browneyesmom

http://www.cpementalhealth.com/content/4/1/13

DCMom, Would you mind telling me what that study is and where it can be found? I sure could use that for support with our daughter's school due to all the tardiness she has been having with this! I think I am going to be requesting a meeting with school personnel soon. Thanks!!

I agree that I would not be giving his teacher a report from home each day either. You are in charge of your son and your home, not her. As for handling issues at school... here is what I am doing... I have our daughter seeing a private counselor, I requested that our pediatrician write a letter for me that I can utilize at school as I think we will need to have a conference there very soon. I fully intend to advocate for her. Her health comes first and while I am not happy with the way things are with this causing her to miss school and struggle right now, it is what it is. She is sick and that is the deal. No one can wave a magic wand to resolve that. I am doing all I can to help her through it and keep her on track. I'm not going to have them bullying me or her because she is not well - none of us need that pressure right now. If anything, some help and support would be appreciated and I have every intention of advocating for that. Good luck with getting the same for your son; I know all too well it is not easy. I am faced with boundaries that they do not want them in school if they have vomiting, diarrhea, a fever, strep throat (for at least 24 hours afterward); however, then they are unhappy that she is missing time from school. Ugh! Then there is the issue of being late to school because of the separation anxiety, the morning struggles to get ready, the worries over going to school or having a test and she might not do well... the list is endless... and they are unhappy about that too. Sometimes, I think perhaps I should pick her up, unclean, in her pj's, unfed (with her hypoglycemia) and having a tantrum and bring her right into school while she is kicking and yelling and plop her in her seat in class and announce to the teacher, "here she is, on time - all yours" and leave the room. Wonder if they would prefer that! Sigh... I wish you the best with the school issues for your son; I know it is a challenge. Hang in there and use whatever help you can get! Good luck!

My daughter does not have so much issue with tics as she does with behavioral outbursts. However, I am dealing with the exact same issue of her holding it together, not only at school, but also when she has visitation with her dad (my ex), so it's a challenge getting either of them to believe what my husband and I see at our home and to understand the nightmare she is living. I hear you, loud and clear! I think part of what happens, is that in an environment where they feel less "safe" and "secure", they do what they can to minimize their issues and keep things as normal as possible. However, once they are in an environment where they do feel safe and secure, it kind of 'explodes' (that is actually my daughters term for what she experiences after she has been holding it in all day. I honestly think it is a lot of pressure for them; however, I suspect a counselor might offer some support in this area, recognizing that this is a typical behavior. The counselor I have her seeing, commented that this is not at all unusual for kids to do this.

Oh, yes... haven't you heard about the new transdermal probiotics for pups? You just spill it on their fur and it's absorbed right through their skin, similar to how Frontline works. Of course, if you bathe said pup as I did right away, all effectiveness is lost! I thought it was Dr. Leckman who was out of town until March, but maybe that is why our pediatrician is having trouble reaching Dr. K. Maybe he will have more success with email. I know a CBC was part of the panel he wanted to run. I'm certain he did not mention lead, but that's not a bad idea... I had not considered that one. We've been in this house (which is new construction) 3.5 years (and her dad has been in his house a bit longer) so I would really be shocked if there were a bump in that causing her sudden extreme issues the last several weeks, but I suppose one never knows and it's always good to rule out things. Thanks for the input! Received an interesting email from her math teacher (which is where she had the biggest drop in grades - from A+ to failing)... she wrote that she does well when she is able to attend and that fortunately she is a strong math student and is able to get back on track. This was in response to me asking what her observations were of my daughter's work over the entire school year as I noted that she had struggled the first few weeks of the year and had only recently started to improve. Her other two teachers agreed with me, but in the one class where she clearly struggled the most, I got that odd response. Go figure! Maybe she was trying to be super positive even though I was very clear that I needed the truth, whatever it was they saw that to be. In the case of her math class, her grades very clearly tell the story.

