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For the past few years we have noticed my son's symptoms getting worse in August. We always thought it was anxiety about school starting, though he didn't really seem ALL that anxious. Last August is when we noticed he had multiple tics. Here we are in August again, and everything is getting worse again. I had wondered if being on abx this year would change things, but unfortunately it hasn't. He was taking a prophylactic dose all summer, but I bumped him back up to a full dose when I realized we were back in the same spot. He's not anxious about school. He's not sick.

 

The only explanation I can come up with would be allergies. What else could effect him every year at the same time? He doesn't seem to have obvious "hay fever" type symptoms most of the time though. I did notice when we went hiking the other day that he was sniffing like crazy and his nose was running. He also fell apart halfway through the hike & told me he felt physically fine but mentally weak. I'm going to try giving him zyrtec for a few days to see if that helps. I know Benadryl works pretty well for him as well, but it does make him more tired. If the Zyrtec doesn't do it, I'll give that a try though. I called to see if I could get him into an allergist before school, but they are all more than a few weeks out for appointments.

 

The part that bugs me about it the most is that they test the kids during the 2nd week of school each year to place them in their language arts & math classes. At the end of each school year my son tests at the highest end. But at the beginning of the year he does really poorly & last year was placed in classes much lower than his ability. When I looked at his tests I couldn't believe they were his! (This has happened a for a few years now, but last year it was made even worse by his brother coming down with strep during testing week. That's when I realized it probably WAS PANDAS) His handwriting is also terrible at the beginning of the year & much better towards the end. I used to think it was just a matter of not practicing over the summer, but now I think it is more than that. We are starting to practice a little each morning just to give him a running start at it, but I'm still worried about it.

 

Can anyone think of any other reason, besides allergies, that DS might get worse each year at the same time?

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For the past few years we have noticed my son's symptoms getting worse in August. We always thought it was anxiety about school starting, though he didn't really seem ALL that anxious. Last August is when we noticed he had multiple tics. Here we are in August again, and everything is getting worse again. I had wondered if being on abx this year would change things, but unfortunately it hasn't. He was taking a prophylactic dose all summer, but I bumped him back up to a full dose when I realized we were back in the same spot. He's not anxious about school. He's not sick.

 

The only explanation I can come up with would be allergies. What else could effect him every year at the same time? He doesn't seem to have obvious "hay fever" type symptoms most of the time though. I did notice when we went hiking the other day that he was sniffing like crazy and his nose was running. He also fell apart halfway through the hike & told me he felt physically fine but mentally weak. I'm going to try giving him zyrtec for a few days to see if that helps. I know Benadryl works pretty well for him as well, but it does make him more tired. If the Zyrtec doesn't do it, I'll give that a try though. I called to see if I could get him into an allergist before school, but they are all more than a few weeks out for appointments.

 

The part that bugs me about it the most is that they test the kids during the 2nd week of school each year to place them in their language arts & math classes. At the end of each school year my son tests at the highest end. But at the beginning of the year he does really poorly & last year was placed in classes much lower than his ability. When I looked at his tests I couldn't believe they were his! (This has happened a for a few years now, but last year it was made even worse by his brother coming down with strep during testing week. That's when I realized it probably WAS PANDAS) His handwriting is also terrible at the beginning of the year & much better towards the end. I used to think it was just a matter of not practicing over the summer, but now I think it is more than that. We are starting to practice a little each morning just to give him a running start at it, but I'm still worried about it.

 

Can anyone think of any other reason, besides allergies, that DS might get worse each year at the same time?

 

As our girls have been experiencing a slight increase/blip in OCD symptoms in August I have wondered the same thing--Last August was bad for us as well. I wonder if it could be chlorine exposure contributing? Less sleep -- due to summer schedules, or combination.

No summer allergies at our house that I can tell.

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Does your son take allergy medication? I wonder if it would help? My PANDAS daughter doesn't seem to react to anything but strep; however, we do treat her mild seasonal allergies with claritin and nasonex from about March thru October.

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The only thingi I can think of is allergies. Interestingly, my dd's last exacerbation began last August. We have since discovered she does have allergies that affect her sinuses. It was not obvious but she did have head aches and told us in hind site that she never breathed through her nose very well. I say, definitely while you wait for an apt. you could try an over the counter allergy medication and/or try to Neti Pot sinus rinses. They seem to work really well.

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I know that when I pieced things together with my son, when things got bad 2 years ago... it was August. No idea why it was... last year it was starting ramp up in August as well. We tried to blame it on the idea of school starting too but I know it wasn't...

