And we have strep in the house....

[lmkmip67]

We all got swabbed 3 years ago when this started, and cleared mine. I was positive then. No one else was. With the Dr. J and Lyme issues this week (tests coming back negative) it was suggested we all get swabbed again. SO I pushed DH to get swabbed at his physical on Monday. They called back and he is POSITIVE. The doc was going to call in 3 days of antibiotics. But I don't think that is enough. Can anyone here tell me what an adult should take to clear it? It will be helpful for me to know too since I am going to get swabbed on Friday, and in case it is positive the doctor will prescribe what i ask her to. I still have to send my fax to Dr. J about more clarification on the results, but this renews my hope. I was almost happy when he called me at lunch and said it was positive. Ian has been flaring lately. Duh. I do think there is still more at play here. But it also seems that we are still on the right path.

[airial95]

My hubby was given 30 days of augmentin when he came up positive. His doc only wanted to give him 5 days too - so our ped wrote him the longer script.

[EAMom]

I don't know about adults in particular...is your dh symptomatic? or an asymptomatic carrier?

 

Asymptomatic carriers are more difficult to clear. Our carrier child (non-pandas) did clear on 5 days of Azith . She didn't clear on Augmentin. Azith or Clindamycin are supposed to be the best for clearing carriers.

 

Definitely get a re-culture 2-3 weeks (or so) after last dose to make sure he really cleared.

 

Do you know which antibiotic they were doing to use?

[lmkmip67]

I am not sure which one. Yes, he is asymptomatic, seems just fine. But then I was too, years ago. I think he had called in augmentin.....

[JAG10]

Did they run in the office and then culture because it was negative or sent out for culture because they couldn't run it in the office? Idk, Lisa, that's quite the coincidence don't you think??? I mean if it was titers, I wouldn't think so cuz- who knows, but he swabbed positive? Was he positive 3 years ago too? When do you see Bouboulis again?

 

EAMom- your question makes it sound like if you are asymptomatic, you are also a carrier. I did not think that was the case. I thought you could be asymptomatic and simply clear the infection on your own. I thought that's what happens with most healthy people over 12 yo. It's not that only little kids get strep, it's that by the time you are 12, most people do not get symptoms and clear the infection without ever knowing they had it.

[lmkmip67]

Did they run in the office and then culture because it was negative or sent out for culture because they couldn't run it in the office? Idk, Lisa, that's quite the coincidence don't you think??? I mean if it was titers, I wouldn't think so cuz- who knows, but he swabbed positive? Was he positive 3 years ago too? When do you see Bouboulis again?

 

EAMom- your question makes it sound like if you are asymptomatic, you are also a carrier. I did not think that was the case. I thought you could be asymptomatic and simply clear the infection on your own. I thought that's what happens with most healthy people over 12 yo. It's not that only little kids get strep, it's that by the time you are 12, most people do not get symptoms and clear the infection without ever knowing they had it.

I believe they sent it out because he asked them to instead of doing the quick test that isn't that accurate. He was not positive 3 years ago, but I was. I was put on 2 rounds of something (I forget what now). I swabbed again and was cleared. I do think it is quite a coincidence. We see Dr. B next Friday, so the timing is actually good. The only thing Ian is on right now is Augmentin, 500mg twice a day. Well, besides prozac. We were waiting on the lyme route, so weren't adding anything more at this point with Dr. B. But now I am really questioning... It was an actual swab and not titers, so I assume that is really a positive infection, no? Even if no symptoms? If I am off base, please let me know. I figured why not swab since someone suggested it.

[lmkmip67]

The other question, should I get Ian swabbed? Or I guess I could wait and see if Dr. B could do it next week. Ian seems fine except flaring. He never gets sicks otherwise. Not since going on antibiotics the past 3 years.

[JAG10]

Ian might not swab positive on abx., but that doesn't mean he's clear. If I was in your high heels, I'd have all three of you swabbed AND blood tests while you are at the office Friday. Sometimes, blood tests don't tell much, but in my experience on this board, crazy high titers always mean something; they're never normal and you don't know until you look. IowaDawn or WorriedDad's family had crazy high titers...in the thousands.

 

OR...you can try sending an email to Bouboulis's office to see if you can get this done so he has the results at the time of the appointment.

[lmkmip67]

I did email them to see what they recommend. At least if I test positive too I should be able to tell my own doctor what they suggest, she is good about doing what I ask usually. I will wait on Ian then until next week and see what Dr. B says in person. I don't think this is any big answer. It would just confirm the PANDAS is an issue if it is a coincidence with a flair. To be honest, I was about to give it up on it. Still going to push Dr. J to give me more clarification too, of course.

[lmkmip67]

Oh, my titers were very high as well, over 900, 3 years ago. They went down, but who knows now....

[airial95]

My son has tested positive multiple times while on abx (most recently while on 500 mg Augmentin 2x day AND 250 mg Azith 1x per day - he's 5 yo and 36 lbs). My son never has any physical symptoms of strep anymore - just flares. Personally, if you have a local doc who will swab him and not think you're nuts - I would swab asap vs. waiting for Dr. B's.

[EAMom]

Did they run in the office and then culture because it was negative or sent out for culture because they couldn't run it in the office? Idk, Lisa, that's quite the coincidence don't you think??? I mean if it was titers, I wouldn't think so cuz- who knows, but he swabbed positive? Was he positive 3 years ago too? When do you see Bouboulis again?

 

EAMom- your question makes it sound like if you are asymptomatic, you are also a carrier. I did not think that was the case. I thought you could be asymptomatic and simply clear the infection on your own. I thought that's what happens with most healthy people over 12 yo. It's not that only little kids get strep, it's that by the time you are 12, most people do not get symptoms and clear the infection without ever knowing they had it.

 

My younger dd (non-pandas) is an asymptomatic strep carrier (she has cleared all 3x with Azith). She cultures positive (1st time during dd's big PANDAS flare, likely picked it up at least 2mo. prior when strep going around dd's school, 2nd and 3rd time we knew to culture after strep notice in class and spike in symptoms with PANDAS dd).

 

Yes, it is possible for a "normal" person to clear strep w/out treatment. I don't know if that person would ever culture positive (or it would be a relatively small time window where they would be positive) if they were never symptomatic. A true carrier would have a prolonged time when culture positive (if not treated) and should not otherwise have no symptoms (no immune response to strep, so no sore throat, no fever, no rise in titers).

Edited June 6, 2013 by EAMom

[JoyBop]

There are no false positive results on a strep culture, but there are false negatives on the rapid. Most labs take a full 48 hours to grow a culture. There are plenty of people who get strep without symptoms. We are swabbing the whole family monthly at this point. Neither of my two PANDAS children had a sore throat or were sick at all and they were both positive. At the time I had a sore throat but was negative. Doc gave me 40 days of AMox anyway (500BID) because she feared they didnt get a good enough swab and I was having symptoms.

 

3 days is definitely not enough to cure strep!

 

You would know if it was a rapid because you would have had the results just moments later while he was still in the office. You would have to follow up with a phone call 2 days later with a culture.