Strep Titer positive - now what?

[lbee]

Hello all, I am very new to all of this. I have reading as much and trying as much as I could without much relief in my daughters tics.

 

Last week I took her to the children's hospital as there was an upswing in tics. The very reluctantly (lots of eye rolling and telling me this is a controversial subject) ran a blood test at my urging. The literally just called me 10 minutes ago to tell me the strep blood test came back positive. They want me to go to my doc and get a prescription for a low dose prophylactic antibiotic..... and then someone in Infectious Disease will follow up with me to discuss how long it should be taken for??? She said could be months or years?? Then she admitted she didn't know much about this.

 

Can anyone please comment? I'm desperate to see a reduction in tics, but not sure I want to start an antibiotic on an ongoing basis without knowing how long she should be on it?

 

Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

If it means anything she said the number was 400??

 

Thank you,
Lisa

[pr40]

Many Children's Hospitals are not Pandas friendly. You are lucky that your dr is considering that diagnosis and prescribing antibiotics.

You don't say much about your child's symptoms.

If you want to learn about long term abx read on other conditions caused by strep like rheumatic fever.

We, too, were very resistant to abx prior to PANDAS. But, it changed our understanding of, basically, everything.

[lbee]

Hi pr40,

 

My daughter has these tics that really flared up about a couple weeks ago. A constant eye roll, a jaw clicking, nose scrunching, leg kicking... on and on they go. Then a throat clearing. Constantly. She had been sick about a week before with fever and sore throat.

 

The docs were going down the wait and see approach, then it was dismissed as tics, and if they last a year they'll diagnose it as tourrettes.

So I took her to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto so that I could see a neurologist. This hospital coincidentally is a Pandas Specialist

 

http://pandascanada.wix.com/pandascanada#!specialists/c24jx

However the doc seeing her wasn't a believer and reluctantly ran the strep test. They phoned me today to tell me the strep was positive.

 

Could it be a coincidence? IE: could it still be TS but she just happened to have the positive test?

 

I'd hate to start her on something for no reason... but don't want to hesitate if she can in fact be helped. Needless to say I have much to read and research.

[pr40]

"I'd hate to start her on something for no reason... but don't want to hesitate if she can in fact be helped. Needless to say I have much to read and research."

i understand the sentiment but you may not have any other choice. there is no diagnostic test for either TS or Pandas that would prove one or the other. there are tests that indicate P, like strep and Cunninghams.

you got to ask yourself, what is the downside of long term low does abx? do research on that. except for clostridium dificille, I don't think you will find any.

after three to four months on abx (usually a combo), you will see if they have positive impact.

You can also check your family history, it is indicative of what your child has. If TS runs in your family, it is more likely to be TS than PAndas. If autoimmune issues run in your family, it is more likely to be PANDAS than TS.

Find a competent doctor who is willing to TREAT Pandas. I your place I would start believing this diagnosis until proven otherwise.