 

So far so good though this year...

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Thanks for your opinions & experiences as well.

 

We are going to try zyrtec for the next few days & see if it helps.

 

He has always been one that doesn't seem to notice how his body feels. We've been to the doctor before with a dual ear infection, strep & a sinus infection with him only saying, "my throat feels weird". i didn't realize his sinuses had been a continued problem after we had his tonsils out until we started the biaxin & they cleared up for the first time. he hasn't been sleeping well either, again, which makes me wonder about sinus issues caused by allergies even more.

 

i've always wondered if allergies are his source of inflammation. i hope the zyrtec works. i would say he is still in a better place than the last two augusts, but it is sooooo hard to watch him slip back downhill. i really wanted the abx to make it so we skipped all problems this year. wishful thinking!

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i think the allergy sounds very plausible . . . i personally get migraine headaches with aura. it's been very good for me this year, but the past couple were bad. it did seem that i had more trouble in the spring and fall. i began searching homeopathic remedies for migraine and interestingly, many of them were also remedies commonly also used for sinus issues.

 

when is your son's birthday? i have a friend who prescribes to a theory - there are books written about this, i could find more info if you're interested -- in that a child experiences levels of growth somehow related to a time frame from their birthday - maybe it's like near the 6 month mark or something. these stages of development can result in presentation of difficult behaviors or attitudes. she realy believes that she has tracked and seen this is her kids that any issues they may have do seem to follow some type of pattern of development. maybe it could be that he is following something like this but it is more pronounced b/c of pandas? i don't know -- just made me think of my friend's theory.

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Remember, your child can indeed be sick/fighting something, and, the ONLY indicator is an increase of symptoms!! If antibiotics do not help, it is probably viral and the increase of PANDAS symptoms is all you see....it should resolve over time. If it is severe enough, Dr. Cunningham recommended steroids in the event of a severe enough viral flair.

 

There was alot of stuff (illness, colds, strep, hand/foot/mouth) going the NE this summer...don't know about the rest of the country.

Edited by P.Mom
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According to our DAN practitioner, Aug/Sept and Jan/Feb are the biggest times for strep ("strep season"). I can go back all the way to when my son first developed pandas 5 years ago and he was always a handful in Aug and Feb. No exceptions! This was before I knew of pandas.

 

Trust me I am up in arms right now. Maybe since your son is on a prophylactic dose of abx he is does not have a strep "infection" per se, but maybe he is constantly being exposed to it at this time...

 

Last year my son tested pos on the rapid strep test on Aug. 16, 3 days before school started!! He was a mess starting school. I am being quite diligent this time around, but we are all a year smarter, right?

 

Best of luck, and don't forget about ibuprofen!

For the past few years we have noticed my son's symptoms getting worse in August. We always thought it was anxiety about school starting, though he didn't really seem ALL that anxious. Last August is when we noticed he had multiple tics. Here we are in August again, and everything is getting worse again. I had wondered if being on abx this year would change things, but unfortunately it hasn't. He was taking a prophylactic dose all summer, but I bumped him back up to a full dose when I realized we were back in the same spot. He's not anxious about school. He's not sick.

 

The only explanation I can come up with would be allergies. What else could effect him every year at the same time? He doesn't seem to have obvious "hay fever" type symptoms most of the time though. I did notice when we went hiking the other day that he was sniffing like crazy and his nose was running. He also fell apart halfway through the hike & told me he felt physically fine but mentally weak. I'm going to try giving him zyrtec for a few days to see if that helps. I know Benadryl works pretty well for him as well, but it does make him more tired. If the Zyrtec doesn't do it, I'll give that a try though. I called to see if I could get him into an allergist before school, but they are all more than a few weeks out for appointments.

 

The part that bugs me about it the most is that they test the kids during the 2nd week of school each year to place them in their language arts & math classes. At the end of each school year my son tests at the highest end. But at the beginning of the year he does really poorly & last year was placed in classes much lower than his ability. When I looked at his tests I couldn't believe they were his! (This has happened a for a few years now, but last year it was made even worse by his brother coming down with strep during testing week. That's when I realized it probably WAS PANDAS) His handwriting is also terrible at the beginning of the year & much better towards the end. I used to think it was just a matter of not practicing over the summer, but now I think it is more than that. We are starting to practice a little each morning just to give him a running start at it, but I'm still worried about it.

 

Can anyone think of any other reason, besides allergies, that DS might get worse each year at the same time?

Edited by Stephanie2
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