Are PANDAS kids more likely to get sick?

[FallingApart]

Hello again,

 

I am confused about whether our kids are more likely to get sick in general or whether they only have a problem fighting off an infection once they get it? I have always thought it was that they couldn't get rid of the infection once they got it, thus all the horrible PANDAS symptoms. But now am also wondering if they get sick more often than other children as well.

 

Thanks for your imput!

[peglem]

I think there are many different scenarios here. My child did not present with an immune response to the constant strep and her body did not get rid of the strep on its own. Although, I have to qualify that statement a bit since it was several years before we figured out that strep was the culprit. I think that when it started, she was sick alot (doctors decided she had allergies) and she did have a lot of sinus and ear infections...she wasn't swabbed, but sometimes they would give her antibiotics based on clinical dx. By the time (age 10) we finally found the strep, she was having very few actual strep symptoms, just +swabs that correlated with deteriorating behavior.

 

What the immunologist said is that kids with an immune deficiency get sick alot, much more frequently than normal and will get more intensely ill, because the immune system isn't fighting the infection efficiently. But, PANDAS seems to be autoimmune, which means they wouldn't necessarily get ill more frequently, just that exposure to strep increases the number of antibodies in the body that are cross reacting(attacking) with the basal ganglia. So, even if your child is able to fight off the actual strep infection, the presence of the antibodies is what causes the PANDAS, not the bacteria itself. Antibodies tend to persist in the body for awhile after the infection has been eradicated.

 

So, I guess the answer to your question is it depends on what the child's immune status is, which is not the same from child to child, whether they have PANDAS or not.

[ShaesMom]

Hello again,

 

I am confused about whether our kids are more likely to get sick in general or whether they only have a problem fighting off an infection once they get it? I have always thought it was that they couldn't get rid of the infection once they got it, thus all the horrible PANDAS symptoms. But now am also wondering if they get sick more often than other children as well.

 

Thanks for your imput!

 

My dd has always been a sick child. It seems like she has spent more of life on abx rather than off and this is not only because of the strep. It has been other illnesses as well. She has was also hospitalized at the age of 18 months because of the flu and again about a year later because of an abx resistant infection in her bladder. Of course, we now know she has the immune deficiency disease.

[dcmom]

My daughter has always been a rather healthy child. She has had strep a few times, however, and now I am wondering if one of those times it never cleared. She had strep Spring 2008, then again Fall of 2008, then when pandas started Winter 2009 she cultured positive, but had no symptoms. I guess the probability is that maybe she never cleared from the previous infection?

 

Do you swab your kids even when on proph abs? What type of symptom increase do you wait for to do that, or is it if you hear they are exposed?

[ShaesMom]

My daughter has always been a rather healthy child. She has had strep a few times, however, and now I am wondering if one of those times it never cleared. She had strep Spring 2008, then again Fall of 2008, then when pandas started Winter 2009 she cultured positive, but had no symptoms. I guess the probability is that maybe she never cleared from the previous infection?

 

Do you swab your kids even when on proph abs? What type of symptom increase do you wait for to do that, or is it if you hear they are exposed?

 

I just had Shae swabbed yesterday because we saw some low level anxiety & anger issues on Wednesday night (she wanted to sleep with her Dad's dirty tshirt-classic symptom for her) and then yesterday she woke up complaining of a sore throat which she hasn't done since April or May and had a swollen lymph node on the side of her neck. The rapid, was of course, negative so we are waiting on the 72 hour culture. My doctor said it may not even show positive since she is on the proph. abx.

 

She missed school yesterday and today but no more anxiety or anger issues really since Wednesday night. She is stuffy today and can't breathe but no complaints of a sore throat so I think she just picked up a bad cold. I'm thinking it's going to be a long year.

[chrisw]

My son has always been pretty sick. He's had pneumonia 2-3 times, tons of ear infections, lots of viruses and of course strep. Ever since his IVIG in April, he has been very healthy. He has seemed to be fighting something or coming down with something a couple of times, only for it to never "take hold". One example of this would be when he got a mouth ulcer (inside his mouth) in early July. He used to get these all the time, and they would cause him lots of pain. It usually took them about 2 weeks to go away. The one he got in July only lasted 4-5 days. He complained of a sore throat for about 2 days, (strep test was neg.) and it never turned into anything. His PANDAS symptoms did act up during this time, but on a MUCH milder level. I doubled his abx. for 10 days and this calmed things down. I still get nervous about all the germs, but I know we can't stop living. It is hard to know what to do. Hope this helps.

Christie

[peglem]

Do you swab your kids even when on proph abs? What type of symptom increase do you wait for to do that, or is it if you hear they are exposed?

 

I do swab if I see "streppy behavior", and my daughter tested + while on penVK. The things that signal strep in my daughter : It starts with a few days of bed wetting. Then rages, long rages, long frequent rages, often with OCD triggers. I do not test just for exposure, especially now that she's on zith.

[KeithandElizabeth]

Hello:

 

What are you supposed to do if your child gets strep while they are on prophlatic antibiotics? Someone mentioned doubling the dose of the current antibiotic?

 

Elizabeth

[peglem]

Hello:

 

What are you supposed to do if your child gets strep while they are on prophlatic antibiotics? Someone mentioned doubling the dose of the current antibiotic?

 

Elizabeth

We switched to a stronger antibiotic.

[bronxmom2]

My daughter has always been a rather healthy child. She has had strep a few times, however, and now I am wondering if one of those times it never cleared. She had strep Spring 2008, then again Fall of 2008, then when pandas started Winter 2009 she cultured positive, but had no symptoms. I guess the probability is that maybe she never cleared from the previous infection?

 

Do you swab your kids even when on proph abs? What type of symptom increase do you wait for to do that, or is it if you hear they are exposed?

 

 

 

Mine was healthy too. In fact I always considered him the picture of health. A healthy, exuberant kid.

 

Except the strep.

[Kayanne]

My PANDAS daughter has always seemed healthly prior to her episode this spring.

[FallingApart]

So, it looks like they fall into both camps prior to the PANDAS diagnosis. But, how about after they become a PANDAS child? Does that make them more likely to get sick?

 

I've understood it to be what peglem's immuno said below:

 

What the immunologist said is that kids with an immune deficiency get sick alot, much more frequently than normal and will get more intensely ill, because the immune system isn't fighting the infection efficiently. But, PANDAS seems to be autoimmune, which means they wouldn't necessarily get ill more frequently, just that exposure to strep increases the number of antibodies in the body that are cross reacting(attacking) with the basal ganglia. So, even if your child is able to fight off the actual strep infection, the presence of the antibodies is what causes the PANDAS, not the bacteria itself. Antibodies tend to persist in the body for awhile after the infection has been eradicated.