LOL! You know, I do not know if there is a rapid strep test for canines!! That gave me a much needed chuckle though after a very difficult day; thanks! I do know they cultured ours. I thought I had posted at some point about our dog. I called back and spoke with the vet's office directly myself (rather than the second hand message I initially received). The type of strep she has is a strep that normally lives in the lungs and does not cause disease; she tested negative for group A beta hemolytic strep. However, as an abundance of caution, we treated her anyway. Well, my daughter did test positve yet again for strep throat this morning at our pediatrician's office. He walked back in the room shaking his head and my heart just sank. Although, she has had it soooo many times now, she can just about self-diagnose. I have a pretty good idea from her symptoms and behavior. He wrote for Amoxicillin and Azithromycin initially, then when I mentioned that I understood Dr. K was having a lot of success with Augmentin, he changed the Amoxicillin to Augmentin, so she is now on Augmentin AND Azithromycin. Guess he's not fooling around anymore. Fine with me. He had reviewed all the info I left for him and had left a message for Dr. K, but had not yet heard back from him. He wants to draw labs on her: anti-DNase, ASO and several others, but he wants to wait until he talks/emails Dr. K to see if he suggests doing any others so we only have to do one stick - hopefully. So, we are doing the antibiotics... we did discuss the steroid burst and he was perfectly willing to write for it. Honestly, I was the reluctant one. I don't think my ex is really on board with this yet and I would like to see the labs he is going to draw also since there are risks with IVIG as well. I do realize, at some point, that may be where we wind up. It's just that three weeks ago, I did not know PANDAS existed and I'm still trying to absorb an awful lot and I have to have my ex's consent to move forward so I am working on that also. If I jump too far ahead without him being on board, I know all too well that it will make this road we are traveling take a LOT longer to get her treatment. So, I'll give my ex another week or two for our pediatrician to get the labs and get closer to confirming the diagnosis and let HIM recommend it. Instead of the steroid burst, I did ask if he would be ok with us doing the Ibuprofen BID again and he was fine with that. We also agreed to keep her on probiotics and plenty of yogurt. I did no sooner get the probiotic powder mixed into her yogurt... and she promptly spilled it on the dog's back. Sigh... But before that, we get home and get my daughter her antibiotics and fed and the dog her antibiotics and fed and start on my daughter's studying... (I am going to probably have a conference with her school personnel due to all the absences and tardiness as her teachers do not seem to be very understanding)... and I went up to get my laptop and she starts calling for me in a panic... she had another episode of urinary incontinence... said she did not realize she needed to go again. Poor darling... I just hate all she has been going through with this. I will be so glad when we DO have a diagnosis and my ex IS on board and we have a plan as to how we are going to move forward. It's so exhausting for everyone. I know you all know this.

My daughter seemed to be improving as she completed the antibiotic last Tuesday. Her schoolwork was getting better the prior week, she didn't have any outbursts for 4 days in a row last week as she completed it... although I could tell she was still having emotional struggles where she would need some space to recover, but I was really stunned and impressed with how well she was handling it and improving. Then, she got home from her Dad's on Sunday evening and it seemed she was doing much worse again. The last two nights in a row, there have been frequent outbursts, lots of defiance surfacing again. (She actually tried to get out of the car on the way home this evening - sooooo scary!!! Fortunately, we were in our neighborhood and we did make it to the house safely.) I had thought we were getting better at handling them, but now I realize, that was not the case at all as she actually follows me if I try to walk away, sometimes nearly... attacking me, almost rage-like how she will grab at me or my clothes and get in my face, yelling at me... I had forgotten about that part. I have to tell you that this is SO completely unlike my little girl... she has NEVER, EVER been like this before. She is generally just the sweetest, most considerate, sensitive child... so loving and gentle. This is TOTALLY out of character for her; she simply does not do things like this normally - something is wrong and it sure does seem that PANDAS makes sense the more I learn about it!!! I can only imagine the torment in her mind that causes this to happen; it haunts me. I know it frightens and confuses her; she talks to me about that sometimes... poor little dear... my heart is so heavy for her... I can only imagine the confusing nightmare this must be for a child to endure!!! She also told me that she mentioned to her dad over the weekend (he had visitation this past weekend) that she was tired and didn't feel well. Now, she is complaining of a sore throat, headache and nausea... sound familiar? Those are her classic strep symptoms! She said she feels like she has strep again. Bless her heart; she's had it so many times, she may just be right. I'll try to get an appointment tomorrow to have her checked and also find out if our pediatrician has had an opportunity to look over the research information, medical history, etc that I left at his office late last week. I feel so drained myself just trying to research, advocate and help her through this day to day... how she must feel living with it herself... I suppose we will never truly know the depth of how they are suffering and how exhausting, confusing, terrifying all this must be for a child. It just breaks my heart!

