Antibiotics of choice to treat PANDAS?

[Baylor]

My son has an allergic reaction to Penicillin after the last Strep bout. I am wondering if the other antibiotic options work as well? And what they are.

 

My head is in a tizzy trying to take the right first steps. I don't want to make it worse by doing the wrong thing.

 

Thanks for this place. Reading is helping so much.

[JJMom39]

There are quite a few abx other than pen that work to treat strep. And pen is not one of the abx most commonly used to treat PANDAS. (There are some kids who take pen, it's just not as common as some of the other abx.) Two antibiotics that are commonly used for PANDAS are azithromycin and Augmentin. Augmentin is amoxicillin and clavulanate. There are different versions of Augmentin--regular Augmentin, Augmentin ES (extra strength) and Augmentin XR (extended release). The XR version of Augmentin was the med used by the boy in the book Saving Sammy. The XR version works well for many kids, but it is only available in pill form, 1000 mg, and the pills are huge. They cannot be split or the time-release mechanism is damaged. If a child is younger the 1000 mg pill would not be an option. The dose is too high. The other versions of Augmentin come in lower dosages and in liquid form. But, amoxicillin is a penicillin-like abx, so that probably would not be a choice for your son since he had an allergic reaction to pen. Azithromycin comes in pill or liquid form and it is not a pen or pen-like abx. There are many other abx one could try. I don't know my abx well enough to know which ones would be off limits b/c of a pen allergy. If you are seeing a PANDAS specialist they will know where to start. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to find the one that works best for your child.

[Tamistwins]

There are quite a few abx other than pen that work to treat strep. And pen is not one of the abx most commonly used to treat PANDAS. (There are some kids who take pen, it's just not as common as some of the other abx.) Two antibiotics that are commonly used for PANDAS are azithromycin and Augmentin. Augmentin is amoxicillin and clavulanate. There are different versions of Augmentin--

regular Augmentin, Augmentin ES (extra strength) and Augmentin XR (extended release). The XR version of Augmentin was the med used by the boy in the book

Saving Sammy. The XR version works well for many kids,

but it is only available in pill form, 1000 mg, and the pills are huge. They cannot be split or the time-release

mechanism is damaged. If a child is younger the 1000 mg

pill would not be an option. The dose is too high. The other

versions of Augmentin come in lower dosages and in liquid

form. But, amoxicillin is a penicillin-like abx, so that

probably would not be a choice for your son since he had

an allergic reaction to pen. Azithromycin comes in pill or

liquid form and it is not a pen or pen-like abx. There are

many other abx one could try. I don't know my abx well

enough to know which ones would be off limits b/c of a pen allergy. If you are seeing a PANDAS specialist they will

know where to start. Sometimes it takes some trial and

error to find the one that works best for your child.

 

Hi I just wanted to mention that when my children were on augmentin xr they had it in a chewable. They couldn't swallow such a large pill and one of the drs told me it came in a chewable.