Have your kids had pandas reactions to colds?

[dcmom]

Hi all.

 

Julia, pandas, age 6 continues to do really well. Whew!

 

Her sister, Caroline, age 9, has been under pandas suspicion for a while. She had strep at sister's intial episode, and since, has had daily abdominal pain, emotional lability, slight depression, lack of appetite, loss of interest in extra curriculars, irrational fear of illness, a few ocd like panic attacks.

 

She is on the last couple days of a month long steroid burst, and daily zithromax. Just a few days ago, dh and I discussed how well she was doing: appetite back, more energetic, happier, no temper tantrums. Well of course, we spoke too soon. Over the weekend she came down with a cold (seems fairly mild). Saturday and Sunday she seemed depressed and did some crying because she was sad and didn't know why. She wouldn't eat much yestarday and she barely slept last night. This morning she had a full out melt down yelling, crying (even giving me a shove) about not going to school. (and I wasn't even engaging). In all of her years, she has NEVER given me trouble going to school. So anyway- she is home.

 

Taking her for a strep test today just to rule it out.

 

Have your kids had these type of reactions to colds? How long did they last- as long as the cold- longer?

 

Thanks. (I was so looking forward to a great start to the new year...)

[momaine]

Yes. Right now my dd has a cold (and her period) and things have deteriorated for a few days. The first day of the cold was also the first day of her period and that was the worst. Yesterday and today are slightly better, but still not good. Anything that stresses the immune system, can affect them, I'm told by our doctor.

Angela

 

Hi all.

 

Julia, pandas, age 6 continues to do really well. Whew!

 

Her sister, Caroline, age 9, has been under pandas suspicion for a while. She had strep at sister's intial episode, and since, has had daily abdominal pain, emotional lability, slight depression, lack of appetite, loss of interest in extra curriculars, irrational fear of illness, a few ocd like panic attacks.

 

She is on the last couple days of a month long steroid burst, and daily zithromax. Just a few days ago, dh and I discussed how well she was doing: appetite back, more energetic, happier, no temper tantrums. Well of course, we spoke too soon. Over the weekend she came down with a cold (seems fairly mild). Saturday and Sunday she seemed depressed and did some crying because she was sad and didn't know why. She wouldn't eat much yestarday and she barely slept last night. This morning she had a full out melt down yelling, crying (even giving me a shove) about not going to school. (and I wasn't even engaging). In all of her years, she has NEVER given me trouble going to school. So anyway- she is home.

 

Taking her for a strep test today just to rule it out.

 

Have your kids had these type of reactions to colds? How long did they last- as long as the cold- longer?

 

Thanks. (I was so looking forward to a great start to the new year...)

[dcmom]

Thank you Angela! I am sorry to hear you are having a rough time as well...

[memom]

Yes. I also noticed a return to symptoms towards the end of the month of steroids. Consider the burst part over once she is in the last 2 weeks of the steroid regimn. My dd17 got what we think was a mild case of H1N1 in the last week of steroids and she back slid as though she had never taken the steroids. She has also ramped up symptoms when a normal cold.

 

Ellie

[thereishope]

Yes, my son will have a PANDAS reaction to a cold. When it is during recovery from a strep triggered excaerbation, it was a worse reaction than when he was fully recovered. I would say for my son it isn't remotely as bad as a strep triggered excaerbation.Luckily, for him, the behavors subside when the virus has run its course. I give him Ibuprofen when a virus comes along.

[fuelforall]

My ds9 is an enigma.

He gets over colds quick.

His immune system is terrible= Igg numbers below normal, IGe and IGm on low side of normal. VERY low side.

 

Never seems to get that sick ever.

In exacerbation forever.

 

michael

[smartyjones]

hi dcmom - glad to hear Julia is doing well. sad to hear about your other daughter - hopefully, won't be too extreme. what did you decide to do about your holiday dilemma?

[swim]

Yes, we have PANDAS like reactions to colds. We would say we can even tell before the cold hits. We see the PANDAS symptoms a few days to a week before the cold symptoms and then it seems to take a week to a few weeks for the PANDAS symptoms to fade away after the cold is gone. Treating PANDAS with 500 mg a day of Keflex has reduced the PANDAS symptoms when colds are approaching.

[dcmom]

Thanks everyone!

 

We did visit family for Christmas. One cousin had a documented and treated strep infection 4 days prior. My SIL was kind enough to treat all of the kids prophylactically. Her kids all looked robust and healthy. It didn't cause any issues for my kids. I lost a night or two of sleep.

 

Caroline came down with a cold over the weekend. She is on daily zithromax. She definately had moodiness, depression, and loss of appetite- culminating in a meltdown Monday morning. I did take her to the ped for a check- its just a cold. Last night, she seemed to be coming back; ate and was cheerful. Hopefully it was a minor blip due to the cold.

 

Again hopeful for the new year!