Leaderboard

It might help you wrap your head around what's happening by considering that you have PANS, not Pandas. Pandas is an autoimmune response to strep. Pans is the same thing, except in addition to a strep trigger, it can also include Lyme, co-infections (e.g. Bartonella), mycoplasma, and viruses. Both Pans and Pandas come with the OCD, anxiety, tics, sensory, urinary issues, brain fog, temporary loss of academic skills, etc. So you may have resolved the Pandas triggers, but by treating the Lyme, you're now experiencing a Pans type of herx, which is more neurological than physical, but stems from the same toxins and inflammation of a herx. And yes, yeast die-off can contribute to the herxing. There are a couple of options. One is to focus on detox - bentonite clay or charcoal as a binder of toxins (taken away from any antibiotics, supplements or other medications), epsom salt baths if tolerated (some people find them relaxing, others find them irritating). Motirn or tumeric or a hogh quality resveratrol for anti-inflammatory. Alka-selzer gold (must be gold - available on Amazon). Taking yucca root or ornithine can help with the yeast die-off. Yeast die off releases aldehyde, which gets broken down to ammonia - a neuro-toxin. Yucca and ornithine can help lower/eliminate ammonia. Another option, which can be done instead of or in addition to the above (with your doctor's ok), is to either reduce the dose of your antibiotics or pulse it - i.e. take them 3 days on, then 4 days off, or take them 7 days on then 7 days off). This gives your body a chance to rest and clear herx byproducts away between waves of antibiotics. If you're interested in using herbs, you can also consider Dan Shen http://latitudes.org/dan-shen-become-important-treatment-pandaspans/ which can help close the blood-brain barrier and reduce Pans symtpoms. At your age, I'd take the higher end of a dose (e.g. 1/2 to 1 tsp 3-4x/day). Also, be aware that for some with Lyme-triggered Pandas/Pans, IVIG is helpful. For some, it produces a pretty significant herx. You're basically super-charging your immune system and it will attack the Lyme using donor antibodies - antibodies your own body may not have been able to make enough of. So it could cause a lot of inflammation while the flood of new antibodies attack the Lyme infection. Managing inflammation will be key. Will you be able to return to school (I assume you mean in January?) Hard to say. But from my own experiences with two Pans kids, there's no way to get healthy without going through the valley of death. Trying to go back to a normal life won't be possible until you tackle the Lyme. So simply stopping Lyme treatment might buy you a month of two. But your Pans symptoms probably won't resolve until you push through the Lyme treatment. You can do so in a gentle, slow manner to minimize herxes, or you can go for a full onslaught of treatments, but one way or the other, you will probably have neuropsych symptoms until the thorn is out of the lion's paw for good. I do hope you're taking a good probiotic (at least 30 billion CFUs) taken 2 hrs away from antibiotics, to help your gut health. The good news if that yes, eventually, you can get back to a normal life. It took my son several years to beat Pandas/Pans and Lyme, but he's been off all medications for 3 years and now only gets a slight "off" feeling when he gets a bacterial infection in the winter. A round of antibiotics or a week of herbal antibiotics gets things right again and normalcy returns. So have hope. It may take longer than you wish, but once you get rid of all underlying infections, you can get your life back.