PANDAS

hello everyone! I wanted to share my story and see if anyone has any information that could help or would want to chat about PANDAS. I first got strep in February of this year, then again in March twice, and another time in April. Along with that I had scarlet fever, mono, and covid, all within the time frame as well. My ENT just ran a lab culture and found I’ve been carrying strep even after I was healthy. I recently started experiencing panic attacks and extreme anxiety which felt as though it came out of no where. So I’ve been doing CBT therapy and recently saw a psychiatrist who linked a lot of my symptoms to PANDAS - obsessive thoughts, trouble sleeping, etc. Does anyone else deal with PANDAS? Is there anything I should do to be medically safe? A lot or my anxiety and obsessive thoughts surround my health so this would bring me a lot of peace. Is there anything I can practice daily at home to see improvements? Please reach out!!

Username: josh3434josh3434

Date posted: 1y ago

I am in a very similar boat as you. I had a good amount of strep infections as a child, but my OCD symptoms were more slow rolling, and I’ve continued relatively unnoticed in childhood and much more into adulthood. I was just informed by my doctor through some blood testing that I do have pandas I would try to find an integrative/functional medicine doctor that is familiarized with how to treat Pandas. look at my bloodwork, and immediately told me that’s what I had. Currently I am waiting for my protocol and a few other blood test to come back. In the meantime I’ve been doing a little research online. It seems as if treating the underlying streptococcal infection or other coinfection’s directly can make a huge impact on your symptoms and specifically your OCD, there are certain treatments like immuno, modulating, and antibiotics that can impact an underlying streptococcal infection. This is a very complex issue, but I have found research that shows you could have had the strep infections as a child and that same strep infection could be causing inflammation in your brain that is causing the symptoms. Even if that infection is not coming in as out of the reference range on blood results, it can still be causing issues from what I can tell the first line of treatment should be trying to find and treat underlying infections, especially streptococcal infections. I as well deal with obsessive thoughts that are directly around my health and I for one understand how physically and mentally debilitating they can be.

Username: ahbay 03

Date posted: 2y ago

I need Support

I work in the ER and was through all of Covid…. I have gotten sick several times in the last couple months and each time I’m given antibiotics and I go absolutely crazy.. uncontrollable anxiety, tremors, high heart rate, bad thoughts. It literally takes me weeks to get back to normal. I’m currently going through an episode.. I’m absolutely terrified tonight.. I’m obsessively checking my pulse ox and heart rate to the point where I’m scared to go to sleep because I’m terrified I’m going to die… I just would like someone to let me know I’m not alone.. each time this happens it gets scarier and scarier.. I have OCD, severe health anxiety, GAD… and trauma that I feel is turning into PTSD.. I feel so alone at this current moment..

Username: Graciegirl

Date posted: 1y ago

Health Anxiety/OCD

I’ve been struggling with OCD since middle school. Over the years I’ve had many different obsessions such as POCD, Harm OCD, and now Health Concern OCD. For the last 6 months my newest obsession has been thinking that I am having a heart attack. I constantly body check, google symptoms, ask others for reassurance. I live at my university which is a little bit far from home. This causes me to have to call my mom in the middle of the night every time I have a panic attack over this. My roommates a nursing major so she always offers to take my blood pressure which helps, but still I don’t enjoy living like this. I always feel bad bothering others, and constantly feel like a nuisance. If anyone else with these worries and obsessions can let me know new ways to cope with it that would be amazing:) I just started my switch from lexapro to prozac for my OCD and I’m hopefully starting ERP/CBT soon but any tips on how to help this would be amazing.

Health Concern OCD

Username: lydluna

Date posted: 1y ago

My journey

Hi everyone. I have PANS OCD and had it early as a child around 5. It was debilitating I went though counting, contamination OCD even thinking family members were contaminated, hand washing till my hands were raw and more I had a good childhood but it was heavily OCD based which stinks. I am now 25 and have had manageable OCD throughout the last 10 ish years. Up till late last year I got it back again worse than ever.. I am now worried about asbestos and mold and lead and household things we moved into an older home and it’s been awful. I also worry constantly 24/7 about death… also We don’t have any of those materials In our home but my OCD won’t leave me alone. I went into treatment didn’t sleep the 4 days I was there and checked myself out, I instantly regretted it and tried going back but they wouldn’t let me back right away unfortunately. I am seeing my therapist once a week and trying to live life as an adult with OCD it never fully went away but it was so manageable and now I need to learn to live with crippling OCD all over again if anyone has any advice or relates to this please comment so we can talk. Thanks Lydia

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