That is great news!! I hope everything goes smoothly for her with the testing. If you mean the scans - they will have to give her a sedative intravenously to make sure she is completely still. As far as the neuropsych testing - it will be things like - speech and language, motor skills, cognitive testing, etc. However she tests out - that's where she will be at this point. It will be interesting to see at what level she is functioning right now. She is doing better with her obsessions and anxiety - but her academic abilities aren't what they were before. I'll post again and update when she's had these.

Oh Michele, What a difficult situation for you. Yes, I can totally relate. That is very similar to how my ex's family is. Amazingly, she has been much better most of this afternoon & evening. There have been a couple of instances where we could see she was starting to get spun up, so we just kind of ignored them and gave her some space and they blew over. They were MUCH milder than they have been in the last few weeks. She completed her homework by 8:30, and we got home a bit late, because I had to stop by the hospital for labs on myself and then we had to pick up our dog from the vet and have dinner, so she really did GREAT this evening and for most of the time, has been very happy! Yes, my husband and I were just talking this evening about how nice it is to see her so happy, but I also cautioned that we are not out of the woods yet and told him about what happened this morning when I was encouraging her about math and how she withdrew out of the blue for a few minutes. I think we need to continue to watch her as while she certainly seems to be improving, she is not what I would call back to normal yet.

My ex is not inclined to provide me with any medical history on his side of the family either. I've asked at times in the last several months and the only response I've gotten is that he is not going to bother his dad with that right now. His mother passed in May and the family MO seems to be that they are not talking about her at all around their father.

My daughter also calls herself "stupid" and "dumb" at times and it breaks my heart also. I tried to talk with her this morning about it. She did a couple of multiplication problems. They were the exact two she had missed on a test about 3 weeks ago. She made one mistake on the first one, but corrected it and got them both right this morning - no struggling in total confusion like she was a few weeks ago. I encouraged her that she is getting well and her math skills are coming back, that when she was struggling a few weeks ago, it was because she was sick, but that she really is smart and is doing better now. She went to the sofa and covered with a blanket without a word and when I asked her if she heard me, she just said "I'm tired." I asked if she remembered struggling with math over the last several weeks and she just shook her head and said she wanted to go to sleep. I went and sat with her and stroked her hair and asked if she was having some "awkward" feelings right then, because she seemed to be in a negative mood, but she kind of pulled away from me, which is unusual for her and said she was tired. I gave her some space for a little while as I packed her lunch. A few minutes later, it seemed to pass and she came back to the kitchen, asked for a hug as she finished her breakfast, then she got her school things together with a good bit of direction from me and got off to school ok... cutting it close to get there on time, but I think she made it, bless her heart. She's also worried about our 14 month old golden retriever, who had a very high fever in the middle of the night. I was up a lot of the night with her, packing her in ice packs and feeding her ice chips as she would not take water. My husband brought her to our vet this am where they will watch her for the day. I'm sure she'll be fine, but my daughter has had increased worry over so many things in recent months and she asked me a couple of times this morning if they would have to put her to sleep! I reassured her, but it's hard to know what sinks in and what doesn't. She wanted me to call her if I get any news during the day, but I told her I probably would not know much until she got home... hope she will be able to put this out of her mind and focus today. Poor dear... so much for a young child to manage at one time! I don't think we really have any idea what they really endure day in and day out... all we can do is watch from the outside and although we see them suffering and ache for them to be well again, it isn't the same as walking in their shoes. I hate to think what it must be like for her to go through this confusion. Thanks for sharing about your husband, Michele... it does make it harder to be the only one who sees/believes there is a medical issue. I do not mean this to sound arrogant in any way, but neither my husband nor my ex have any medical background (nor are they inclined to do much research) and I am an RN, so I admit I can get a little frustrated with both of them suggesting that they have more insight than I do, who has always spent much more time with her than either of them. It just seems to me that I am with her more and more tuned in to things they are not. When I told my ex about the math test, his take on it was that she was having some trouble and he helped her with math and now she is doing better. No. We helped her here at home too (almost every single night!), but it made no difference and she did not do better with his help either - until she took that antibiotic last couple of weeks. Further, she never struggled like this in the first place before now, so what caused that??? It would take some clear data to convince me that it wasn't due to her being sick and the antibiotic is NOT the intervention that made the difference. Oh yes, peglem, I do realize that this may be only a bright spot in the midst of a lot more darkness and confusion, but yeah, hey, at least we got a bright spot and that is a blessing right now!

