How does PANDAS affect the brain?

PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) affects the brain by triggering the immune system, following a strep infection, to mistakenly attack healthy brain tissue, specifically the basal ganglia, leading to sudden, severe neuropsychiatric symptoms like OCD, tics, anxiety, and cognitive issues. This "cross-reactivity" creates autoantibodies that interfere with neurotransmitters, causing inflammation and dysfunction in brain circuits controlling thoughts, emotions, and movements.

What do PANDAS do to the brain?

PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) affects the brain by triggering the immune system, following a strep infection, to mistakenly attack healthy brain tissue, particularly in the basal ganglia, causing sudden neurological and psychiatric issues like severe OCD, tics, anxiety, learning problems, and motor skill issues, due to inflammation and antibody disruption.
 

What are the neurological symptoms of PANDAS?

PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) causes sudden neurological symptoms in children, primarily tics (motor/vocal) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), following a strep infection. Other symptoms involve motor skill issues (messy handwriting, clumsiness), cognitive regression (trouble concentrating, learning, poor schoolwork), heightened sensitivities (light, sound), significant anxiety (separation anxiety, panic attacks), mood swings (irritability, rage, depression), and sleep problems (insomnia, bedwetting), all stemming from the immune system mistakenly attacking the brain's basal ganglia.
 

What are the long term effects of PANDAS?

Untreated PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) can lead to persistent neuropsychiatric issues like severe OCD, tics, anxiety, depression, learning difficulties, and motor skill problems, potentially impacting social and academic life long-term, though early intervention with antibiotics, steroids, or immunotherapy often resolves symptoms and prevents chronic issues, with many individuals recovering fully or having manageable flares.
 

Can PANDAS cause intrusive thoughts?

As with other forms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), individuals with PANDAS/ PANS have intrusive thoughts surrounding obsessions and compulsions. These can be about fears of contamination, losing control, concern with exactness or perfection, religious compulsion, unwanted sexual thoughts.

Mechanisms of PANDAS PANS: What Causes the Breakdown of the Blood Brain Barrier In CNS Disease

What does OCD in PANDAS look like?

Children with PANS or PANDAS may experience: Sudden and severe onset of OCD or tic disorder. Changes to eating, such as refusing to eat or showing highly selective eating patterns. Changes in motor skills, such as changes in handwriting.

What is the 15 minute rule in OCD?

The 15-minute rule for OCD is a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) technique where you delay acting on a compulsive urge for 15 minutes to break the obsession-compulsion cycle, allowing anxiety to decrease naturally and teaching your brain that rituals aren't necessary for safety, building tolerance and control. During this delay, you observe thoughts and feelings without judgment, gradually extending the time to build resilience against OCD's grip. 

Why do some doctors not believe in PANDAS?

There hasn't been a large population study on the incidence of PANS or PANDAS, so we don't know how common they are. PANS and PANDAS are often overlooked by medical doctors because of the assumption that there is not an underlying medical cause for the patient's psychiatric symptoms.

Can a child outgrow PANDAS?

Sometimes, a child can “outgrow” PANDAS if the strep infection is treated, but not always. If the child gets another strep infection, the PANDAS will almost certainly come back if it wasn't treated the first time. Untreated, PANDAS may continue to worsen and can result in permanent cognitive damage.

What is a psychiatric disorder associated with PANDAS?

Psychological symptoms that have been reported to occur with PANDAS have included: Anxiety or depression. Bedwetting. Changes in mood or personality, especially sudden rage or irritability.

Do PANDAS show up on EEG?

Conclusions: In this retrospective review of EEG findings in children with PANDAS, 16.6% had abnormal EEG findings. There were epileptiform abnormalities in 9.5%, although none of the patients had a history of seizures.

What kind of doctor to see for PANDAS?

What kind of doctor treats PANDAS syndrome? Doctors who treat PANDAS syndrome come from a variety of backgrounds. Pediatrics, neurology, hematology/oncology, psychology, psychiatry, integrative medicine, immunology and rheumatology are just a few of the specialties of PANDAS doctors.

