Thursday, 05 November 2009
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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 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 reintroduced 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 back then.
Revisiting similar symptoms with Daniel, I once again googled it and found that PANDAS is now a recognized condition in children. It may be worth a look if you have seen a sudden onset of OCD or Anxiety 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.
The following comes from a web page that provides a nice overview of the condition and below that a link to that page is provided.
* “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.”
* http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/pdn/web.htm
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Comments (4)
Perfect!
@the_kcar@xanga - Thank you! I am still thinking how rediculous it is that I had not thought of this before. If people don't know of this condition it would be good to bring awareness. If I had not known of what anxiety looked like I would have thought Brian was going insane when this happened to him at the age of 5. He went from a happy go lucky kid to someone worrying about dying in his sleep. It was awful but the good news here is that it is temporary... we think.
I have honestly never heard of this. I have never seen it in any of my children, but I have a friend whose daughter was just sick with strep that has had some similar behaviors. I plan on bringing this to her attention. Thanks!
@gwacemom@momaroo - I really don't think most doctors are familiar with this. It would be too easy to diagnose a child with OCD, ADHD, etc and then prescribe meds without looking at any underlying condition, especially a typical infection. It's worth a look. I wish your friend and her daughter well.