About PANDAS/PANS

Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strep (PANDAS) occurs when a child has a sudden onset of multiple neuropsychiatric symptoms that were triggered from a misdirected autoimmune response to a strep infection and then results in inflammation of a child’s brain.

Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) is an additional clinical name used to capture cases that present with the same symptoms as PANDAS, but are triggered by other bacterial, viral, or environmental infections. PANDAS /PANS may be treated with anti-inflammatory medications (such as ibuprofen), antibiotics to treat or prevent infection, and immune-modulating therapies (such as steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), plasmapheresis (PEX) and rituximab. Supportive therapy, supplements and additional medications may also play a role in treatment. Treatment takes a multidisciplinary team approach, often coordinating mental health and medical services. PANDAS is not rare or controversial, it is rarely understood, diagnosed, and treated properly due to a history of lack of knowledge among medical professionals and treatment barriers. Early identification and correct treatment have proven to be crucial for successful outcomes. Due to the impact of brain inflammation, the resulting behavioral, emotional, and academic decline are not within the child’s control and should be treated as sensitively as any other significant medical condition.

Christine’s Personal Connection
to PANDAS/PANS

I became interested in this disorder when my son developed PANDAS symptoms, virtually overnight, and was lost to me. I was left wondering what had happened to my previously normal child and what I should do to help him. This is where my education, training, and a strong mother’s intuition were truly tested, but led to the correct diagnosis, effective treatment, and full remission for my son. Other children have not been as fortunate, and many are suffering the devastating long-term effects of PANDAS. Because of this harrowing experience and utter shock at the current lack of understanding and acceptance of this disorder, I became driven to advocate for awareness and accurate treatment.

Being a child and family psychotherapist, I was very surprised to have not even heard of this disorder, before having my own son’s experience and desperate research. Since then, I have observed a growing need for these children and their families to receive affordable, and accessible individualized supports and effective treatment interventions to help with their unique medical and mental health struggles. I created Legacy Counseling and Consulting to support PANDAS/PANS families, who need someone that truly understands the excruciating fear, grief, stress, anger, lack of answers and only want to see their child healthy, happy, thriving and not merely surviving.  You do not have to navigate this difficult journey alone, the devastating changes that occur in your child and the exhausting caregiver burden are already overwhelming. It is time to partner with someone who can work with you from a lived experience to support and guide the healing for your child. At Legacy Counseling, you and your child will receive understanding, validation, compassion, advocacy, and competent care instead of medical mistreatment, resistance, and denial. I am here to truly care and collaborate in the hopes of making this often misdiagnosed and misunderstood disorder a curable illness, instead of a lifetime of preventable suffering.

“You can lose many things trying to heal your own child, your friends, your family, your marriage, your money, your sanity, even yourself. Yet no matter how hard the battle tries to break you down, just know that no illness nor any person can ever make you lose the deep and fearless love that keeps you fighting for your child each and every day.”

-Marcel Cairo