Leaving the Difficult Path of PANS Behind,
Caleb (Boy age 7)

A typical east coast family, Robin and Jeff Meek, have beautiful, healthy twins – one girl, one boy. In the beginning of their kindergarten year, the family took a trip to “The Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland.” While on this much anticipated trip, son Caleb (age 5), had a sudden onset of behavioral changes. Mom says, “I can remember our first day at Disney and he began having repetitive motions, jumping and flapping his arms, and having meltdowns we had NEVER seen before this day. At our first meal he started eating his mashed potatoes with his hands! None of this behavior was normal to our family. Also, he began to talk in baby talk and doing odd motions with his mouth.” As the day wore on, mom continued to see her son meltdown and have behaviors that were nothing she was familiar with.
               
Mom considered that maybe there was another child with disruptive behavior in the kinder class that he was copying. She disciplined her son and told him to stop – but he couldn’t stop.


PANDAS Network 2021 Teaching Modules about
Processes of PANDAS-PANS

In 2021 we are increasing Education about PANDAS PANS on our website. We want to provide clearer information about the specific mechanisms we are seeing in PANDAS and PANS. For example, Th17 and Th1 (helper cells) are present in many inflammatory diseases. What is the significance of this in our youth and how do we calm it down? We are also investing our research dollars in the genetics of PANDAS and PANS to understand why some youth heal more quickly than others.


Please watch our video Blood Brain Barrier Video and PANDAS
and read about Th17 and Th1 cells and know that inflammation can be calmed in many ways. Whether to move to anti-inflammatory medications like IVIG, steroids or plasmapheresis will be debated until studies are done on larger groups of children. We will work to educate you on EACH ASPECT of the current research so that you can pick a path that heals your child faster and more fully.

THANK YOU FOR BEING AN OUTSPOKEN CARING COMMUNITY.