Sick for the first time?

[BeeRae22]

My dd (8) has had PANS symptoms since October 2013. Last month, on June 15th (day 12 minocycline) we finally saw a significant improvement in symptoms and she's been doing great. This entire time, she has not ever had a cold, cough, stomach bug going around in school, nothing. hardly even ever an occasional sneeze! About a week and a half ago, her younger brother developed a nasty cold/cough. For the first time since last September, she has a cough and stuffy/runny nose (today is day 2).

 

I always imagined her behaviors and symptoms becoming worse (or returning) should she come down sick? That doesn't seem to be the case as of yet. I'm curious about others experiences and opinions on Pans/Pandas kids catching a cold? Could this possibly indicate that she's "better"?? I've always taken extra precautions with her (additional hand washing, things like that)-- especially in the fall when she was so frail and her health was so compromised from not eating, and everyone around her being sick. (Including others in our house!)

 

Thoughts?

[dcmom]

We have seen both. Sometimes it stirs things up, sometimes no effect. If we see an issue- it is usually after illness resolves. If you see an increase or return of pandas that lasts longer than 2-3 days- I would consider steroids ASAP.

 

Many times we only see a light return of issues (mostly mood related) for a couple of days post- ill ness.

 

Don't panic!!!

[Missmom]

My sons symptoms, even when things were at their worst, completely disappear when he has a fever. You did not mention a fever, but that i thought I would throw that out there. It is almost as if when he is sick his immune system is so busy fighting whatever it is he has that it leaves his nervous system alone for a short time.

[LNN]

Everyone is different but my DS never had a Pans reaction to colds or viruses. He fought those the way any kid does, with no neuropsych symptoms during or after. But he continues to have Pans reactions whenever he gets a bacterial infection, even tho he's in remission most of the year. So colds for us are no biggie, bacterial infections are.

[airial95]

It all depends on the child's triggers. My kids, like LLM's don't react to viruses either, they have had the flu, colds, etc... with no blips in PANDAS symptoms, and while they rarely get fevers, like missmom mentioned, all symptoms would temporarily go away. However, my kids don't react to all bacterial infections either - just strep. Both kids have had multiple bacterial infections, including myco p which is big trigger for some - with no effects.

 

Keeping a detailed log or journal of PANDAS symptoms as well as other illnesses/exposures can help you determine what your child is/isn't reacting too. Considering we never had elevated titers on ANY labs we ever ran, our logs were the only way to definitively tell what was going on. We used a numerical scale that we could graph to quickly see patterns. (Hubby and I are both engineers...can you tell?)

Edited July 17, 2014 by airial95