Wombat140

Just to say thanks very much. Sorry I didn't reply before, by the time the board was working again I'd forgotten about it. The appointment went fine. Really nice doctor. He reckons it probably is some kind of infection response (with streptococcus being the most likely culprit). He wrote a prescription for azithromycin but said I'm not to take it until ASO and Anti-DNAse B tests have been done, as it might distort the results. I'm to take it after that whether or not the tests are positive, as he doesn't think they're all that accurate, but I think he wants them anyway for reference. Unfortunately the blood tests have had to be put off, as he was going to write a letter to our GP requesting them and it hasn't been sent and the appointment was tomorrow morning. But hopefully it won't be too long before we can get another. What I did find very encouraging was that he seemed to recognise everything - even the symptoms that don't quite match either regular OCD or TS - and said he'd cured a few cases like that before. What sticks in my mind is what my mum says he said to her before I came in. He was asking what I was thinking of doing for a living, and Mum said that with things the way they were, neither of us had really thought about it. "Oh, yes," he said, "but when she's better?" When!

Xanthan gum sometimes helps to hold baked things together if you can't use egg (or if they're gluten-free and inclined to fall apart anyway). We've got a book called "A User Guide to the GF/CF diet" (by Luke Jackson, Jessica Kingsley Publishers) that has a long list of different substitutes for egg suitable for different recipes. (I'd recommend that book to anyone. Apart from practical merits, it was written by a 12-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome and a wacky sense of humour - I admit I sometimes read it just for fun, even though we gave up on that diet ages ago!)

EAMom - thanks for the addresses. I'd written to all of them before, asking if they knew anyone I could get to from where I live (they're all too far south), and was just a bit unnerved by the way none of them mentioned PANDAS in their replies, just said they didn't happen to know any adult psychiatrists in my area! So I was beginning to wonder if any of them really did do PANDAS. Peter Hill actually said that he thought PANDAS was usually best treated like any other form of OCD. But since I made that posting I've FOUND SOMEONE! As usual he's based in London but he does occasional clinics in Manchester, and I've got an appointment on Tuesday (shorter notice than usual, too - someone cancelled). Wish me luck :-) :-) :-) Lauren and Stephanie - thanks, that's very encouraging! I'll remember about the homoeopath, too. I did see a local homoeopath for quite a while, with entirely random effects, but then I don't think she knew a whole lot about the condition - she did her level best, but I noticed she did keep on quizzing me about my emotions, rather as if she thought that was at the bottom of it. (And it hadn't even occurred to me it might be PANDAS at that point.)