Social Behavior Issues in PANDAS/Tourette's

[Phasmid]

What types of social behavior issues do your children exhibit? I mean, issues that are abnormal for the age of the child. I know all kids have bad days. Are there behavior issues that are associated with PANDAS discreetly? My son, who recovered one year ago on antibiotics alone (Vancomycin, for Clostridium difficile), still has some behavior issues that are difficult for him and us. I don't want to list his issues until I read what others are experiencing. Thanks.

[thereishope]

For my son, each exacerbation did have slightly different symptoms and the severity of each symptom varied. So,I will list some things, but not to say they all occurred in the same exacerbation.My son was 5 years old.

 

Extreme separation anxiety

Migrating solely to one area to play (he was 5 and in preschool-always the Lego table)

Wouldn't interact with the other kids

Wouldn't stand too close or sit too close to the other kids. Always space between them.

Wouldn't partcipate

In public, had to wear a hood all the time.

Look down while walking in public

Hand in sleeves

Had to wear a jacket and never take it off

If a stranger or even relative tried to talk, blank expression on is face

If you said "Hi"...no response from him

Basic social skills were lost

Raspberried at strangers if they acknowledged him

Didn't want friends to play with his toys

Wouldn't eat lunch at school

Didn't want strangers or other people to hear him talking to us

Hid behind us or behind fixtures at stores

Out of nowhere, run away from us in a store

Couldn't show affection.

Swat at us if he got mad, even in public.

Yell at us in public.

Do wierd sounds in public.

Um...this list could go on. He also had a lot of OCD so that would also affect the way he was in public and in social situations. Sometimes you have to look at each situation and disect it. OCD, in particular, has a snowball effect on many things.

[MomWithOCDSon]

My son's social issues manifested in him becoming profoundly ANTI-social. He withdrew. Didn't want to have friends over, didn't want to go out in public places like restaurants, the movies, the mall, school. If we insisted he had to go somewhere, he either needed something like a Game-Boy or an IPhone to keep him calm and contained (distracted in a small, safe way), or he would engage in a lot of odd physical behaviors like twitching, flinging his head back, etc.

 

He, too, had extreme separation anxiety and could not be left alone, even in our own home. And being in a crowded place or expected to stand too close to other people wasn't even an option.

[simplygina]

What types of social behavior issues do your children exhibit? I mean, issues that are abnormal for the age of the child. I know all kids have bad days. Are there behavior issues that are associated with PANDAS discreetly? My son, who recovered one year ago on antibiotics alone (Vancomycin, for Clostridium difficile), still has some behavior issues that are difficult for him and us. I don't want to list his issues until I read what others are experiencing. Thanks.

 

My son talks more and is loud

He gets fixated on more violent things

He reads and rereads books, specifically Harry Potter

He swears more

Separation anxiety, specifically me leaving the house or being late to pick him up, is sure that I've died, so he calls me a lot

Wants to sleep in my room, at least on the floor and if I say no he makes the dog sleep with him, or magically he can tolerate his brother and will let him sleep with him only to kick him out of his room first thing in the morning

Hygiene suffers (bathing, teeth brushing, nail clipping, hair combing)

Very argumentative, argues for the sake of arguing, even if you are agreeing with him

Oppositional, especially with his dad

Can't share

Doesn't like to be around his brother or let his brother touch any of his stuff and extremely mean to him

Can't handle garbage

Has peed the bed on occasion

Ask for reassurance over and over again (is that cat inside, is the cat inside, is the cat inside)

Is convinced he is bad or may do bad things

Apologizes profusely

Repeats what either he or you have said

Laughs a silly high pitched giggle after everything he says

Has a phobia of some sort (once it was natural disasters, another was alien abduction, another was Sasquatch)

Ignores you then acts irritated when you insist he look or listen to you

Isn't affectionate

Doesn't play well with others, would rather spend time alone reading in his room

Talks baby talk

sucks on the neck or sleeves of his shirts

doesn't change his clothes

loses the ability to give people their space, stands right on top of people or talks really close to them

Talks endlessly, like a running stream of consciousness commentary

reads out loud using finger

handwriting and drawing look like a 6 year old

Cries about EVERYTHING

Won't do chores

 

He also has OCD so it is hard to figure out sometimes what is age regression, anxiety, ocd or a tic. He's 10 so a lot of this stuff really is very age inappropriate. When he's doing well all of this goes away.

[Phasmid]

Thanks everyone for answering so quickly. This is helpful.