The scary side of childhood strep
cheap canada goose uk I almost didn’t take my 7 year old son, Luke, to the doctor right away when he experienced a sudden onset of excessive blinking. He had just started a new school and was having trouble adjusting so I figured the stress of trying to fit in was producing this psychological habit. cheap canada goose uk
I had no idea at the time his tics were the result of a strep infection I never even knew he had. Thankfully, our pediatrician made the correct diagnosis and treatment began immediately. My son was one of the lucky ones.
cheap Canada Goose Kristin Kutz’s daughter, Abigail, came home from her first day of third grade excited and eager to go back. “Best day ever!” she exclaimed. The next day out of the blue she cried uncontrollably, insisting she couldn’t go back to school even though she didn’t know why. This dramatic, uncharacteristic behavior kept up for weeks. A nurse eventually found strep in her system. cheap Canada Goose
buy canada goose jacket cheap Extroverted and canada goose clearance happy is how Tammy Dalsindescribed her 10 year old daughter, Ella, until one Canada Goose Jackets November evening just one week after completing antibiotic treatment for strep. That night forever buy canada goose jacket cheap burned into Dalsin’s memory is canada goose clearance sale when Ella abruptly developed strange, obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD like behavior, resulting in a four month nightmare of frustrating doctor visits until finally receiving a diagnosis of PANDAS. buy canada goose jacket cheap
PANDAS stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. PANDAS occurs when a strep infection sets off a misdirected immune response in the child’s brain. Instead of fighting the infection, the immune system attacks the basal ganglia a part of the brain that controls emotions and movement. This can result in extreme obsessive compulsive characteristics, tics and other debilitating behavior.
Canada Goose online “If it comes out of the blue and you’re struck by how odd it is, that’s a sign it may be PANDAS,” says Susan Swedo, chief of the Pediatrics Developmental Neuropsychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. Swedo and her team first identified PANDAS in 1998. Canada Goose online
canadian goose jacket “Parents tell us PANDAS changes their child so dramatically it’s almost like their child is gone, and somebody else Canada Goose Outlet took her place,” Swedo says. canadian goose jacket
That’s exactly how Dalsin felt in 2011 when Ella all of a sudden couldn’t get herself to walk through a doorway.
Canada Goose Online “We were going from the garage into the house, and she kept going up and down the steps. She couldn’t make herself go in. She grabbed her hair with both hands and was screaming and crying. She http://www.canadagoosesalesus.com was panicking canada goose store because she didn’t know what Canada Goose online was happening to her,” Canada Goose Parka Dalsin said. Canada Goose Online
canada goose Ella’s symptoms got progressively worse. Her mind reeled with obsessive compulsive thoughts, such as needing to touch the wall 10 times, otherwise something bad would happen. Ella was wrought with anxiety and could barely function. She missed weeks of school and had to quit hockey a sport she loved to play. A visit to the pediatrician provided no answers. It wasn’t until the Dalsins did their own extensive Internet research that they discovered a probable cause. canada goose
“We read the PANDAS description, and it sounded exactly like her. We were convinced,” Tammy Dalsin said.
canada goose factory sale Unfortunately, PANDAS cheap Canada Goose isn’t easily diagnosed. canada goose factory sale
“It’s harder to recognize,” says Kiki Chang, director of PANS Psychiatry Research at Stanford University Medical Center, “because mild cases get missed and some of the major cases, too, because they get misdiagnosed as primary psychiatric canada goose deals illness.”
buy canada goose jacket Many doctors are still unfamiliar with PANDAS, a relatively new disorder. Others refuse to believe it even exists, not accepting that an infection could be the cause of a behavioral disorder. buy canada goose jacket
canada goose uk outlet That explains the Dalsins’ hellish few months of unproductive doctor Canada Goose sale visits, including to a neurologist, psychologist and psychiatrist, before a different child psychiatrist confirmed their suspicion of PANDAS. Finally, Ella could start her long road to recovery. canada goose uk outlet
Nine year canada goose outlet old Abigail’s PANDAS also went undiagnosed by the first physician she saw a psychiatrist. After the initial visit, he was ready to refer Abigail to a special school for children with severe mental disorders. Abigail’s parents sought a second opinion. This time a registered nurse ran blood tests and found strep in Abigail’s body, recognizing PANDAS was probably the cause of her abrupt onset of crying outbursts and refusal to go to school.
Abigail did return to school more than a month later, but she often ran out of the classroom to hide one time hiding in a school kitchen cupboard where no one could find her for hours. Abigail’s handwriting skills decreased dramatically, and she started refusing to eat two common PANDAS symptoms.
Experts say PANDAS affects 1 in 200 children and is “definitely present in every elementary school in the country,” Swedo said. She says it may go unnoticed, though, because children often try to hide their symptoms.
Canada Goose Jackets While not every child who gets strep develops PANDAS, family history of autoimmune illnesses and anxiety increase the risk. Canada Goose Jackets
Canada Goose sale PANDAS treatment consists of antibiotics to fight the infection along with cognitive behavioral therapy and/or antidepressants. The longer the child goes with untreated PANDAS, however, the more serious the symptoms and more intense treatment is needed. Canada Goose sale
canada goose uk shop “We’re canadian goose jacket working with Departments of Health in several states to increase awareness by both parents and clinicians. If we can help pediatricians recognize and treat PANDAS in its early buy canada goose jacket stages, it can make a huge difference in that child’s life,” Swedo says. canada goose uk shop
Take it from me. My son was in the pediatrician’s office no more than 10 minutes when the term PANDAS was mentioned. The immediate antibiotics and simple behavioral therapy were just a blip in the road for my son who canada goose coats now at age 13 barely remembers the experience.
canada goose store It’s a very different story for Ella and Abigail, whose PANDAS was not caught until much later. After months of intense therapy, Ella was put on long term antibiotics and continues to take antidepressants six years later. Diagnosed in October 2016, Abigail still suffers relapses and continues working with health professionals to completely eradicate her symptoms. Her outbursts have decreased, and she’s beginning to eat normally. canada goose store
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