Mycroplasma

[yospinner]

Can anyone share your wisdom on Mycroplasma? Here are some of my daughters blood test results. M Pneumonae AB, IGM, BY IFA Positive. M Pneumoniae AB IGG, S - 4.2 range is <.91. MPneumoniae AB, IGM, S 2.12 - range <.91. IGG subclass IGG3 - 115 range 11.5-105.3. Does this mean she has an active infection or just that she has had an infection in the past? Do these numbers mean anything important in regards to PAN treatment? If so what have some of you done? Several weeks before I get in to see her doctor. Thanks for any wisdom.

[JAG10]

Elevated IgM typically means active infection. Your kid's is 2.12 IgM? I would think yes, that is a current, active infection and Myco p has been going around. Biaxin XL took care of it in my girls.

 

Several weeks until you get into the same doc that ordered the labs??? Somebody should be able to call you in a script without having to wait several weeks!

Myco-p is a nasty bug. I wouldn't wait that long.

 

Jill

[yospinner]

Jill, thank you! I am so gratefull for all the knowledge on this board!

[JAG10]

That's why we are all here.

 

Does your child have any symptoms? Coughing for a long time that won't go away? My one dd8 had no physical symptoms at all, just elevated IgM and behavioral decline. My dd12 got very sick with typical symptoms after starting the Biaxin. Do you have a doc you can call for a script?

[Dedee]

The others are correct, positive IGM indicates a current infection and IgG indicates a recent infection. My daughter has been fighting myco p since Nov of 2010 and we just retested her and she is still positive for both IgG and IgM. She has had oral antibiotics and even a weeks worth of IV antibiotics. Myco is truly a stealth pathogen which can hide out and be difficult to treat. I would be very aggressive in treatment and realize that it may take some time, but you will see improvement in PANS symptoms. Myco p can be just as much a cause of PANS as strep. Some physicians will understand how to treat it and others won't. Make sure your doctor is knowledgable in that area. Best of luck.

 

Dedee

[yospinner]

Currently, my daughters symptoms are only increased facial tics and behavior decline. She has all the classic symptoms listed for PANS. Sept. 30 she got sick several days with a fever - strep was neg. Tics started soon after along with severe anxiety and fixations. Now months later I finally got someone to do blood work for Mycroplasma as I heard this could also be a factor. This is not her first episode but the first with tics and the first since I made the connection with her being sick. I have recently found a doctor who is open to this diagnosis but he has no experience with treatment. I got an appt. Tuesday and will ask for antibiotics. After hearing your remarks I think I should reach out-of-state. I am in Minnesota. I am scheduling a phone consult with Dr T unless someone has a better suggestion. From what I have read Azithromyacin or as posted here Biaxin XL would be good place to start. My dd10 is 59lbs. Jill what dosage did your girls use if you don't mind me asking? My dd also has gut problems and is on probiotics. Is there anything else I can do to ease the consequences of antibiotics?

Thanks again. Hoping the best for your children. - It is frustrating navigating the health system.

Edited April 7, 2012 by yospinner

[JAG10]

Sure, no problem. My girls are tall like me. My dd8 is 79lbs and took 250mg Biaxin twice daily. Dd12 is 142lbs, 5'8" and took 500mg twice daily. Even though they took the Biaxin XL, I still gave it twice a day so it wasn't too hard on the stomach.

Dr. T can get you started on abx or the local doc. Dr. T can also make sure you have all the pertinent bloodwork done without hassle. Not sure of the law in Minnesota, but always ask the lab to send copies of results to you if it's allowed and start a binder. Was there anyone listed on the doctor list near you?

[Dedee]

Same for us. My daughter is 60 lbs and takes Biaxin 250 mg twice daily. She used zithromax for a while and we did not have any major changes. Also have tried Minocycline, but the Biaxin works best for her by far. Still, been on antibiotics for over a year and still positive titers. Yuck. She also takes high dose probiotics and nystatin.

 

Dedee

[yospinner]

Thanks Ladies!!!!

 

The doctor gave me 10 days of Zithromax and basically told me he doesn't know what to do. I maybe should have insisted on Biaxin but I will see how she does on Zithromax. She hates the taste and it is a battle. Oh...anxiety. I do have a call scheduled with Dr. T. I asked her Ped. if he would maybe do a conference call with him but instead he passed me off to a psychiatrist who he says specializes in difficult cases. Hmmmm, yet another doctor.

 

Beth

[WorriedDADNMOM]

I find all this interesting. My dd's both with Pandas.. Known strep infections in both--one asymptomatic with tics only confirmed with blood test----one normal symptoms both treated with amox. Neither were helped. Penicillin helped remove tic in younger dd. Older dd went several months post amox with anxiety, vomiting, emotional wreck. Did more blood tests on both. This blood work was done in late August and Mycoplasma Pneumonia in younger dd was 5.9 with pos being 1.1. Her symptoms were head bobbing, tremors and chorea like movements. Pedi #1 did not even tell me there was an issue with her IgM being that high. We treated with 10 days of Azithromycin and took her off. Some improvement then relapse. I think 10 more days then M,W,F prophylaxis on it for several months. I believe. She is much better up until latest known strep trigger. No tremors but tics for sure---facial one with this strep. Hope this helps on the Myco side of this. But I have a question broader than the mycoplasma only question.

