If you're living with a child that has bi polar disorder then it really doesn't matter what the experts say about this debilitating mental illness. In our case, our son was diagnosed with bi polar in the seventh grade. Even though he is twenty one it hasn't gotten easier, it has gotten more difficult by leaps and bounds.

Our experiences with the symptoms of bi polar disorder were dramatic and extremely disruptive to our home and family. We had no idea what was wrong with our son other than we were unable to control him like we were able to with his three other siblings. One minute he was fine and the next he would be banging his head on the ground demanding what he wanted. Unfortunately this was just one of the daily events in our home.

When our son was depressed he would never want to leave his bed. If we tried to get him up his covers would just go over his head and he would begin chanting, "Leave Me Alone". We tried everything from bribing him to threatening him. That's right we were not experts at bi polar! Every normal method of raising and disciplining a child goes right out the window when your child is cursed with this mental illness. In some cases we would drag him out of bed with covers and all, to pulling his whole mattress off!

A child with bi polar disorder will generally not respond to a parents request unless of course it is something that they want. If it is something they don't want to be a part of there is no reasoning with them. They live in the absolute moment so threaten them with punishment doesn't matter. They can't and won't grasp that thought. Dealing with this when you have three other children that are watching and learning that one child is treated differently than all the others. This added to the hardship of raising him.

Bi polar disorder symptoms reveal themselves in many other ways and in our son's case he either would take numerous showers a day or not take any for several days. He may even forget that he took any showers and keep taking them over and over again. He could pick up a seven hundred page book and read it from cover to cover without taking a break. One mistake we made was introducing him to video games which became another compulsion for him.

Although our son is only twenty one he has already experienced many things in life that most of us wouldn't want to have gone through in our entire lifetime. He has already been in the state mental hospital for a short time after attacking us. He has been in Juvenile Detention for being aggressive to a Truancy Officer. He has been on countless daily medications that he can take without even a sip of water to wash them down. As a parent it breaks our hearts, but we have an unconditional love for him that will never stop until we take our last breath on this earth.