monarchcat

I was the OP on this thread so I thought I'd pop back in. I haven't been on the board for a while so I didn't realize this thread had been bumped back up. We never did SSRIs or anti-anxiety meds. In a moment of absolute panic I convinced his dr to prescribe lamictil based on several posts on this board, but I never gave it to him. His therapist at the time didn't think he was a danger to himself so we just held on and tried to get through it. We were seeing a therapist (which he hated) and a adolescent specialist weekly for weight checks. As his nutritional status and weight improved, the body dismorphia and the depression lifted. Based on my own research on anorexia, I started him on zinc supplements, and that is the thing I think made the most difference in the long run with getting him over the anorexia and depression. He just sort of came through it. After doing 23andMe and a billion hours of reading/research I find I still don't understand most of the methylation stuff but we are making some progress. We haven't had a repeat of that awful 6 months at least. He currently takes Azith, lithium orotate, Magnesium, Zinc, hydroxy B12, CoQ10, Iron (he's a vegetarian), and probiotics. I'd like to tweak that list a bit but I'm scared to rock the boat. I did a HTMA on him a while back and there are some issues there, but I haven't had time to really figure it out and determine what else to add in. He also basically refuses to take any more supplements than he is taking now. We also tried Inositol in the past and it didn't help, probably because it's a methyl donor and he can't tolerate methyl donors, even though he needs them desperately (very confusing genetics). That could be why your son doesn't do well on it either. You might give lithium orotate a try, along with B12 and magnesium. If you haven't done MTHFR testing, probably try hydroxy B12 rather than methyl B12. Or try small doses of methyl B12 and watch to see if it makes him flare. None of it is a magic fix, at least for us. It's been slow going and just trying to get incrementally better.

Really?? We usually use CVS for prescriptions but they did some looking (several months ago) and said they couldn't get dye-free azith tablets. I would think if one CVS could do it, then all could. Ugh. I think I'll bug them again. Do you happen to know the manufacturer of the tablets? Sandoz makes them, but that's the company that Rite Aid is telling me is backordered with no date for fulfillment.

Does anyone have success getting azith pills in dye-free form? It's been such a struggle. My son went back on azith about 4 months ago and he absolutely refuses to take the ones with the red dye (not that I blame him). For a while I was able to get dye-free pills from Rite Aid, but they said they have mostly been filling the script by getting pills from other Rite Aid's that had them. They said the manufacturer (Sandoz) says they are on "backorder" with no date for when/if they will be abel to provide them again. I've called several other pharmacies, and Rite Aid was the only one that said they could even get them in the first place. The others said they were not able to order them. Anybody had luck with this recently? So frustrating... it should be getting EASIER to find dye-free alternatives these days, not harder!

I would agree that it bears close watching. My son became vegetarian as part of a year-long progression of food restriction. Started with eating meat, but only grass-fed, organic, etc. That turned into vegetarianism, which progressed to restricting more and more "unhealthy" foods until it became full-blown anorexia, orthoexia, and body dysmorphia. In my son's case, his perfectionist/ scrupulosity ocd was at the root of it for the most part.

I agree with checking titers first. Both my kids have PANDAS and we had a difficult situation recently in that my daughter caught chicken pox from someone in her class (she had one vax as a baby, but not the booster), my son (14) also had one vax as a baby, but not the booster. The state stepped in and said that he could not return to school for 2 weeks unless he had the booster immediately or showed immunity. We tested titers and he had no immunity. We made the decision to vax and he had no negative reaction at all... not even a mild flare. I was very relieved, but I knew I was rolling the dice. Every child is different.

DS has been on treatment strength abx for approximately 5 years now. I'm not sure they are still doing anything but I'm nervous about just going off completely. He's currently on clarithromycin (biaxin). I'm wondering about moving to a prophylactic dose of something... either the biaxin or something else. Has anyone moved to a prophylactic dose after a long time on treatment strength? What abx do you use and what has your experience been? When he was young, he very clearly and obviously needed the treatment strength. He's now a teenager and we are addressing some other stuff, mainly MTHFR related. We are not 100%, but I'm not sure it's an abx issue anymore and I'm getting more and more nervous about long term, high dose abx....

DS has been on it since late fall and I do think it's helping. I know for sure he has methylation issues and based on his SNPs I suspected he would be low in lithium. I just had his blood levels tested and his level came back undetectable, despite having been on the lithium orotate daily since November. I've now upped him to one in the morning and one at night. We've been using this: It's important to understand the dose. One 120mg tablet gives about 4 1/2 mg of lithium, so it is a teeny-tiny dose compared to the scary prescription lithium. I think it's worth a try. Start low and slow. Half a pill per day for a week or so, then a whole pill. If your dr will check blood lithium levels at least you'll have a baseline to know if he's deficient from the get-go. Yasko's talk on lithium is interesting: http://www.dramyyasko.com/resources/webisodes/lithium-connection-webisode/

