I am hoping someone can let me know if I am on the right track in looking to have my 10 year old daughter assessed for pandas. Right now she has a referral to get assessed for ADHD and ODD at the developmental center at a well regarded children's hospital but our appointment isn't until June. Some things have come up since we got the referral in January to make me think that we might be dealing with pandas instead. She has always been a very imaginative and energetic kid that tended to be a little distractible, but has always been outgoing and happy. She is suddenly miserable most of the time. Below is a list of her symptoms.
* Intrusive thoughts of self harm, (started overnight and she says she doesn't want to hurt herself but sees images of her doing it when she has theses thoughts).
* Fear of touching anything sharp, will no longer unload the dishwasher unless I take out the knives and utensils first.
* Thinking things are her fault, (if her toddler sister runs into her and falls down I have to assure her that it's not her fault the baby ran into her).
* Asking if she did/said things that were ok after having a nice small talk like conversation,(like at the grocery store, etc.). She will ask over and over again.
* Afraid of the dark and going to bed, is now sleeping on her mattress in my bedroom.
* Has always done well in school and worked 1-2 grades ahead, (we homeschool). She is now barely pulling C's in math and hates doing all schoolwork.
* Very anxious in public, hates crowds now and refuses to go to the grocery store. She says that the lights and the people bother her.
* Very "touchy" and easy to anger, even minor incidents set off a temper tantrum with screaming and door slamming.
* Headaches
* Stomach aches
* Had one other intrusive thoughts episode the month she turned 7. She thought things has poison in them and would not eat anything that I didn't make at home and would not drink out of drinking fountains at the park. She would ask, "is it poison", when I would put her dinner in front of her and would not eat it until I reassured her that there was no poison. We had just moved and did not have a new pediatrician yet and by the time we settled in and found a new ped she had stopped doing this and went back to normal. We thought at the time it was just a reaction to her stress from moving.
* She was sick last July with what I thought was strep for sure, (facial rack, very sore throat with white patches and swollen lymph nodes for a month). i took her in for a strep test but it was negative so she didn't get any antibiotics. She was very sick though, I almost never take my kids to the doctor for colds or illnesses. The rest of the family also got sick but she had it the worst.
* She was sick in December and again in January this year. the symptoms all started in early February.
* Her toddler sisters and I have had some minor bacterial things that may have been strep related. The twins, (almost 2), had very bad impetigo diaper rashes around when my 10 year old started having the behavioral changes, and I has mastitis two weeks ago. Both are usually either caused by strep or staph.
Does this all sound like it could be pandas? Should I take her in a request a strep test, or just request antibiotics?