The lions, tigers and bears of the PANS/PANDAS world would include Strep, Mycoplasma and Lyme. There are tons of other triggers, but these tend to be some of the biggest offenders in my experience. We all know about strep and its list of issues it can cause in the body. Mycoplasma Pneumonia is different because it can be sneaky. The CDC says this bacterium is what can cause respiratory infections and walking pneumonia. With walking pneumonia, the person sometimes does not realize they are very sick. Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi which comes from the bite of an infected tick. All three of these illnesses can lead to neurologic symptoms and systemic conditions. They can all also be tested for and treated with antibiotics.
For some people, these bacteria are taken care of by the body easily. Others, for a myriad of reasons, have bodies that will get confused in the process of trying to get rid of the illness, which leads to issues like PANS/PANDAS and Neurological Lyme disease.
In the future, I hope that people everywhere will know to seek help if they start experiencing neurological, physical or systemic issues after an illness, and that medical professionals will take this seriously rather than immediately referring to mental health or dismissing concerns.
Mycoplasma Pneumoniae is no joke and was the main trigger, along with mold mycotoxins, for PANS in my case. It is scary when you realize the symptoms this can cause that can lead to the wrong diagnosis and take a long time to pinpoint, mostly for lack of awareness. Thank you for sharing what you are learning!
Thank you for commenting! Completely agree. My son is 3 years out of the worst and 2 years flare free now, but any respiratory virus immediately led to him hallucinating and raging again until we could get it cleared up.
My daughter had strep when she was three and it turned into her kidneys shutting down. We got to the hospital when she was at 10% kidney function. All because she didn’t have a typically presentation of strep. It was terrifying. I plan to write about that soon as well.
It’s interesting to see how these things effect everyone differently.
That is incredibly scary with your daughter’s experience from Strep and I will be very interested to read about it. Whenever anything is an atypical presentation, it makes getting a correct diagnosis that much harder, as so often even common presentations are overlooked, not taken seriously, or misdiagnosed.
And I can relate some to your son’s experience, as re-exposure to mold for me can still trigger some OCD/insomnia, until I get on more glutathione, Ibuprofen, and mold binder for the mycotoxins. And I still avoid strep (anyone with a sore throat) like the plague and try to avoid being around sick people as much as I can. I am so glad to hear your son is doing better and so thankful your children had you as their parent, who fought for answers and did not give up the search. They are so blessed to have you as their mom! I really appreciate you being willing to share your and your kids experiences with PANS/PANDAS and I know it will help so many! I look forward to reading and learning from your posts!
(I’ve been meaning to respond, just wasn’t logged in on my phone, so sorry for the delay.)