Wednesday, 18 November 2009
-
Could P.A.N.D.A.S. be to Blame for Your Child's OCD?
Just a few days ago I posted what I perceived to be an unusual experience with my son Daniel after he had experienced an illness that put him in bed for a couple of days with a fever, sore throat and cough. After receiving a few comments and talking to a friend of mine who also has a young son with autism I was re-introduced to a condition known as PANDAS, which is a cuddly sounding acronym for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections.I had first heard of this disorder 10 years ago when my older boy had had a bout of sudden onset anxiety after suffering with strep throat. I had seen it discussed as a new theory on a television show. I immediately googled it and found little information at the time but it all fit so precisely to what we were experiencing at the time.
Now re-visiting similar symptoms with Daniel I once again googled it and found that PANDAS is now a recognized condition in children. It may explain a sudden onset of symptoms that you have not seen before or a surge or recurrence of symptoms you had seen at one time, they disappeared and now have returned.
It would be worth taking a look at the following web page that provides a nice overview of the condition.
“The children usually have dramatic, "overnight" onset of symptoms, including motor or vocal tics, obsessions, and/or compulsions. In addition to these symptoms, children may also become moody, irritable or show concerns about separating from parents or loved ones. This abrupt onset is generally preceded by a Strep. throat infection.” (From http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/pdn/web.htm.)
Have you ever heard of P.A.N.D.A.S? What do you make of it?
-
recommend
- recs 1
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to healthkicker's Healthkicker Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in healthkicker's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: P1AutismMom@autisable
- Name: Nancy
- About Me: I am busy raising my 2 boys, Brian 15 and Daniel 13 who has autism. My hope in life is to make at least 2 people smile every day and if I'm feeling really ambitious I'll try to make them laugh :) You can read more of my story by going to www.AutismMom.net and follow on twitter http://twitter.com/P1AutismMom
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 3 Views: 0 1926 Comments: 0 45 View all posts by P1AutismMom@autisable
Comments (10)
This is the first I'm hearing about P.A.N.D.A.S. and I'm not really familiar with OCD that manifests at such a young age i.e. children; however, according to my biopsych book, strep infections can "trigger several autoimmune diseases in which the patient's immune system attacks and damages certain tissues of the body". It also goes on to say that damage to the basal ganglia is strongly linked to OCD and OCD behaviors (the basal ganglia is important for motor function, instrumental conditioning, motivation, etc). If the infection triggers the autoimmune disease which then damages the basal ganglia, it could result in the manifestation of OCD, which is really unfortunate. I'm not sure though and I could be wrong as this is just crude investigating on my part.
@salvatruca_stalking_havok13@xanga - Your explanation sounds quite informed to me. Thank you for adding your comments.
Sheesh! I'm sending some applause to that "salvatruca" guy
Hi :o)
Just came across your blog.
PANDAS is quite familiar to me, as I have a 9year old boy suffering from PANDAS since he was 5.
You might find these sites helpfull :
* www.latitudes.org/forums (PANDASforum) : A forum full of very helpfull parents to PANDASchildren from all over the world
* www.pandasnetwork.org : Full of information about PANDAS
* www.pandasfoundation.org : A quite new but very promising site
All the best wishes to you and your sons all the way from Denmark
I've never heard of it until recently. It makes sense to me.
@PANDAS_Denmark - Thank you for all the great links. When I mentioned it to the administration at my son's IEP on Tuesday they had never heard of it and were very interested. I will pass these links on to them. Thank you for the well wishes too. I wish all the best to you and your boy. My Brian is anxiety free as of age 11 but he was never formally diagnosed with PANDAS. He is 15 now.
Thank you for stopping by all the way from Denmark.
BTW (my maiden name is Sandee, which I am told is Dutch)
@Erika_Steele@xanga - It just goes to show that there is so much left to discover about the brain. It's a fascinating creation
Thank you for stopping by.
PANDAS
Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infection.
Government site on PANDAS
http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/pdn/web.htm
A good summary on PANDAS
http://cpementalhealth.com/content/4/1/13
Forum discussion on PANDAS
http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showfor...
Grass roots website from parents of PANDAS children,
http://www.pandasnetwork.org/
Chicago based clinic with extensive experience on treating PANDAS. Also a wealth of information.
http://www.webpediatrics.com/
I'm the author of Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD. My son was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, then Tourette's, missing all of sixth and seventh grades. Then I discovered the root cause was a strep infection. He had PANDAS. With appropriate antibiotic treatment he is now completely healed and five years symptom free. I'll be speaking at the Autism One national conference in Chicago in May 2010. In the meantime, you might want to pick up a copy of the book. Beth Alison Maloney
just recently have I been hearing about this...
it fascinates me...