Can PANDAS turn into Tourettes ?

[thomasmom]

Hello All - Like Many of you my DS9 and I are struggline to amke it through the first week of school. He is ticcing off the charts with what I am hoping is just nerves that will calm down but there always is the possibility that there is a virus out there that hasn't declared itself with other symptoms. Advil hasn't really helped.

 

I keep trying to remind myself that he has gotten so much better with te 2 IVIG doses that he received with Dr K. Two years ago he was close to Chorea. He has had the Cunningham test that puts him into the "high PANDAS catagory" So I am fairly sure that he has PANDAS. Right now he has no other symptoms except for headaches and these blasted unrelenting tics (!)

 

Here is my question ? Do you think that PANDAS can turn into Tourettes ? Can you treat PANDAS but have some residual effects left that would be then treatable with a neuro drug?

 

Any answers would do wonders to calm my nerves Thanks !

[Chemar]

Hi

I think that the blurred lines between symptoms of many child neuro disorders really make that a hard question to answer

 

from my personal perspective, Tourette Syndrome is a genetically inherited disorder that manifests with varied degrees of vocal and motor tics. It may be accompanied by other co-morbid disorders (eg OCD, ADD etc) but not always. All that is needed for a TS diagnosis is the tics, present for at least a year in both motor and vocal form, with characteristic waxing and waning

 

People with TS seem to have tics associated with elevated dopamine levels.

 

Now, re PANDAS, I dont have more than the basic knowledge but it does seem many kids with strep (or other microbe) induced neurological disorders also tic. But whether that is due to the same dopaminergic factors seen in TS, or whether related to some other mechanism unique to the infection....well that I do not know. the fact that both are centered in the basal ganglia also make the overlap possible IMO

 

so I guess my answer would be:

people with TS may sometimes also be people with PANDAS or PITANDs and vice versa

 

but can PANDAS "turn into TS"....no I dont think so, unless the TS gene is also present and the manifestation of that gene becomes evident after a PANDAS trigger

 

can TS "turn into" PANDAS...yes I do feel that happens often where someone with the TS genes gets infected

 

 

 

hope that makes sense...

 

re neuro meds for tics...personally, after our horrendous experience, I would suggest you do your homework very carefully on those as sometimes their side effects are far worse than the tics!