Bamboo the Panda

To educate and provide support for PANDAS families.

This is NOT your typical Panda…

The term is actually PANDAS, which stands for:

Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections (PANDAS).

It describes a condition in which some children develop a rapid onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or tic disorder symptoms caused by group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal (GABHS) infections or Strep Throat.  If you know someone who could use help and information, please visit: http://www.pandasnetwork.org/

The main idea is that these disorders appear almost immediately in reaction to a bout with Strep Throat. Antibodies produced by the immune system to fight the infection start to interfere with basal ganglia function, causing symptom exacerbations. It has been proposed that this autoimmune response and also other vectors such as parasites, viruses, and even allergies can result in a broad range of neuropsychiatric symptoms in about 1 in 200 children. –Paraphrased or slightly altered from the Wikipedia article

Lucky us: we happen to be one of the 1 in 200 families with a child that meets these criteria. Very few doctors, up until recently, are believers in this condition. To be honest, we COMPLETELY understand their hesitation. It isn’t until you witness the transformation for the first time that you begin to understand how absolutely devastating this condition can be to the children and their families.

What began as a normal day for us on October 15^th, 2015, would completely change our lives forever.  At around 6.30pm, we noticed that our 5 year old son was running a slight fever. We gave him some Tylenol and headed out for pizza with his grandparents.  The fever broke and he seemed fine. After dinner, we came home and I took the dog for a walk.  I arrived home thirty minutes later to see my son, naked in the bathroom, washing his hands and legs and feet, screaming in terror that there were germs all over him!  He wouldn’t let anyone but me touch him.

Over the next few days, his symptoms didn’t improve.  We would get small breaks in between bouts of frenzied hand washing and fits of screaming terrors. His hands were chapped and bleeding from washing so much and pupils dilated in complete terror; and we, his parents, completely powerless to help except to hug and hold him if he would let us.

We took him to his pediatrician and explained the events and timeline. “We think it might be PANDAS,” we said. “What is that?” they asked. They swabbed him for Strep and it came back positive. For me, it was confirmed, but many doctors are still not convinced that this condition or chain of cause and effect exists. They gave him some anti-biotics to treat the infection, and lo, the symptoms subsided somewhat. He was his old self, for the most part, with some OCD and separation anxiety bits left over. That next week, we got him in to see a therapist for CBT work and other tools to help us all work through the rough spots.

Today, he’s in the first grade and loves art and math and science and mysteries and dinosaurs.  We go through bouts of OCD and severe separation anxiety, but we’re confident we can beat this thing!  So we’re sending out this little Panda with the hope that it brings a little understanding and a little love to people who may be affected (And he made the bead-chain himself!!) Even if it doesn’t apply to you, you may hear of someone at work or your child’s school or your sister’s girl scout troop that could use an idea when they’re all out of their own…