Post-strep glomerulonephritis

[colleenrn]

This question relates to my nephew.

 

My 4 kids have PANDAS and my sister's two kids have it (and I think her 3rd also). My brother has two children who get strep a lot, sometimes have night terrors with strep, once had very mild tics with strep, and I have observed extreme irritability with his two kids while my kids are in a flareup (I think his kids had strep and exposed my kids, causing their increase my kids to have an increase in PANDAS symptoms). SO, I am very suspicious that they will develop PANDAS possibly.

 

My nephew was diagnosed with strep last Friday and put on Amoxicillin (UGH... it has not worked for my kids or sister's and I told him to go for bigger guns...) A week later, today, he is still so sick. Today he is diagnosed with post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis. After a conference call between myself, my brother, and his dr. (b/c dr wanted to just stay with amoxicillin), we convinced dr to switch to Biaxin. His 3 year old sister developed what sounds like a nasty perianal strep rash yesterday also (dr put her on Biaxin after agreing to switch brother to it).

 

My question is, does this lend any evidence that these two children have PANDAS? I know non- PANDAS kids can get it, but it is not very common. My thought is that he had untreated strep for a long time and that is why he developed it (and the amox did not clear it). He tends to not get physical symptoms (fever, sore throat) with strep, so he may haver had it and they just did not know.

 

Just wondering if anyone can shed light on this.

TIA.

Colleen

[JAG10]

Hi Colleen

 

I have no idea what glomerulonephritis is or what the symptoms are. Reading your post just made me think about the notion (myth?) that PANDAS comes from the mother's side and so I was wondering if your SIL's family had any PANDAS predisposition? It also seems like we've had a couple adult males reporting PANDAS in their own kids, yes? I've never noticed on this board one gender noticibly out-numbering the other either. I also wonder what is a stronger predisposition: auto-immune disease or mental health disease? I thought I remembered at one time Diana P putting out some data that said 50% of her group surveyed had a family hx of 1-2 generational mental illness and 50% had a family hx of 1-2 generational auto-immune illness. Does anyone else remember that?

 

Could be another poll......

[SarahJane]

How did they do the dx? Is it because he has/had recent strep? I wondered since protein in urine is a sign of it per the articles I posted the other day. What I read said that it usually clears on its own.

 

I don't know if it suggests higher propensity for PANDAS since it's a clinical dx, BUT it is an interesting issue. I do wonder if this post-strep glomerulonephritis is a reason for urinary frequency in PANDAS. Makes sense to me...but I'm not a doctor...just a VERY curious mom. The proximity of these kids is also interesting since it's probably certain strains of strep that cause PANDAS. IF they already have a genetic predisposition & then get the same strain...makes sense. OR do certain strains lead to this post strep kidney condition? Hmmmm.

 

 

Articles

http://www.nmihi.com...trep-throat.htm In talking about strep throat, it says "Involvement of the kidneys may be accompanied by high blood pressure or fluid retention (edema) the presence of blood or high levels of protein in the urine." Interesting! (bolding mine)

 

This link http://www.doctorslo...opic-14769.html says "One of the most common reasons to have blood and protein in the urine is a condition called post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis. This is a condition where the kidneys are damaged by the antibody complexes that form in response to a strep infection of the skin or throat."

 

Here's more about it: http://www.livestron...is-in-children/

Edited February 12, 2011 by SarahJane