Autism and Pandas question

[7upMom]

Don't mean to ask a stupid question but am curious? I have heard some discussion of autism and pandas- Is it possible for a child with pandas to have a sudden overnight onset of autism at a later age, say after 7? ( in the same way the t/s or ocd can present overnight) or is it that a child who has autism is also presenting separately with pandas??

Hope that made sense

[peglem]

I suspect that many of the cases of regressive autism (around 18 months-3years of age) are, in fact caused by PANDAS. Onset at 7yo is not apt to be called autism, because early childhood development has already been completed, and technically autism is not a degenerative disorder.

 

The difficulty I have in answering your question is that I have come to disregard autism as an actual diagnoses. If you look at the criteria for autism, its really just a list of symptoms.

 

My opinion= PANDAS can interfere w/ development, producing the symptoms of autism. If a 7 year old has PANDAS and suddenly presents as autistic, it is almost certainly is caused by PANDAS. But then, I also believe that all cases of autism have an underlying cause of pathology or injury.

[7upMom]

Thank you find that interesting and your explanation makes sense! This was a question a family member had asked me about pandas when discussing my son ( although he does not have autistic symptoms ) but I had not thought of it before so appreciate the insight

[thereishope]

I've come across a few kids on here whose parents have been told by either a doctor, teacher, etc that their child should be screened for autism. In actuality it was their PANDAS symptoms making them appear to be autistic to those people. My son at age 5 had to be screened for Asperger's because of the list of symptoms he was exhibiting (caused by PANDAS). He does not have autism and now that he is recovered from PANDAS, he no longer would get "red flagged" as needing to be screened. Was that confusing?

[7upMom]

I've come across a few kids on here whose parents have been told by either a doctor, teacher, etc that their child should be screened for autism. In actuality it was their PANDAS symptoms making them appear to be autistic to those people. My son at age 5 had to be screened for Asperger's because of the list of symptoms he was exhibiting (caused by PANDAS). He does not have autism and now that he is recovered from PANDAS, he no longer would get "red flagged" as needing to be screened. Was that confusing?

 

Not at all, I completely understood that> ever notice a lot of us ask that a lot- was that confusing or did that make sense - cause we are all so used to trying to explain it to others who def would be lost trying to understand it lol