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Does anyone else's child do this?

We have been noticing that our dd(8) has been spending a lot of time upside down lately. Laying around the house she will lay with her head off the coach. Sitting in a comfy chair she will get herself all bent over backwards and hang with her head over the side ( like she wants the blood to rush to her head).

It seems to be only when she is tired but has anyone else seen this in their kids?

 

When we ask her she just says "it feels good". Okay........?!

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Sort of. Mine (16 in 3 days) lies across our knees, pressing her chest and neck against them, and hanging her head down. She will "position" us and our legs (we're sitting) until it feels right. It has been suggested to me that its sensory- wants deep pressure. But, it seems like something else to me.

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Our dd did this A LOT when she was first diagnosed with PANDAS. It turns out it was akathisia ("inner restlessness") from the Lexapro she was on. (Akathisia can be a side effect of SSRI's and anti-psychotics.) Once we took her off the Lexapro, the upside-down behavior stopped.

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Does anyone else's child do this?

We have been noticing that our dd(8) has been spending a lot of time upside down lately. Laying around the house she will lay with her head off the coach. Sitting in a comfy chair she will get herself all bent over backwards and hang with her head over the side ( like she wants the blood to rush to her head).

It seems to be only when she is tired but has anyone else seen this in their kids?

 

When we ask her she just says "it feels good". Okay........?!

 

Yes, my pandas dd6 stands on her head on the couch quite a bit. Even now, when most of her pandas symptoms are resolved she still spends a lot of time upside down.

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Triple dittos. Even when well. Only positive of pandas, :wacko: was she suddenly did a perfect handstand towards the end of a two hour panic attack. It startled her out of it. I wish I had it on tape, it wa so astonishing, all that rage and frustration channeled into a perfect physical moment. We went to OT soon after, and learned a lot of sensory techniques. If we caught a panic early, often standing on her head would calm her. Weird right! She now wins awards in her gymnastic team for her headstands. She can hold longer than anyone.

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It could have something to do with the vestibular system. I work with a lot of sensory kids, and one of the things that helps calm many of them is holding them upside down, doing somersaults, etc.

 

By the same token, I can usually tell that these kids have ear infections when then won't put their head in a down position (even when I try to hold them upside down.) I've been right every time I've suggested to a parent to get their child checked for ear infections.

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YES! this was my post a few months back!!! If I can figure out how to post the link I will so you can see those responses. My daughter is a hand-stander too...at first we thought it was a gymnastics thing, but it became so chronic and when she couldn't physically get on her head, she'd hand her head upside down. I realized that one day in church where the pew would not allow for a hand-stand. One day she was doing head-stands while being the the goalie on the soccer field-after those two incidents I realized it was a compulsion or sensory-seeking behavior. This is one thing that has really not changed although other symptoms seem to wax and wane, this gets a little less frequent, but continues daily. I guess on the positive side, I can say she is really good at head stands now that she's practiced thousands of times!

 

Amy

 

I cannot figure out how to post the link, but you can search under my profile to find my post about that just a few months ago!

Edited by AmySLP
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To be honest - I used to do this ALL THE TIME as a kid. It ws my favorite way to watch TV. I used to sit across our arm chair with my legs across one arm and my head hanging over the other. I did get strep alot as a kid, but had absolutely no PANDAS symptoms - or any other issues. I think I just thought it was comfortable.

 

Unless it becomes compulsive like Amy's daughter - I would just keep an eye on it.

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To be honest - I used to do this ALL THE TIME as a kid. It ws my favorite way to watch TV. I used to sit across our arm chair with my legs across one arm and my head hanging over the other. I did get strep alot as a kid, but had absolutely no PANDAS symptoms - or any other issues. I think I just thought it was comfortable.

 

Unless it becomes compulsive like Amy's daughter - I would just keep an eye on it.

Ditto. I did this a lot as a kid and teenager, also; in my case, it was my favorite way to read. My DS13 does this sometimes, as well, when reading a book. I think it is a sensory thing, as DS has a lot of sensory issues, and I think I did, too, as a kid (though I was just told to "get over it" and "act like a lady!" :P )

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My son use to do this all of the time. He use to ask us to hold him upside down. We would hold his legs and just let him dangle upside down. Then, he wanted you to walk around with him in this position. (My biceps and triceps were rock hard during this time - a great workout for me). It calmed him and relaxed him. He stopped asking and stopped doing it after his diagnosis and was put on augmentin. He got PANDAS at age 5 so he was little. Diagnosed at age 7. I was grateful the augmentin worked for this particular symptom. He was getting to big for me to carry like this. His strep was in his sinuses. Maybe that had something to do with it.

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To be honest - I used to do this ALL THE TIME as a kid. It ws my favorite way to watch TV. I used to sit across our arm chair with my legs across one arm and my head hanging over the other. I did get strep alot as a kid, but had absolutely no PANDAS symptoms - or any other issues. I think I just thought it was comfortable.

 

Unless it becomes compulsive like Amy's daughter - I would just keep an eye on it.

Ditto. I did this a lot as a kid and teenager, also; in my case, it was my favorite way to read. My DS13 does this sometimes, as well, when reading a book. I think it is a sensory thing, as DS has a lot of sensory issues, and I think I did, too, as a kid (though I was just told to "get over it" and "act like a lady!" :P )

 

In general, I don't think of this as a PANDAS "problem" - more that our kids seek a soothing mechanism when in an episode, and that for some reason, head stands, etc seem to help to calm them. I think this is also a premise of yoga, right? Side benefit for us was that she is not an awesome little tumbler :). But during episodes, it was different - it was a tool for us. We did the hanging upside down thing too, we called it "shaking the frustration out" and she loved it. Maybe this is why my husband has neck pain now.... :huh:

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This and the spinning are dire signs here. I enjoyed hanging upside down frequently as a child and teen, but I also had problems that were (or could have turned into, had I not been dosed with heavy abx for chronic sinus infections) PANDAS. I would keep a close eye out.

 

Interesting about the yeast issues too!

 

 

We are getting some spinning lately, which scares me. Major sensory issues have not been present since our IVIG.

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