Can COVID trigger PANDAS?

This is important, given the hypothesis that additional infections may trigger symptoms of PANS/PANDAS [31]. COVID-19 infection can not only result in an exacerbation of the condition of children already affected by PANS but can also eventually trigger new-onset PANS.

How do you know if someone has PANDAS?

Signs of PANDAS are unique to each person, but the defining feature of PANDAS is the acute onset of disabling anxiety and mood lability with tics or obsessive-compulsive-like behavior. In PANDAS, symptoms come on abruptly (flare) and remit.

What are neuropsychiatric symptoms?

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are behavioral and emotional changes, like depression, anxiety, apathy, agitation, psychosis (hallucinations/delusions), and sleep issues, resulting from brain damage or disease, common in conditions like dementia, Parkinson's, MS, and injury. These symptoms reflect altered brain chemistry and signaling, causing significant distress, functional decline, caregiver burden, and are often stigmatized but are treatable medical issues. 

What happens when PANDAS go untreated?

If PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) goes untreated, symptoms like sudden OCD, tics, anxiety, and behavioral regression can become persistent, worsening over time and leading to significant long-term challenges in academic performance, social functioning, and overall quality of life, potentially causing permanent neurological issues and chronic mental health struggles. Early identification and intervention, however, often lead to full recovery, highlighting the need for prompt management of the underlying strep infection and related symptoms.
 

Is PANDAS a form of OCD?

Although there is overlap with the symptoms of OCD, it is not the same thing. Unlike OCD, which is believed to arise from a combination of genetics, brain structure and environmental factors, PANDAS is associated with group A streptococcal bacterial infection.

What age does PANDAS usually start?

From minor disruptions to complete incapacitation—both mentally and physically—symptoms of this disease affect the daily lives of affected children and those who care about them. While PANDAS/PANS usually starts in childhood (ages 4–10), symptoms can become chronic and continue into adulthood.

What blood tests show PANDAS?

Currently, there is no single blood test that detects PANDAS or PANS. However, lab tests can guide healthcare professionals in the right direction for diagnosing and treating your child's condition.

What is the salary of a panda nanny?

Being a “panda nanny” isn't just a cute internet meme, it's a real and rewarding job in China. The Giant Panda Protection and Research Center hires staff to feed, care for, and raise panda cubs, offering annual salaries of around 200,000 yuan (roughly $32,000).

Are PANDAS considered a disability?

PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) isn't officially listed as a distinct diagnosis in major manuals like the DSM-5, but it's a recognized syndrome with severe, sudden neuropsychiatric symptoms (like OCD/tics) after strep, considered a form of the broader PANS, and can be debilitating enough to qualify as a disability, impacting daily life significantly. While some doctors debate its classification, it's a real clinical condition causing major impairment, often leading to support under broader disability categories like anxiety or OCD, say the PANDAS Network and Stanford Medicine.
 

What do PANDAS do 40 times a day?

In general, pandas employ a strategy of "massive feeding and rapid defecation" to obtain suffi- cient energy from food. They con- sume an average of up to 20 ki- lograms or more of bamboo a day and can defecate up to an astonishing 40 times!

What is the 3-3-3 rule for OCD?

The 3-3-3 rule is a grounding technique designed to help manage anxiety by focusing on the present. It involves three steps: identifying three things you can see, listening for three sounds you can hear, and moving three parts of your body.

What does an OCD meltdown look like?

An OCD meltdown, or severe episode, looks like an intense breakdown from overwhelming intrusive thoughts and anxiety, manifesting as extreme emotional outbursts (yelling, rage, self-harm), frantic or rigid compulsions (cleaning, checking, counting to a "magic" number), panic, and total disruption of daily life, often triggered by disruptions or stress, where the person feels utterly trapped and unable to control the spiral of fear and ritualistic behavior.
 

Is screen time bad for OCD?

There is some evidence that screen time, particularly when it involves playing video games or watching Internet videos, can increase the risk of OCD. If you or your teen spends excessive amounts of time on screens, it could very well be taking a negative toll on their mental health.