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Allergies affecting PANDAS?


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Hi. I'm new to this group.My 5 year old has had strep 3 times in 6 months. Every time,he had behavior changes due to PANDAS.The second time he was considered an extreme case.He actually never gets symptoms of strep. We bring him in for the test when his behavior changes. His last bout with strep was about a month ago. His behavior was getting better then all of a sudden it took huge leaps backwards. We took him for another strep test and this was the first time it came back neg. I am left wondering why this has happened. The only thing I can even think of mentioning is that I noticed my son's seasonal allergies kicking in. I know this correlaton is a long shot, but I must rule it out. Has anyone else ever noticed behaviors worsening while allergies are surfacing?

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Has anyone else ever noticed behaviors worsening while allergies are surfacing?

 

Yes. My son has what are considered 'cerebral allergies'. Have you ever read Doris Rapp? (Is This Your Child?).

 

We are not a Pandas family. We deal with allergies that cause our son's tics. He is doing great now and has been virtually tic free for almost two years. We have been doing a special organic, all natural, allergy avoidance diet now for 2 years.

 

Dysbiosis and malabsorption can cause allergies to crop up. Also, allergies are a symptom of an unhealthy immune system. It is possible that changing the diet could lessen or even eliminate chronic strep and other bacterial infections. It has to do with balancing the body's PH levels. If you keep the body in proper PH by avoiding certain foods you create an 'unhealthy' environment for the bacteria and it cannot thrive.

 

Caryn

 

Our story is here: http://healthy-family.org/caryn/289

 

and here: http://healthy-family.org/caryn/704

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Hi Vickie,

 

I think it is possible that allergies could stimulate PANDAS symptoms, although I haven't experienced it personally. I have also heard of vaccines causing problems and definitely non-strep illnesses (such as when my dd got fifth's dz)....so it makes sense that anything that stimulates the immune system a certain way could cause problems.

 

However, just to be thorough, I would also recommend having other family members checked for strep (do a 48-72 hour culture if the rapid is neg.) Our younger dd is a strep carrier (will culture positive with no strep symptoms). When my PANDAS dd (older dd) starts to ramp we know it is time to bring her sister in for a throat culture.

 

You might also consider re-testing your PANDAS son for strep in a week or so...just to make sure his behavior change didn't preceed a detectable positive throat culture.

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Thanks for the info. We already ruled out strep carriers in the family. We also go for follow up strep tests days after being off antibiotics to make sure the strep is gone. I am wondering whether there is a carrier in his class. He never had strep until he started preschool this year.

 

When we suspect strep, we wait until he has 2-3 days of questionable behavior, as recommended to us by his neurologist. The pediatrician told us it can take 3-5 days from when you contract strep to get the + result. So I guess the question is, how long after contracting strep does it take for the damage to be done and the behaviors to change.

 

Right now, we are being very lucky and he seems to be improving. Whether it's because he's been on Claritin for 5 days now... who knows. I hope this improvement continues and I think I will just have to map out his progress. I am also monitoring his diet and see what he ate days prior if he has another setback. As for any connection to allergies and behavior, I may have to wait until he's taken off the Claritin or until allergy season next year to find out.

 

Also, because he is improving, I have a feeling the neg strep test was correct. I don't think we'd see any improvement without treating strep if he did in fact have it. I am just tired of living in fear of strep and illness!

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