Sooo... can others who have been through this tell me... is this one of the first signs that things are improving? I know we still have a long way to go and I still believe she needs more treatment, but I am just wondering. It certainly is a positive sign.

I never did share just how low her grades dropped in math class while my daughter was sick these last several weeks (she would have been horrified if I had at the time), but the same child who earned an A+ first quarter, was bringing home tests in the 60's, 40's and yes, even 20's during all this struggle. She told me the test questions were just easy this time... division instead of multiplication. I quizzed her on some multiplication though and she snapped them off, just like that with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever. Subtraction seemed a little tougher, but that's ok, I reassured her. Again, she told me that I just asked her simple multiplication facts... no, I know better. She would not have been able to do those 3 weeks ago. No way. I shared the good news with her dad as I was on the way to drop her off there for a Valentine's date with him. His response was that she had some struggles, but "we worked on it and now she is doing better". No. She never struggled like this before. Never. Interesting that she improved when she took the antibiotic. I think I am going to have to add to my research to obtain her math grades for 1st & 2nd quarters to show him what I am talking about here and compare it with the timeline in question. I now know there is usually a huge decrease in math skills with PANDAS kids when they have an episode, but at the time, I did not know what was happening to her and so worried as she had never struggled like this in school before and my heart just broke for her as I searched my mind for answers. She completed the antibiotic this morning. I wish I could say that everything else is back to normal too, but it is not and I know it may take quite a while for the rest to resolve for her... through a gradual improvement. She did not have her usual "I knew I could do it" attitude about the test... I could tell that she is still convinced that she is not so bright and we are going to need to work on her self-esteem to help her resolve that successfully. I hope this is the beginning of things improving for her, but from what I have learned, I will not be shocked if she has another dip as most kids need low-dose antibiotics long-term as well as other treatments. Those are more complex, so our pediatrician will have to discuss with the research docs first. I am waiting to hear back from him about that as I am anxious to keep her moving in a positive direction and get her fully recovered. My huge worry with all this is that one never knows in brain cases just how much will be recovered and how much might be lost. It's a wait and see situation and there is much for which we still have to wait and see and that is not easy and I realize I may have a battle on my hands for treatment with her dad as he is not as convinced as I am that this is PANDAS, so I am continuing to work on that aspect as well. This is one of the most challenging, stressful and painful things I've ever experienced. But, I wanted to share the good news that she really IS still in there somewhere!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of your responses!!!! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support!! I emailed my husband last night as well as this morning, then read him excerpts from your posts this evening to help him understand that I am not the only one who sees that this is an illness, not simply a child acting out! I shared with him how impressed I was that she had been able to come in our room, get the pillow and articulate what she was feeling and how I want to have a better plan in place for her so it will help her get through it better. I used my medical training to explain a bit more about seizures and brain injuries and am hoping things will improve from here, at least at home. I can not thank you enough for your help!!! Now, I have some good news... or at least the start of some good news to report and I had to come share it with you all. I got a new computer and inadvertently entered the wrong password, trying to guess as it had been saved on the old one, so I have been sitting here about to burst wanting to post this, but could not get online until just now! Ok, so look for my next post - new topic!

