Winter 2011 IOCDF Newsletter

[MomWithOCDSon]

Page 5, full page article under the banner "From the Foundation." A couple of quotes I found really intriguing/encouraging:

 

"Following the IOCDF Annual Conference in July of this past year, another conference was held. This conference was held at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and was sponsored by Yale University, the IOCDF, and a private sponsor [emphasis mine] with the goal of addressing the ongoing debates and controversies surrounding PANDAS."

 

Anyone know who that "private sponsor" is? To whom do we owe our warmest thanks?!?!

 

"In November 2010, IOCDF Scientific Advisory Board Chairman, Michael Jenike, MD and IOCDF Executive Director, Jeff Szymanski, PhD, attended a follow-up meeting with Dr. Insel [NIMH Director], Dr. Susan Swedo and several other leaders within NIMH."

 

AWESOME!

 

Also, "On his blog, Thomas Insel asks 'Do infectious agents influence the development of autism, anxiety or mood disorders? This remains a frontier area for NIMH research.' Here at the IOCDF, we hope to see research in the immediate furture that will answer this question and provide children with sudden onset OCD the most effective treatment options."

 

Okay, not perfect, especially if you're among the numbers for which it wasn't so much "sudden onset" as it was "dramatically rapid and explosivity of symptoms," aka, a giant swing in the YBOCs score. But still, having the voice and power of the IOCDF behind PANDAS will only help, I have to believe. Also, there's supposedly a working link to Dr. Insel's blog, but it doesn't appear to be working as of tonight. Once it's up and running, I'll post a link.

 

And finally, I believe one of our own has made her own contribution: a "From the Front Lines" full-page story entitled "A PANDAS Journey" about a 5-year-old boy, his mom and how the family encountered and worked through PANDAS. Thanks, Victoria!

[MomWithOCDSon]

Sorry . . . overzealous there, it appears.

 

Dr. Insel's blog cited in the article is just that August 2010 post that most of us have already perused; I thought maybe he'd chimed in on the heels of the November 2010 meeting, as well, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[P_Mom]

Can't be positive that this is the same guy....but, I do know that there is a wealthy father of a PANDAS girl who has been backing/funding a lot of these studies. I know he contributed a lot of dough to the current IVIG study....so, perhaps it is him.

[Iowadawn]

My personal feeling is that we not speculate/try to guess/or give clues. I am just thankful that someone has been blessed with the means and conviction to do this for our children. It is one of those "don't need to know" things. I am grateful for this person's generosity. Dawn