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Posted By: Huckleberry 9-yo diagnosed w/ Mood disorder - 06/06/18 07:58 PM
Does anybody here have experience with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder?

Gobsmacked
Posted By: SFParent2015 Re: 9-yo diagnosed w/ Mood disorder - 06/06/18 10:03 PM
I'm not familiar with that diagnosis but after googling it, the description matches the behavioral issues of one of my kids. Turns out that a substantial part of that behavior, in our case, was due to long-undiagnosed celiac disease (and associated malnutrition, suspected neuro damage, etc.); we're seeing continuing improvement on a gluten-free diet, and relapses upon inadvertent re-exposure.

Mentioning this because we consulted about a dozen doctors, psychiatrists, OTs, counselors, etc. along the way, and none of them thought to check for this (until, finally, one did - and the blood draw revealed off-the-charts antibody levels) - so make sure to discuss with your ped to confirm that all possible underlying medical causes for irritability, etc. have been considered and affirmatively ruled out.
Posted By: aeh Re: 9-yo diagnosed w/ Mood disorder - 06/07/18 01:45 AM
This is a relatively recent diagnostic category, which is considered a more conservative approach than the free-for-all giving small children bipolar affective disorder diagnoses that was fashionable for a period, mostly during the early 2000s. The trajectory does include adult bipolar for some children, but interestingly, the more consistent finding is adult depression or anxiety disorders.

And I would agree with SFP that, as with all mental health diagnoses (with adults too, but especially with children), it's important to rule out other organic bases of the symptoms.
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