New to Pandas

[EAMom]

This is a website by another PANDS mom, Diana Pohlman. http://www.pandasnetwork.org/ It has lots of info. too.

 

The bottom line is that not all PANDAS kids will have positive throat cultures (note: strep can hide out elsewhere in the body, such as the sinuses or it is possible that the infection is past), and many pandas kids will have low ASO or anti-dnase B titers (not a "test for PANDAS" but may give you and indication of a prior strep infection, if it is high). I would definitely do the tests with Dr. Cunningham. Do them before you do any steroids. It is best to do Dr. Cuningham's tests in an exacerbation.

 

BTW my dd's Aso/anti-dnase have always been low, even when her throat culture was positive and her Dr. Cunningham values were very high.

 

I would also recommend testing family members (throat cultures) to check for strep carriers. That has been a problem in our house...our pandas dd reacts.

 

Erica240---We did our blood test with Dr. Cunningham after being on abs (250mg/day azith) for 10 months...our values were still high. I think most folks on this forum do the test on antibiotics. It is best to do during an exacerbation. Prednisone will lower the test values, antibiotics probably won't (if your child is still symptomatic).