New Here - Question about possible PANS

[Shupermom]

Hello! I have been reading a lot on PANDAS/PANS on this website as I am trying to figure out if it is possible my son could have this in a mild form. Backstory: a few weeks ago my son came to me hysterically crying and upset and told me that he was having upsetting thoughts, I questioned him about that and he was unable to tell me what he was thinking of because it was so awful and upsetting to him (I did manage to learn it was about hurting himself and mostly about hurting his father)... this went on for a week or so and it was really upsetting him and stressing him out throughout the day - ruining his day even on our family vacation - he was getting very frustrated with these thoughts and said "I need help" I made an appoitment withour ped and at the same time realize my son had a spot on his nose that i absolutely knew to be impetigo (he had other areas too on his body but I didn't think they were the same thing...but they were.... Our Dr gave antibiotics to treat the infection (didn't culture it because she said it was the same treatment for staph or step) and a referral to a therapist for the intrusive thoughts.

 

I came home and made a few calls and still haven't heard back from them however I did notice that shortly after his course of antibiotics they thoughts have stoppped and it seems like I have my son back...

 

Am I out in left field thinking these thougthts could've come on from the skin infection. From what I am reading it makes perfect sense... not sure how to proceed from here...

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

[Chemar]

Hello

I am bumping up your first post so others here can see and respond

[nicklemama]

That sounds suspiciously like PANDAS. Is he still symptomatic? If not, I would document this and keep a very close eye out for symptoms to return, especially if he has another illness or if he's exposed to illness, particularly strep. If he is still symptomatic, as in having these intrusive thoughts, I would skip the therapist and find an expert to evaluate him for PANDAS.

 

If the intrusive thoughts or other symptoms of OCD, anxiety or tics pop up again, I would take him to the ped and insist on testing for strep and I would find a PANDAS expert to guide his treatment, strep positive or not.

[Shupermom]

Thank you for the reply and the bump :-) I am going to document symptoms when I see them again - I left a message with the Nurse Practioner that saw us and will update her ... I do remember this happening one other time (the intrusive thoughts) but do not remember if he was sick with anything at the time (he did struggle with some nasty nasal congestion/allergies) but not sure if that was at the same time and I didn't seek help at that time because just like this episode it went away and at the time didn't seem as intense as this latest episode.

 

Where could I find a list of specialists in my area? I'm in the NH Seacoast area...