More strep season questions

[JAG10]

Via our small sample here, we see more of our children with an increase of symptoms at certain times of the year (NOW). It made an impression on me that my dd11 had a pandas episode the exact same time last year as this year (within the same week.) Pardon me if this is a "duh" point for some of you as my dd has only within the last year become well enough for me to notice any patterns.

 

Is there really a strep season? Isn't strep all around us everywhere? Is it that early August brings my dd some seasonal allergies with very mild "allergy symptoms" that lowers her body's ability to defend itself against strep? I mean, if she is asymptomatic to strep she could be asymtpomatic to allergies too? I guess the histamine conversation got me thinking....maybe the histamine cascading is her allergy symptom? So strep is one gang, "The Streps" and usually the police (her immune system) can keep the Streps in check in the neighborhood with the help of some National Guard Reserves to back them up (prophylactic abx.) But when the A-gang (allergies) come to town, the two gangs set each other off and the police can no longer keep the peace, they need the full National Guard (abx-full strength) to slow down the Streps so the police can handle the A-gang and keep both from destroying the city. When the A-gang leaves town, the police are able to keep the Streps under control again.

 

So, how do we know the Streps are even there? For us, titers; plus....why would abx help allergies alone?

 

Alright, perhaps that makes no sense! Plain speak- Is it more likely allergy season that leaves the door open for strep issues if you see a seasonal pattern for your child? If that is true, how does that impact treatment/management plan?

[smartyjones]

please forgive if not really what you mean. . . but. . . i wonder how the BBB fits in - ? could it be that something like allergies weaken the BBB and then the antibodies that are always circulating are able to interact with the brain and cause the symptoms - ?

i once read something that the content of the blood was a factor in weakening the blood brain barrier. so perhaps it can handle one type of antibody but folds when there are muliple - ?

 

i haven't heard much talk lately as to the role of the BBB in everything.

[thereishope]

How about this theory...August, warmer, maybe more humid...would that be a better breading ground for bacteria? So, the more our climate changes due to greenhouse effects, the more often we see stretches of strep?

[Stephanie2]

How about this theory...August, warmer, maybe more humid...would that be a better breading ground for bacteria? So, the more our climate changes due to greenhouse effects, the more often we see stretches of strep?

 

Is that why down here in Fl it seems to be year round? Although I have to say I can ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS rely on the middle of August strep and the end of January strep. Could set my calendar by it for the last 5 years. Just getting over our August bout now...sigh.

[911RN]

Via our small sample here, we see more of our children with an increase of symptoms at certain times of the year (NOW). It made an impression on me that my dd11 had a pandas episode the exact same time last year as this year (within the same week.) Pardon me if this is a "duh" point for some of you as my dd has only within the last year become well enough for me to notice any patterns.

 

Is there really a strep season? Isn't strep all around us everywhere? Is it that early August brings my dd some seasonal allergies with very mild "allergy symptoms" that lowers her body's ability to defend itself against strep? I mean, if she is asymptomatic to strep she could be asymtpomatic to allergies too? I guess the histamine conversation got me thinking....maybe the histamine cascading is her allergy symptom? So strep is one gang, "The Streps" and usually the police (her immune system) can keep the Streps in check in the neighborhood with the help of some National Guard Reserves to back them up (prophylactic abx.) But when the A-gang (allergies) come to town, the two gangs set each other off and the police can no longer keep the peace, they need the full National Guard (abx-full strength) to slow down the Streps so the police can handle the A-gang and keep both from destroying the city. When the A-gang leaves town, the police are able to keep the Streps under control again.

 

So, how do we know the Streps are even there? For us, titers; plus....why would abx help allergies alone?

 

Alright, perhaps that makes no sense! Plain speak- Is it more likely allergy season that leaves the door open for strep issues if you see a seasonal pattern for your child? If that is true, how does that impact treatment/management plan?

 

Strep, in years gone by, used to be recognized a primarily aa a condition of Spring and Fall. Now, it is year round. Easily see it in July in the ER, as well as, December. I was told that Strep is territorial- have never researched to find if this is absolutley true or not. I don't believe "Strep season" has any relationship to "allergy season." Strep is not really as seasonal as it used to be- year round, now. Allergy season depends on what you are allergic to. My son has severe multiple tree allergies as do I. Our allergies often get worse in Feb! Yes, Feb. When it is dead of winter and everything appears dead but this is prime time for emergence of certain tree pollens.

 

Strep and allergies (to me) are apples and oranges. One is a bacteria from an outside source that attacks the host with symptoms of illness. Allergies are more of internal reaction to environmental triggers. Antibiotics should have no effect on allergies unless there is underlying infection. Now, could allergies effect PANDAS? It's possible- with histamine, mast cell release caused by allergies- there may be some type of interplay with the antineruonal antibodies, neuro inflammation, neuro tranmitter relationships.BBB- who knows how that plays into all this- LOL! Researchers don't even fully understand that albatross.

[JAG10]

I was asking a question of immune system load that can be made up of bacterial, viral and environmental. Could allergies tip the load scales of what the child's immune system can handle making them more susceptible to strep infection and therefore giving a seasonal appearance.

 

I'm not confusing bacteria vs virus vs environmental. Abx are effective in slowing down bacteria so that the immune system can do its job. Abx do not impact viruses or allergy, but it remains the job of the child's immune system to handle all the "invaders" that are identified.

[airial95]

How about this theory...August, warmer, maybe more humid...would that be a better breading ground for bacteria? So, the more our climate changes due to greenhouse effects, the more often we see stretches of strep?

 

Is that why down here in Fl it seems to be year round? Although I have to say I can ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS rely on the middle of August strep and the end of January strep. Could set my calendar by it for the last 5 years. Just getting over our August bout now...sigh.

 

We're February and July - it must start on your coast in January, migrate over to ours and head back to your coast in August!

[Ozimum]

Being in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed for us. Our big risk time is July/August (end of our winter) when the colds and flu do the rounds, and we had strep in our house again this July. Summer is much less a problem - when it has been (before PANDAS diagnosis) I suspect DS hadn't cleared a strep infection from months before.

[momcap]

How about this theory...August, warmer, maybe more humid...would that be a better breading ground for bacteria? So, the more our climate changes due to greenhouse effects, the more often we see stretches of strep?

 

Is that why down here in Fl it seems to be year round? Although I have to say I can ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS rely on the middle of August strep and the end of January strep. Could set my calendar by it for the last 5 years. Just getting over our August bout now...sigh.

 

We're February and July - it must start on your coast in January, migrate over to ours and head back to your coast in August!

 

I'm in Ontario, Canada, and for us the really bad times are the end of October into November, and March-April. I have journalled for the past 3 years, and EVERY October and March he has huge flares, often to the point of becoming suicidal and violent. We had a flare in August one year, but not every year.

 

JAG, I definitely think your theory has merit. Whatever stresses the immune system - bacterial, viral, environmental, or just plain old stress seems to send DS7 over the edge. I don't know if it is immune overload, or weakening of the BBB, or maybe those are so interconnected there is no point in trying to distinguish between them. Either way, I'm sure allergies play into this mess. Interestingly enough DS7 had extensive allergy testing at a major children's teaching hospital, and turned up with no allergies to anything at all. Hmmmm. Still he gets red itchy watering eyes, skin rashes, and once swelled up like a pumpkin and ended up in the E.R. Obviously (???) there are allergies at play here.