My 10 year old daughter just finished her 5th stint in the hospital for malnutrition. It all started at the end of August when she was sick with a sore throat and cold and then decided she no longer wanted to eat and began obessively weighing herself and jumping. When she was admitted to the hospital she was given a strep test with a positive result. They gave her 5 days of anitiobiotics and put her in an intense eating disorder program. This is a kid who has never cared about looks or weight - a funloving tomboy. She eventually began to eat and was sent home - only to have it happen again and again. At our wits end we tried a new team of doctors and a new hospital. She was insane with fear abour weight gain and had to be sedated because she was flipping out at the hospital about food - biting and scratching - I did not know this child!! She even had to have the tube down her nose because she refused to eat and her heart rate was so low and she had blue fingers and toes. She lost a total of 16 pouunds and did not need to lose a pound to begin with! This last team of doctors took the PANDAS possibility more seriuosly and began 2 weeks of antiobiotics and had all of us tested at home - even our dog. My 12 year old tested positive with no symptioms - she was a carrier. Both her and the dog went on antiobiotics because they were not able to say with certainty that he was not a carrier. She has been home for 2 weeks and is eating again and has put back on 10 lbs. I feel like our nightmare is finally ending but I fear it could come back if she gets infected again. I would love to hear from other parents whose kids have had an OCD PANDAS reaction around eating and weight gain. I would also love suggestions to help us know what to do if we supsect it is coming back. I don't have to tell any of you what ###### we have been through. Thank you so much!
