My new Pandas rabbit hole is glutamate. I've read the posts on here about it and some recent research. It makes sense that flares could be glutamate storms and that's why NSAIDs (Advil) as glutamate antagonists, can have such an immediate positive effect. We just ran genetic info through Nutrahacker and over and over it says to avoid MSG (glutamate) and to take NAC (as well as other things). Then I looked up glutamate and some interesting info: https://unblindmymind.org
The biochemist Katherine Reid reverses her daughters autism with a glutamate-free diet. In some ways it seems like a very restrictive diet, but in the end if you eliminate processed/manufactured foods you can avoid glutamate (even the "natural and organic" foods can contain glutamate). Add glycophosate into the mix (Roundup-use of which has drastically increased in last decade) and it creates a perfect storm. Some have said that the reason a gluten-free diet may work for Pandas kids is really because it reduces glutamate. There is lots of info on glutamate and neuropsychiatric effects. These are just a couple:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24636977
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4756530/
Can some experts chime in? Has anyone else done Nutrahacker (or other sites) and found info on MSG etc? How many Pandas kids have this? Would it make sense to try NAC? I've heard some people have a very bad reaction to it.