What could cause my dc's mood to shift every 2 weeks? Is this what bipolar looks like?

[Anonymous]

Sounds to me like you're looking for trouble. If someone tracked anyone's moods like this, I imagine they would be similar to this – a few good weeks, a few bad weeks. I mean, this is what people are like, what life is like.

This type of hyper vigilance in parenting can actually cause mental health issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds to me like you're looking for trouble. If someone tracked anyone's moods like this, I imagine they would be similar to this – a few good weeks, a few bad weeks. I mean, this is what people are like, what life is like.

This type of hyper vigilance in parenting can actually cause mental health issues.

op - yeesh. new fear unlocked.

[Anonymous]

PDA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op - to answer qs above - dc is a boy, is 10 (so not teenage stuff).
it's helpful to hear the above. I have noticed it cycles for a while. I will try to further tease out what could be the triggers but it's tricky bc dc's life is fairly systematized in the sense that there isn't a lot of variation (not bc he can't handle it but like any kid he has sports on various days and school stuff is pretty routine).

OP, what led you to start tracking his moods? Was it solely the variation that you noticed in those or are there other issues? Does he have any insight into these changes?

I just noticed I would have weeks that were so hard with him and then weeks that were way easier, and in those weeks he seemed happier and more regulated.

Thanks. I may be completely barking up the wrong tree, but is anything going on with you (or other family members) that could predict the difficult/easy weeks? Said with full empathy and acknowledgement that when I'm having a hard time - hello, perimenopause - interactions with my tweens are much harder. I also have a 10yo DS; that's not too young for the beginnings of puberty in a boy, which can show up as mood swings.

In any case, I wouldn't worry at all about bipolar, based on what you've said. I also wouldn't worry that you're "hypervigilant" - unless this instance is one of many in which you scrutinize his behavior.

[Anonymous]

Person with bipolar disorder here, and I lived through my teens with it.

What you describe doesn't necessarily sound like an early manifestation of bipolar disorder to me. Is there anything else you can point to? What about sleep patterns -- does that change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op - to answer qs above - dc is a boy, is 10 (so not teenage stuff).
it's helpful to hear the above. I have noticed it cycles for a while. I will try to further tease out what could be the triggers but it's tricky bc dc's life is fairly systematized in the sense that there isn't a lot of variation (not bc he can't handle it but like any kid he has sports on various days and school stuff is pretty routine).

OP, what led you to start tracking his moods? Was it solely the variation that you noticed in those or are there other issues? Does he have any insight into these changes?

I just noticed I would have weeks that were so hard with him and then weeks that were way easier, and in those weeks he seemed happier and more regulated.

Thanks. I may be completely barking up the wrong tree, but is anything going on with you (or other family members) that could predict the difficult/easy weeks? Said with full empathy and acknowledgement that when I'm having a hard time - hello, perimenopause - interactions with my tweens are much harder. I also have a 10yo DS; that's not too young for the beginnings of puberty in a boy, which can show up as mood swings.

In any case, I wouldn't worry at all about bipolar, based on what you've said. I also wouldn't worry that you're "hypervigilant" - unless this instance is one of many in which you scrutinize his behavior.

op - i did think maybe about my own cycle! but it seems to be the flip of my cycle if anything. ie he is in a pretty happy mood this week and i am pmsing.
i should try to add in some hypotheses to my google doc. I actually think there may be a correlation with school. often when i get negative feedback from school it correlates with a better mood from dc. maybe bc he is not trying to hold it together there so much. i'm not sure i can really point to that though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op - to answer qs above - dc is a boy, is 10 (so not teenage stuff).
it's helpful to hear the above. I have noticed it cycles for a while. I will try to further tease out what could be the triggers but it's tricky bc dc's life is fairly systematized in the sense that there isn't a lot of variation (not bc he can't handle it but like any kid he has sports on various days and school stuff is pretty routine).

OP, what led you to start tracking his moods? Was it solely the variation that you noticed in those or are there other issues? Does he have any insight into these changes?

I just noticed I would have weeks that were so hard with him and then weeks that were way easier, and in those weeks he seemed happier and more regulated.

Thanks. I may be completely barking up the wrong tree, but is anything going on with you (or other family members) that could predict the difficult/easy weeks? Said with full empathy and acknowledgement that when I'm having a hard time - hello, perimenopause - interactions with my tweens are much harder. I also have a 10yo DS; that's not too young for the beginnings of puberty in a boy, which can show up as mood swings.

In any case, I wouldn't worry at all about bipolar, based on what you've said. I also wouldn't worry that you're "hypervigilant" - unless this instance is one of many in which you scrutinize his behavior.

op - i did think maybe about my own cycle! but it seems to be the flip of my cycle if anything. ie he is in a pretty happy mood this week and i am pmsing.
i should try to add in some hypotheses to my google doc. I actually think there may be a correlation with school. often when i get negative feedback from school it correlates with a better mood from dc. maybe bc he is not trying to hold it together there so much. i'm not sure i can really point to that though.

Good for you for thinking of this already, OP! I think you may be onto something about negative feedback from school and his better mood. It's pretty well-established that the work of keeping it together at school is very difficult for most kids, so it's normal for them to let it all out at home. But when they're doing less of that work at school, they have more energy for it out of school. That may not be it entirely, but it's a plausible contributor.