Question

[P_Mom]

I have a question for those who believe that their children's "PANDAS" was caused by Lyme....that it is the result of a chronic infection and not immune dysfunction....which in turn lead to the misdiagnosis of an autoimmune disorder and not chronic infection. The PANDAS/Lyme thing has a lot of people confused.....is Lyme at the root of PANDAS? Does my kid really have Lyme (not PANDAS) and Lyme caused their immune dysfunction?

 

I was thinking about this the other day.....perhaps someone can shed some light on it, or, perhaps this can shed some light for some people. I KNOW there are real cases of Lyme here..I am not refuting Lyme...just for those with clear cut PANDAS cases...think about this.....

Take into account Cunningham's mouse study:

 

"Using a mouse model of PANDAS, Mady Hornig, MD associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and colleagues(Cunningham) demonstrate this suspected link between GABHS antibodies and the psychiatric symptoms of the disorder. Immunizing mice with an inactivated form of the bacteria, CII researchers found that the mice exhibited repetitive behaviors reminiscent of children with PANDAS. Injection of antibodies from the immunized mice into the bloodstream of non-immunized mice replicated these behaviors.

 

These findings illustrate that antibodies alone are sufficient to trigger this behavioral syndrome, said Dr. Hornig.

Edited November 24, 2010 by P.Mom

[Suzan]

I believe it can be all scenarios. A child can have pandas only, pandas and lyme and pandas caused by lyme. I discussed this with our LLMD and this is what she believes as well.

 

I am hoping for us the pandas is caused by lyme but we won't know until we take care of the lyme and then observe the strep connection again. Our LLMD puts the symptoms into 2 categories and would expect to see the lyme symptoms resolve with treatment and recognizes that the pandas symptoms may continue. Hard to say though with pandas and lyme which is which but she sees OCD as more pandas and pain as more lyme (she had more symptoms on each side but I can't recall how she split it up right now).

 

That is a very simple version of what she said. There's no way my lyme brain could remember or absorb it all.

 

Susan