I'm glad Gaby is improving and hope this trend continues for her. To my knowledge, my daughter is not having agitation issues at school. Somehow, she is able to control that there. She told me that she has the feelings there, but tries to control them. She has said she does the same around her dad because he gets so angry. Do other PANDAS kids have this situation that they are able to control the agitation, outbursts, etc in certain situations, but not in others? I'm trying to learn all I can about this condition so I can better understand what she is dealing with and can better help her.

Lisa, You know your own child. I have been dealing with a similar issue of others trying to tell me I am over-reacting and it's not really a medical issue. You know when something is out of place. Don't let anyone talk you out of it if you know in your heart that something is just not right. I know it is a very hard time right now and a hard fight to fight, but keep plugging away at this... you'll get there. We all will.

Thanks Pat... that is exactly where my heart and mind and spirit has been over all of this for the last 6 weeks it has been occurring and it has been very frustrating to be challenged so often by those who do not even have any medical education or experience. I needed to hear that this morning. I'm on my way!

Thanks so much for your response! I do agree it isn't really her, but her condition. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with me and thus, are interjecting opinions in the middle of some situations, which makes it much more difficult... more on that at the end... She has 3 regular teachers this year as she is in a pull out class for math as well as an advanced reading class. I did email all three of them as soon as our pediatrician mentioned PANDAS to me. In addition to those, she has several "centers" teachers for computer, art, PE, music, etc.... I really think we need to start homework the weekend before as she has tests on Fridays. I think it would take pressure off the weeknights. Yes, she definitely has experienced a loss of math skills, was being evaluated for ADD, and I certainly think there is perhaps some loss of fine motor control, in addition to confusion over very simple tasks at times, but the other issues are serious enough that it is taking literally hours to complete homework that should really only take about one hour. It usually does not get completed. As for the birthday party, this is someone she just met this year and the time we had her over to our house, we noticed that she had our daughter sort of at her beck and call, while she would wander off, not really playing with my daughter, so I'm not so convinced she's the best influence or friend for her. At some points this year, daughter has articulated the same thing. Also noted that parents did some very odd things and don't feel so comfortable leaving her there. There is another birthday party for another child she has known longer on weekend she is with her father that I would be much more willing to work on having her attend. Because her dad & I are divorced, she has visitation with him every other wknd as well as Tuesday evenings, so she is not here those times. Weeknights are out of the question for anything other than homework, and part of the problem is getting her to follow instructions or do anything helpful right now is generally a major battle. I've tried making lists, walking through it with her, etc. She seems to be bouncing all over the place, physically and emotionally, and talking almost non-stop at times. Yes, it does seem to be best when I simply say to her that this is not helping when she starts getting out of control. It does not stop the tantrum or associated behaviors though. Unfortunately, my husband and my ex-husband are not really convinced it is the PANDAS, which makes managing the situation more difficult as they both seem to disagree with how I am handling it and think I am "coddling" her. I think this is mainly because she has periods of time when she seems ok to them, so they think that she can control it. I feel a bit like I am in a pressure cooker when it comes to this.

