Stress as a trigger

[JoyBop]

In just curious...can stress be a trigger for a PANDAS flare? Everything was going fairly well until the start of school. If course he could be reacting to someone with strep in school but just wondering if others have found flares related to stress.

[Missmom]

Not really a flair, but my sons tics increase with stress. They can be almost non-existent for weeks then when he has a speech or something he is nervous about he tics.... Since school starting coincides with fall allergies, have you considered it may be allergies causing the flair and not stress. Just curious.

[philamom]

Yes, I believe it can.

 

Two years ago, on Halloween night, my daughter was out trick or treating with her older sister and boyfriend. As she was walking up to a house (my step daughter/ boyfriend stayed back) an adult jumped out from behind a tree in a scary costume w/ax and chased her - it scared the **** out of her. She dropped her candy and ran all the way home. She was terrified. She was already dealing with issues from a strep infection, but I believe the stress alone opened the bbb and allowed the antibodies to cross over. I remember posting the very same question the next day.

 

The constant exposure of infections along with the daily stress could be the reason.

Edited October 5, 2013 by philamom

[MomWithOCDSon]

There was some research provided here some time ago about how stress can contribute to the permeability of the blood brain barrier (BBB). And since it's a permeable BBB that can let things into the brain that don't belong there (like proteins and antibodies), it makes sense to me that stress could contribute to a flaring of behaviors.

 

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-90-481-8553-5_9

[JoyBop]

How interesting. Thanks everyone for that insight!

 

My kiddo has never had any environmental allergies and no sign of symptoms other than behavioral. It all started on the third day of school.

[4Nikki]

Wheather its little stresses or other major stresses, Stress is an obvious trigger that makes us feel like we are walking on eggs. DD is a master at emotional mamanipulation, I think as a result of being mostly non-verbal. Makes working things through, harder at times.

[qannie47]

My experience has been that when my ds is in any kind of a Pandas episode, he is very reactive to any stress...when he is not episodic, he is able to handle just about anything you could expect of a 7 year old.

[JoyBop]

qannie I think you just nailed it!! Thank you, I think that is the perfect way to explain in. When my kid is well he has tough skin and doesn't have a care in the world, almost to a fault. When he's in a flare the smallest insult or stress causes him to fall apart. Thanks for pitting into perspective. Sometimes you can't see what's right in front of you.

[T_Anna]

http://www.pandasinfo.se/PANDAS_LeRoy_Controversy_False_Dichotomies.pdf

 

This article also concludes the same thing. If there is an emotional component that opens the BBB and a strong strep strain, you can end up with an epidemic.

 

T.Anna

[smartyjones]

i do believe that stress itself can be a trigger for an exacerbation in a pandas kid. my son had an extremely stressful situation at school 2 years ago, that also I think resulted in my own ptsd-like issues. I think this in itself sent him into an exacerbation that lasted about 6 weeks. he was quite healthy infection-wise at the time. I think it is due to the opening of the BBB. so -- does he always have troublesome antibodies circulating and opening the BBB sends them to the brain? or does a stressful event increase immune dysfunction in general and troublesome antibodies multiply? --- ???? so many unknowns!