Articles

Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) is a condition that affects children and can be brought on or made worse by an infection from Streptococcus bacteria. The symptoms are similar to those of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or a tic disorder. It’s a rare condition, although its exact prevalence is unknown.

Many of the treatment options for PANDAS involve the use of medications. In addition, some may be interested in exploring natural remedies for PANDAS as well.

Perhaps some of the most interesting cases of medical conditions disguised as psychological problems are Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococci (PANDAS), and anti-NMDA encephalitis due to a teratoma.

TIMOTHY WAS 10 years old when his personality changed overnight. A concussion during a family ski trip in December 2016 left him unsteady on his feet, but that was just the first sign something was wrong. The strawberry-blond boy who played on the chess team and looked forward to Mandarin lessons became withdrawn, obsessive, and suicidal. Back home in Marin County, California, he said “bad men” had surrounded his family’s house and were trying to get him.

Carys Fletcher was six years old when, her parents say, the daughter they knew disappeared almost overnight.
A diligent Year One student, Carys had been recovering from a nasty case of strep throat, which turned into scarlet fever. However, she remembers being keen to get back to her primary school on the Sunshine Coast.
Still weak from her illness, Carys was walking across the classroom when she blacked out.

Here [in this study] we examined two adolescents who acutely developed new OCD, neuropsychiatric, and motor dysfunction symptoms consistent with PANS 2 weeks after a diagnosis of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 needs to be acknowledged in the differential diagnosis of PANS.

When a sudden, unexplainable change occurs in your child’s health, an accurate diagnosis and treatment can make all the difference. This is especially true in the case of autoimmune disorders known as PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) or a subset of PANS that is associated with strep infection known as PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal Infections).

Some pediatricians are trained to determine whether kids’ injuries are accidental. Their assessments can be subjective—but they’re often accepted as fact. And when they’re wrong, parents can needlessly end up in jail.

For young children, an innocuous sore throat could be a sign of PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders), a condition that a Solana Beach-based doctor in California has been centering his practice around.

Jaxen Steimlosk, 4, of North Yarmouth has lived with serious health problems for most of his life. But officials accused his mother of medical child abuse and tried to assume custody.

Dr. Eli Newberger, a Boston pediatrician who is a leading expert on medical child abuse, reviewed Jaxen’s case and wrote in a report that the family was “grievously harmed” by Maine’s investigation.

“Never previously have I witnessed such a rush to judgment, a defamatory campaign against a mother and her family in a community,” wrote Newberger, who was hired by the Steimlosks’ attorney, Beth Maloney, and was prepared to testify on their behalf. “The paucity of interest in seeking the truth of the matter is jaw-dropping.”

“It’s a disease from hell.”

That’s how Marnie Deschenes describes the illness that struck her oldest son just before his 8th birthday.

“He just started to rage like a caged wild animal,” said Deschenes as she recalls the day in June, 2013 when — as the family was out running errands — she witnessed a sudden and dramatic shift in the little boy’s personality.