My 9 year old daughter has been having a lot of disrespect and defiance issues, along with rage-like tantrums pretty often. One of my questions is, how do you handle these? If this were a rare occurance, I think it would be pretty simple to just leave her alone until it passes, but the problem is that sometimes they occur when I am trying to get her to bed for the night at something that resembles a reasonable time... or out the door to church, or to school on time, or get her homework done so I can get her to bed... and I am coming to see that if she gets less sleep, she only has more trouble with all this. It's like a vicious cycle! Also, sometimes she kicks, grabs, pulls, pushes... and says very hateful things. I do recognize that if she does have PANDAS (not yet confirmed, but her symptoms seem very compatible), that her brain is simply not functioning normally right now and my heart breaks for all she is going through. She had one this evening and I told her she could not go to an upcoming birthday party. She yelled that wasn't fair. A little later, she came to me and apologized, said she doesn't know what happens, but that she feels so awkward, but it's hard to tell if that is because she is really sorry or if she wants me to allow her to go to the party. Before this outburst got really bad, she did come into our room and start hitting a pillow, saying that she had negative feelings, but did not know why. I tried to re-direct (maybe that was my mistake, but it was getting late and she needed to get clean and get to sleep) and it just continued to escalate. I am wondering just how much one should ignore the disrespect and defiance type stuff. For those of you who have been through this and are on the other side, how did you handle it and once your kids recovered, did they return to being respectful, obedient, kind and loving again or had they learned how to manipulate and get away with things? I am hearing a lot of challenge from others that she knows what she is doing and needs to be disciplined. While I'm not convinced of that (I believe there is something seriously wrong here, even though it does come and go through the day - usually worse in the evenings), I don't want to create a child who is learning to manipulate either. It seems to me that it might be best to give her space during that time, which I gave up and did tonight, but at the cost of her getting clean. Gosh, I hate these decisions.... it is so difficult to manage bathing in the mornings and I really do not know if I will be able to do it before school. I can see this is so hard on her. She too, is searching for answers as to what is happening to her and why. It seems so confusing to me too. How on earth did you manage to get through with getting homework done AND getting them to bed at a decent hour? This feels so impossible to me almost every night now. At one point, I asked her teacher for her weekly homework in advance, but received no response. I think I will ask again. If we could get some of it done on the weekend ahead of time, I think that might take some pressure off the weeknights... at least it is worth a try. This sure isn't working.

Hi Lisa, I'm new here myself, so I can't offer you much in the way of advice or confirmation of what you are seeing with your son, other than it sounds possible to me. One interesting thing is that my daughter had strep & scarlet fever about a month ago, was diagnosed just a few days after her extreme symptoms began. Last Friday I brought her back to our pediatrician. Her throat did not look that bad, but she was complaining of a sore throat, headache, nausea and had little appetite... all the symptoms she gets when she has strep, so I was certainly thinking it was highly likely as she gets it a lot. She was positive, which our MD said surprised him. That is when he mentioned PANDAS to us and when I first learned of it. Same as you, I know my daughter and something is wrong. I will say this much... you know your child. If you are being as objective as you can and are still convinced that something is wrong with your child, pursue it. You have nothing to lose... all that can happen is one of two things. Either you will learn that you have nothing to worry about or you will find the source of the problem and be able to talk about treatment options. Either way, it's better to pursue it and find out, imo. Sometimes, we have to advocate for our children because as you said, we know them best. I wish you and your son the best and I hope you find healing for him soon! Please check your inbox also; I will send you a message there.

Our pediatrician (who, btw, is wonderful) called me this morning to check on my daughter and see how she is doing. She told me yesterday that her throat still hurts and she still feels like she has strep. Usually 2-3 days into the antibiotic, she is reporting that she feels much better and one can see she is improved. Not so now. I also told him that the other issues are really not improved either and that my daughter is usually such a sweet child and this is SO out of character for her that if it is not PANDAS, then I don't know if she needs a neuro eval, brain scan or what, but something is very wrong here. He indicated that PANDAS is hard to diagnose b/c of there not being a lab test; it's more of a clinical assessment. However, he does think it's certainly possible in her case. He wants us to bump up her Prozac from 10 mg to 20 mg and see if that helps (my ex (her dad) wants her off the prozac completely, so I hope this won't be an issue). I asked him about his thoughts about the Ibuprofen to reduce swelling in the basal ganglia area of the brain and he agreed that while he was not familiar with it specifically for this, it makes sense to him also and to keep her on 200-250 mg (based on her weight) for one week. When I mentioned Dr. Leckman and his research, he perked up and asked for the spelling of his name. He also took down his phone number. I'm so glad we have a pediatrician who does not let his ego get in the way of his work and taking care of our child! This is not the first time I have felt this way about him! He wants me to keep her on the Amoxicilin until he speaks with Dr. Leckman, so I hope they will make contact very soon since I sent information both directions.

