Possible Mono and Clindamycin

[familyof4]

We have had a rough road since September. It started with strep and 2 rounds of Zith followed by H1N1. He developed a vocal tic to add to his anxiety, motor tic, and mild ocd. I was going to go in next week and ask them to draw titers to see if he still has strep hanging out somewhere and to try and get more antibiotics. We are not on antibiotics full time due to my son being allergic to most of them. Well he woke up two nights ago screaming about his throat and hitting himself in the face. His tonsils are HUGE and covered with pus.

 

My pediatrician is out this week so we saw someone else (who thankfully has some knowledge of PANDAS). Rapid strep was negative. Doc came in and started telling me how it was viral and she didn't want to do any bloodwork and that I would have to come back next week to have his regular pediatrican draw the titers. Then she looked at his throat and did a total 180. She drew 8 vials of blood and started him on a dose of Clindamycin that was so large the pharmacy would not fill it without talking with the doctor.

 

The rapid mono and CBC were run stat. The mono was negative but I understand the rapid test is unreliable in kids under 10 and is never run on kids 5 or younger. My son is 6. The counts in the CBC make this look like it is viral and not a bacterial infection. We will not get the results of the strep or mono titers until later today or tomorrow. Same for the strep culture. His ESR was within normal range. I did get her to run an immune panel including the Igg subclasses and am interested to see what those results will be.

 

We ended up at urgent care last night as I am having a really tough time getting any fluids down him, his fever got to 104 and he was very disoriented. (It is pretty scary when you ask your kid if he knows where he is at (we were at home on the couch) and he says Heaven.

 

He is not doing much better today although I have got him to eat a popsicle this morning. I have never seen a throat look this bad.

 

Has anyone used Clindamycin for strep/PANDAS? It has nasty warnings that is can cause C. Diff. The doctor told me to be sure and give a probiotic with it. Even though this looks viral I am thinking I will keep him on the antibiotic to see if it will help with the PANDAS symptoms. Has anyone on this board had any experience with Mono in a PANDAS kid?

 

I just want to get him healthy and try to get things calmed back down for him. He only seems to hit himself in the face when the pain gets really bad but if I hold his hand to prevent him from hitting himself he does this leg jerk thing instead.

[P_Mom]

We have used Clindamycin for strep....but only a 7 day dose.....doc said seven days would wipe it out....and it did.

 

My older son also has the Epstein Barr Virus antibodies (virus that causes mono in teens....mild illness in children).....it caused a mild flair for him as well as tiredness, bags under his eyes, that lasted for months. The Epstein Barr virus can last quite a while....actually, once you have it....it never goes away. It stays dormant in your body....sometimes it can reactivate (not causing as much as an illness as initial infection), and, sometimes it can be a chronic condition. By the time someone is 30...over 90% of the U.S. population will have the virus in their system...it is extremely common and something almost everyone picks up at some point in thier lives....the earlier, the better.

 

Kelly

[KeithandElizabeth]

My PANDAS son's strep was eradicated by Clinamycin and he also tested positive for the Epstein Barr virus. His tonsils were huge and full of scars from previous strep infections. They are finally going down after 7 weeks on a prophylactic antibiotic, Augmentin, as well as 2 IVIG treatments.

 

Let us know how his results turn out!

 

Elizabeth