New Member from Baltimore, MD

[OBDad]

Hello--

My son, OB, was diagnosed on May 7 by Dr. Latimer in Bethesda with PANDAS. His seems to have stemmed from a Strep infection 8 weeks earlier. OB is 6 and his behavior changed overnight. The most dominate issue is severe separation anxiety. He simply couldn't stay at school. His anxiety grew to major panic attacks and after 6 weeks we finally withdrew him from school and all extracurricular activities.

 

We were so relieved to meet Dr. Latimer and finally receive the diagnosis after weeks of doctor appointments with pediatricians and other practitioners that hadn't heard of PANDAS and questioned us. Living in Baltimore, many health practitioners are connected to Hopkins, and it turns out that Hopkins does not acknowledge PANDAS as a legitimate condition. Hmm. That was painful to learn.

 

Dr. Latimer is impressive. Though our experience so far in dealing with her staff and trying to schedule OB's IVIG has been frustrating. They won't or can't seem to commit to a date in advance. They've called us twice in 10 days offering the very next day for treatment. We jumped at the second opportunity, which was yesterday, packed up the kids with supplies for a two day treatment in her office, and were pulling into the parking lot when the office called to tell us they hadn't received all the labs that were ordered and had to cancel. Then they promised to call by the end of the day with a new date, and they didn't.

 

I'm still optimistic and believe in Dr. Latimer. But has anyone else experienced difficulty with her operation? Is it odd to not be able to schedule a procedure such as IVIG in advance?

 

If there are any other recommendations for specialists in the Bethesda area or even practitioners that may complement the treatment, we'd be grateful.

 

Thanks!

 

OBDad

[Missmom]

Hi ob dad and welcome to the forum,

 

It sounds like you are on the right track and I am really glad you got the diagnosis from one of the pandas experts. I personally can't answer your questions about dr. Latimer because we have never seen her, but I just wanted to suggest you copy your post and display it in the pandas section of the forum as well, or post your specific questions there. This new member introduction section of the board is relatively new and a lot of times when I am just searching for info, I go straight to the pandas/Lyme section. So any specific questions you have would probably be viewed more under that section and you will get answers quickly. Just a suggestion. There is a lot of info here on just about every topic. Hope you find the answers you are looking for.