing those parents struggles that last forever with no effective treatment, you can imagine my sense of relief when the neuropsychs confidently said my son is NOT bipolar and we got the PDD-NOS and Mood Disorder-NOS diagnosis. BP is just terrible...I was just happy to have a diagnosis that had so much research and treatment available rather than one where some doctors even deny its existence.

Hi Bjtao -

Yep - I spend time over there. Like you, we haven't seen mania. Well, onceI did, but that was during/after a bad reaction to a psych med. (geodon). When the BP kids are stable, they don't seem to have the same issues my DS has, and when he's raging very day (for 30 minutes),he is way more stable than when their kids are when he's not actually engaged in the rage.

Bottom line I really don't know. The Ped neurologist thinks the neuropsych is full of it, he has been working with kids on the spectrum for as long as she has been alive. However, The neuropsych actually went to school and observed him as well as did all the testing. So I am totally confused.

I think that DS can test fairly NT because he knows what the answers are supposed to be.

Anyway, I think he's a combo. And he's my sweetie, with a tender loving heart. I will do whatever I can to help him be as happy as he can be. (by his definition)

Interesting thread.