 

My question is----How can you be asymptomatic for Strep or Myco??? Especially when immune response was so high???? What does the term Vaccine Damage actually mean???? Both pedi and ID doc asked us this. Any one have any input????

[colleenrn]

You can be asymptomatic with both strep and mycoplasma pneumo. My niece has been on zithromax for a while and recently tested positive for Mycoplasma pneumo. They have switched to to clindamycin 3x/day at a pretty high dose.

My kids are usually asymptomatic with strep.

 

Colleen

[JAG10]

Yes, being asymptomatic is very frustrating! You rely heavy on observation and blood tests. Interestingly, my older dd did not show "sick" symptoms of Myco p until after being switched to the correct abx.

[yospinner]

This topic is very interesting. My Ped. didn't know what to make of the positive Mycroplasma in blood work. He gave me antibiotics at my request. I certainly don't understand exactly what is happening in our children and I am surprised the doctors don't understand what implications a positive test has.

 

I have learned so much from following posts here I feel the need to continue with follow up in case it helps others. I am new to this and my daughter is complex. The simple version...My daughters behavior and tics were slowing declining over the past weeks. Blood work reported positive mycroplasma although my daughter does not have any typical sick symptoms.

 

 

Monday - dd10 anxiety so high she didn't go to school. Said her brain would explode because of loud classroom and being forced to concentrate. Started Zithromax that afternoon. IT took at least 30 min to get her to take it because of fear of throwing up due to bad taste.

 

Tues morning - there was a little anxiety about going to school but she went. Picked her up and she was happy as a clown. She said it was the first time since kindergarten that she didn't have a headache at school(maybe an exaggeration). Although, I could tell that she had been licking her lips obsessively as there was a ring around her mouth.

 

Tues. afternoon second dose and she took it with out a second thought. By evening she was dancing around yelling, "Mom we did it - Voldemort(Harry Potter evil character) is gone." Voldemort is the name she gives to her anxiety and bad thoughts. Tics still present. I do think allergies are also playing a part in lip licking and tics. When I give her Zyrtec 24 hr.it seems to help but only for about 5 hours.

 

I feel it is too early to determine how she is but can one-two doses really turn a child around. I am afraid to even post this. I have 10 day dose so I will post at the end. Then where do I go from here? I hope Dr. T has answers.

[JAG10]

I love the Voldemort idea!!! My girls would love that too.

 

The way Dr. K explained it to me 2 years ago was like this....you are not looking for typical "sick" symptoms; you are looking for behaviors. He cautioned me not to overreact because they are children, but if you see behaviors declining 3 days, an increase or change in abx is warranted. My younger dd8 is milder and a charmer, gets away with a lot. I was, in some ways, jealous of those with ticcers because it is so obvious! But with my younger girl, my antennae goes up when 1) I'm repeating myself (sometimes yelling) a lot with her, 2) ADHD type behaviors increase and 3) Urinary frequency/accidents/holding it too long. Thank goodness for the urinary frequency because that is usually the symptom that convinces me I'm not imagining it or it's not me who is less patient. Her teacher has a good eye and emails me when she sees a decline too.

 

Not to jinx you, but I have had a similar experience where a few days on the correct abx "rights our ship." Dd8 used to do the lip-licking thing too, which was another "tell", but I haven't seen that in awhile.

 

It is a shift in thinking when you deal with asymptomatic kids; for you and whatever doc you are working with. My girls never swab/culture positive either. Rising titers are our "medical" confirmation, but it's not so easy to keep getting blood drawn (yet another obstacle.)

[norcalmom]

Here is some info on chronic mycoplasma. The article title references Lyme, the article is not Lyme focuesd - it just says that mycoP is a common co-onfection to it. Tt is mostly about mycoP itself. treatment is usually aggressive antibitoics (not just 3 days a week) for 6 months, followed by several periods of 6 weeks on - two weeks off. Also, a list of antibiotics and herbals as well as detox recommendations. If IGM is active, and you think your child has had this for less than 6 months or so - it may not be chronic yet - although pandas symtoms, to me, would indicate it may have been going on for longer than you know. Either way, I'd treat as aggressively as you can tolerate.

 

Person in the article has published numerous Myco P studies. One was a study of a 12 week course of antibitocs vs a 6 month course for chronic mycoP. High dose doxycycline I believe was what he was using. those on only 12 weeks had (75%?- something like that) relapse rate.

 

http://www.immed.org/infectious%20disease%20reports/InfectDiseaseReport06.11.09update/PHA_Nicolson_0709_v4.07.pdf

 

Your childs IgM may turn negative, but you need to watch the IgG - if it stays the same or goes higher - the infection is active. IgM - if infection is chronic, or if it is the second or thrid infection of that type- will probably not be positive. Adults that come down with mycoP who had it as children - also often negative IgM.