I don't know the appropriate protocol... you'd think I would since I am a nurse. Generally, I would think that if your doctor wants information, he would call the other doctor. However, if the doctor doing research wants information, I would think he would call the other doctor. My understanding is that Dr. Leckman is out of town until Monday and then will be in his office for only a couple of days before leaving again. To be honest, this probably isn't much help to your question, but I don't even care right now as long as we get help for my daughter and she gets well again. I sent information both ways. Our pediatrician called me this morning on my cell as I was on the way home from taking my daughter to school; he wanted to check on her and see how she was doing. So, I gave him the full run down of info. He really perked up when I mentioned Dr. Leckman's research and asked me to spell his name and he also took down his phone number. I am praying with everything in me that it helps! I hope you get help for your child too!

Just got the results of the Group A Strep test on our golden retriever; it's positive. How about that? Glad I had her checked!!! Ok, I need some more help. It turns out that I do not have Dr. Leckman's direct phone number at Yale, only one of the people working on the study. Is this the Dr. Leckman to whom our pediatrician should be talking? http://www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/faculty/leckman.htm If anyone can please confirm this for me, I would like to call our pediatrician, give him this information and also find out what should be done to treat the dog! Oy vey! Thanks!

Just got the results of the Group A Strep test on our golden retriever; it's positive. How about that? Glad I had her checked!!! Ok, I need some more help. It turns out that I do not have Dr. Leckman's direct phone number at Yale, only one of the people working on the study. Is this the Dr. Leckman to whom our pediatrician should be talking? http://www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/faculty/leckman.htm If anyone can please confirm this for me, I would like to call our pediatrician, give him this information and also find out what should be done to treat the dog! Oy vey! Thanks!

You know... the more I learn about this, I am starting to wonder more and more about if she does indeed have it AND if she has had it longer than I had any idea. I don't recall if I mentioned that in late 2006, she and I both tested + for exposure to mono. Oh, we were so sick that year. She tested + for strep... I think I lost count, but I would guess it was about 8 times that year, after that. It was constant. I would have to pull her records. I do not think she has any tics now, but looking back, for a while around that time, she would blink her eyes as if she had a tic. She no longer does that now. Can the symptoms change? Recently, she has been being evaluated for ADD... mostly for inattention, but some hyperactivity as well. Last night's rage was so wild. She pulls on me, kicks me, pushes me, refuses to do anything we say, yells that I don't love her, yells that I hate her... it's the most horrible thing. I could not get her to take a shower without pulling her into the bathroom and telling her if she did not cooperate that I would have to call my husband in to help. She eventually calmed down toward the end of the bath and once she got dressed, she was as if nothing had ever happened - back to her normal, happy self. Is this typical??? Within just moments of that, suddenly, she could not bear for me to leave her. Her grades have dropped as well. She too, is normally an A student and has dropped a bit, but not quite as much and I hope it won't go any further as she is already very upset at where the grades are now and calling herself stupid. She's at A, B and C for this quarter that just ended, but she also got 2 needs improvement, which we have never seen before and she took that pretty hard as well. I am going to get off here and call my pediatrician's office also to give him Dr. Leckman's information in hopes that he will contact him about this. He is out of the office today, but I will leave a message. Perhaps if they both have each other's info (already sent my pediatrician's to them), they will reach each other soon! Thanks again so much!!!