So a child in my daughter's 3rd grade class came down with chickenpox a couple weeks ago. My daughter had one varicella vaccine when she was a year old then was diagnosed with PANDAS at 3 1/2 and not vaxx'd further after that point. Can you guess where this is leading? Yep! We have chickenpox! Woot! Back when she was 3 1/2 she was diagnosed quickly and easily with PANDAS due to my 14 year old son already having paved the way, so to speak. She was on antibiotics for several years, and we just pulled her off last June. She has been doing GREAT, no issues at all. Before I knew it was chickenpox this weekend and just thought it was a virus (fever, runny nose, cough, no appetite, general malaise for two days before the blisters started) I had been giving tylenol during the day and advil at night. Today, once i knew it was chickenpox, I started Zyrtec (which she has been on in the past for hives) to help with the itching. I have some questions, though. I feel like I have been out of the loop lately so you guys may have some info that I don't know: 1. I came across a thread that said something about no Nsaids with chickenpox. Anyone know if that's a true concern, and if so, why? 2. She's done fine on Zyrtec for hives in the past, but anyone know if there's a reason not to give (i.e. MTHFR mutations, etc. I've done 23andMe for both kids but haven't looked at that issue specifically) 3. My 14 year old PANDAS son... he is flaring the past couple days and I'm thinking he's reacting to exposure. I *thought* he had been fully vaxx'd for chickenpox since we didn't diagnose him til he was 8 1/2, but I looked at his records and he only had one vax as well. I have no intention of getting him vaxx'd at this point (though that is what the schools recommend). I think as it stands it's probably better that neither had the second booster, but damn... we actually HAVE chickenpox in the house now! He was diagnosed after several years with PANDAS so he is still on Biaxin. I also currently give him lithium orotate, hydroxy b12, oregano oil, COQ10, zinc, and iron. I'd love to keep him from getting the pox... if he has to miss school, my life will be heck on earth (he would consider missing school completely horrifying). Anybody have knowledge about dealing with the actual chickenpox virus, especially as it relates to PANDAS kids? eeek... I'm freaking out just a bit.

It seems as though Yasko advocates for very low dose when possible, though some need higher doses, especially at first. I think ideally aiming for under 5mg of elemental lithium per day (and maybe very low, like 2mg or less for long term?). She has lots of info in the webisode in the link above (I finally watched it and it's really interesting!). The tablets I have are 120mg, which contain 4.8mg elemental lithium. We are doing 1 tablet a day right now, but I think I'll adjust that down in a few months, depending on lab results, though. Yasko definitely says to work with a doctor and check levels often.

I'm at work so don't have my notes/test results with me, but this link explains it fairly well: http://chronicdiseaserecovery.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/mthfr-and-lithium/ Oh, that link also has a link to Dr. Amy's presentation on lithium! Haven't watched it myself yet, but bound to have great info! Amy Yasko's book "Feel Good Nutrigenomics" has a whole chapter on lithium, though it doesn't get terribly specific about SNPs It's not a "magic pill" for us, but I realize there never will be one. So many factors play into it all. I do feel it's helping, though, as another piece of the puzzle.

I recently started ds13 (120 lbs) on lithium orotate. After investigation, his 23andMe results seem to point in that direction. I haven't had his blood lithium level tested yet, but will do so. As with anything, "low and slow" is the way to take it. I started him on one 120mg (4.6mg elemental lithium) per day. I felt that he probably reacted a bit to that dose so I backed him down to half a pill for a couple weeks, and now give him a whole pill once a day. Lithium assists with transport of B12 into the cells, which I think is a big deal in our case also. My son can't tolerate methyl B12 so I give him hydroxy B12 (this is suggested within 23andMe results, but played out CLEARLY in practice - he can't tolerate methyl donors). So, PR40 - it may be that by giving him too high a dose of the LO to start you kicked up some processes that caused the change in behavior and it may not have been the LO at all. He may need the LO, but starting at a lower dose and figuring out what is going on behind the scenes (i.e. with B12). That "hard to manage" behavior speaks of overmethylation to me as I've seen that in my own son. A few years ago, before I knew anything about genetics, etc, I tried him on a B-complex once a day. A very high quality complex comprised of the "methyl" forms of the B vitamins because those were supposed to be "best". He went OFF THE CHARTS angry, irritable, reactive. Even he said, "what the heck is wrong with me??" I now know that I overmethylated the heck out of him for those horrible few days.

Thanks for the reply! Yes, vitamin D levels are low at the moment. Just got test results today actually and his level is 22. Strangely, though, they were up nicely when his depression/anorexia really kicked in last fall (his level was 74 at the time, which really surprised me, but it was after all the summer sun). He is homozygous for VDR-taq, which means we'll probably always struggle with D levels. I haven't been supplementing, but am going to start again. The other thing we CANNOT get rid of is mycoplasma. Tests came back for positive IgG and IgM. This has been a couple years now that we can't seem to get the numbers down with either azith or clarithromycin (and a brief 3 month stint on monocylcline). I tend to be very conservative with supplements, etc., but I'm going to have to up my game. Right now he's taking clarithromyciin for PANDAS, Zinc, CoQ10, Iron (he runs low as he's pretty much a vegan), 2000mcg Hydroxy B12, and saccaromyces Boullardii. And we'll be adding in 2000i.u. of D3 a day.

When we started zinc a year ago we were in the middle of a major depression and eating disorder and ocd. Even with all that already going on, I felt like the first few days or so of zinc (15mg zinc picolinate) caused noticeable herxing. We just recently increased the dose to 15mg twice a day and I didn't notice any increase in symptoms this time. Is this a new supplement or an increased dose for your child? Then again, she could have been exposed to something and is flaring from that?

Thanks, for the info Dedee. I'm looking forward to trying it. I'm waayy past the point of thinking that anything will be a magic cure-all, but I'll settle for building a healthier, happier child day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year....

Thanks for the input. I emailed his pediatrician and asked him if we can do a blood test to get a baseline level before starting and he said yes, so I think we'll do that first. I suspect it might be a good supplement for him.