Would you conisder this a Tic?

[VickyLH]

Good morning, I feel bad for asking soooo many questions lately, but we're keeping a close eye on my younger two sons for PANDAS symptoms following our recent family bout with Strep. If possible I would love to catch PANDAS early as it was so difficult to watch DS11 (PANDAS) struggle for over 6 YEARS without us truly understanding what was going on.

 

A brief history, both of my younger sons (9 and 4) were acting extremely difficult from late November through December prior to their confirmed Strep infections on January 2nd. We've come to find out that everyone was exposed to Strep from a family friend in early November just prior to everyone's attitude kicking into full gear. They both went on a typical 10 day Abx for Strep and during that time they completely calmed down and were once again happy and healthy. Since stopping Abx a couple of weeks ago, their behavior has started to worsen once again. They are both extremely emotional and are set off at the littlest things. My youngest was always so easy going, so this is a very noticeable difference for us. We just learned yesterday that their friend (who we had at our house last Saturday night) was diagnosed with Strep this past Tuesday.

 

In November/December my DS4 was extremely focused on his Legos and started creating very detailed designs which were exactly symmetric (same colors and patterns on each side). If it wasn't perfectly symmetric he would immediately fix it. At the time we were very impressed with his attention to detail, but now I'm starting to look at his behavior differently and am wondering if this is a sign of OCD. He also started getting extremely agitated when his drawings weren't perfect and would immediately freak out, crumple up the paper, throw it across the room and cry and have a tantrum. We also started noticing that he would need to have his bed laid out perfectly at bedtime. He would fold up his blankets in perfect squares and spread out other blankets perfectly across the bed. Sometimes he would be awake in his room still doing this an hour after we put him to bed. One night he pulled out all of his stuffed animals and lined them up around his room around another blanket that was perfectly laid out. I didn't think much of it, however a few days later he needed the blanket at daycare so I took it. When he got home and saw that I took it he freaked out! He also started to have sensitivity to clothes and has been extremely wired at times - constantly jumping/talking. Lastly, he has started taking breaths in, several times in the middle of sentences and he repeats the word "no" 4 times every time he says it. Are these a tics?

 

Do any of these things sound familiar to anyone who has a little one diagnosed with PANDAS? How did you manage to figure it out for your little ones? Honestly, if we weren't looking for these things, we would likely just write it off as having yet another sensitive child who is a perfectionist. My DS11 (PANDAS son) was very similar to this when he was young.

 

Sorry for the lengthy post. I would really appreciate hearing from other parents of young children who have been diagnosed with PANDAS.

 

Thank you,

Vicky in NC

Edited January 23, 2011 by VickyLH

[cfamily]

Hi there,

 

Just thought I would chime in and share what our dd10 use to do which was line up dominoes perfectly and become enraged if they were uneven, then she lined up her dinosaurs same thing if they were not completely even and would throw a complete fit if she colored a picture the wrong color. This started when she was 3 or 4.

 

We use to think that she was just "particular" but now with our PANDAS diagnosis, we rethink all of these earlier behaviors.

 

I love it when people go into details of their experiences and even just their thoughts.

 

Have a great day.

 

Sharon

[VickyLH]

I also wanted to let everyone know that we're seeing some improvement in DS11. After trying Amoxicillin and Augmentin without improvement, I think we are finally seeing signs of improvement after 6 days of Azithromycin!! He's been much happier the last 2 days, has stopped many of his tics and finally wants to play outside with his friends. So nice to see him happier right now!!

 

-Vicky

[Fixit]

JMHO...if it were just one or 2 of these things..it would be part of a normal child like behavior...

but to me, it seems like you may have more going on.

Good job keeping a close eye!

[Tamistwins]

Hi I wouldn't say it was a tic, it is an ocd ritual or compulsion. A tic is an involuntary movemwnt such as blinking or kissing, blowing rasberries, tapping, turning head and looking back etc. You don't have to have tics for it to be pandas, can be ocd without tics.

Good luck

[VickyLH]

Hi I wouldn't say it was a tic, it is an ocd ritual or compulsion. A tic is an involuntary movemwnt such as blinking or kissing, blowing rasberries, tapping, turning head and looking back etc. You don't have to have tics for it to be pandas, can be ocd without tics.

Good luck

 

Sorry, I guess I rambled on a lot about his compulsions before I finally got to the point of my post :-) I was wondering if the breathing in, in between words of a sentence would be considered a tic? Thanks for the reply.

[Fixit]

You would have to try to ask him...does it just come out..does it feel like he has to do it...

he may not have the words to explain...but is probably a complusive tic

[Tamistwins]

Hi I wouldn't say it was a tic, it is an ocd ritual or compulsion. A tic is an involuntary movemwnt such as blinking or kissing, blowing rasberries, tapping, turning head and looking back etc. You don't have to have tics for it to be pandas, can be ocd without tics.

Good luck

 

Sorry, I guess I rambled on a lot about his compulsions before I finally got to the point of my post :-) I was wondering if the breathing in, in between words of a sentence would be considered a tic? Thanks for the reply.

Hmm...may be a tic or again may just be a compulsion since he needs to say the word no 4 times. Regardless it definately started occurring after a strep infection, after being exposed to a friend. Sounds like ocd from pandas. My son has mostly ocd from pandas, few tics like kissing, rasberries. But his ocd is the worst. He asks me a question that he clearly knows the answer to and I need to figure out what he wants to hear me say otherwise he will scream and melt down in rage. Yesterday while I washed his hair as I applied conditioner he said to me " did u put conditioner already?" I said yes I'm putting it now. He said" did u?" Yes... Did u? what do u want to hear? sometimes he wants me to say OK so I said ok. He screams and clearly extremely agitated...didu. I said no he was happy. Why he would want me to say no when the answer is really yes...I don't get it.