Hi all,
I am new to this forum as well as new to understanding PANDAS and other chronic infections.
A couple months ago I was diagnosed with Hashimotos disease (autoimmunity directed at the thyroid). I am a 20 year old male and about 3 to 4 years ago I started to notice some pretty abrupt changes in the way I felt both mentally and physically. My main symptoms which have progressively gotten worse have been general fatigue and pretty severe anxiety, depression, cognitive impairmentand, and what feels like derealization. I used to be a pretty upbeat, outgoing, and confident person. Around my senior year of high school I really started to crumble. I was able to go on to college and did well academically for two years but in that time I was increasingly having a harder time dealing with these onset problems. For the past few years I just was associating these changes in my mental and physical state to be situational and I took it all quite personally. Then this past summer, I was diagnosed with Hashimotos disease by a functional medince specialist who unequivocally associated my onset symptoms to this disease.
Having made some significant dietary/lifestyle changes It has been a few months and I have not noticed any changes in my symptoms/functionality.
Finally, December of 2017, I went to see a internal medince doctor who both specialized in thyroid issues as well as more comprehensive issues. After reviewing my labs he was quick in assuming that my symptoms and other autoimmune issues might be connected to a deeper problem, like a chronic streptococcal infection like PANDAS, or even Epstein-Barr.
Having done a little research it seems that PANDAS is mostly found in younger kids and the symptoms are slightly different mine: OCD, tics.
My doctor said that he has treated adults with PANDAS all of which had a variety of symptoms and issues.
I’m waiting to get the results of some blood work that my doctor collected which supposedly is testing to confirm that I have a chronic infection like PANDAS. I’m very anxious to see the result as I worry that my symptoms/story doesnt sounds like PANDAS based on some of the research I’ve done. I hope I’m wrong.
