oppositional defiant disorder Archives -

September 24, 2017

The Truth About PANDAS Disorder – Everything But Autism

I started this blog just over two years ago to share about our family’s journey with healing behavioral disorders. Among my most popular posts are those that highlight our favorite natural treatments for ADHD, but I’ve also written about steps we’ve taken to heal PANDAS disorder. This post shares a little more in depth about what life with PANDAS is really like.

It’s been about two years since we learned my son and I both had strep overgrowth in our bodies. Unfortunately, the practitioner we were seeing at the time, though holistically-minded and somewhat helpful, was not experienced in PANDAS and didn’t give us a proper diagnosis… or treatment. I knew from my son’s test results and behavior, however, that it was PANDAS.

Not familiar with PANDAS? Let me introduce you.

What is PANDAS disorder?

PANDAS is short for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. In short, it’s a smorgasbord of psychiatric disorders caused by a strep infection.

But wait! PANDAS isn’t necessarily caused only by strep, and it doesn’t necessarily only affect pediatric patients. In other words, it’s highly complicated and poorly understood by the majority of medical professionals (the ones that have even heard of it or recognize its existence).

PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) is the generally recognized label for the same symptoms in a child without the association of a strep infection. It may be attributed to an infectious trigger, environmental factors, and other possible triggers which create a misdirected immune response, resulting in inflammation in a child’s brain. (source)

How does strep cause psychiatric conditions?

When the immune system is not functioning correctly (whether from a previous insult to the system, an environmental trigger, or genetic predisposition), a strep infection can go from being an ordinary childhood illness to a long-lasting disease.

In PANDAS children, the infection may pass the blood brain barrier, resulting in brain swelling (aka encephalitis) and, eventually, causing the immune system to attack the brain, making the condition auto-immune in nature.

PANDAS symptoms

PANDAS disorder causes a variety of symptoms which masquerade as mental illness. Some of these symptoms include:

obsessive compulsive disorder
oppositional defiant disorder
rage or aggression
depression
motor tics
anxiety
bipolar disorder
hyperactivity/inability to focus (ADHD/ADD)

Children suffering from the disorder will experience varying degrees, and likely a combination, of the above symptoms and behaviors.

Our family’s experience with PANDAS

My son has every symptom on the above list and more.

I knew it was PANDAS from the moment I read about it.

While my son has exhibited symptoms of hyperactivity from the time he could walk, his most worrisome behaviors began following an acute illness. Almost six years ago, the kids and I got sick with some sort of respiratory illness. It took us weeks to recover.

My son had the worst time recovering, and his fever persisted much longer than anyone else’s.

After the fever and nasty cough left, my son was different. He’d become defiant and disrespectful. And he had a weird new habit of making a soft sighing sound in the back of his throat.

I’m a good mom, but my son is a jerk.

If I struggled with parenting my high-strung, hyperactive child, I had no idea how to manage a child with these new and worsening behaviors. What do you do with a child who refuses to obey and does not respond to ANY form of discipline?

I figured if I just got firmer with my son, he’d straighten up.

When he was six, a light swat to his behind resulted in him slamming his door on me and hurting me. I knew then that corporal punishment would never be effective for this child.

When we had friends over to play, he was mean to the other children, and would hurt them and call them names. I was horrified and so ashamed of what other moms must’ve thought of me.

I was doing everything I knew to help my child: he was already on a strict diet and I enforced rules as best I could. I felt so helpless as his behavior worsened.

Folks, this ain’t normal.

I kept thinking there was something wrong with me. I wasn’t consistent enough. I wasn’t strong enough or firm enough. But the truth is: there was something wrong with him.

I began putting the pieces together and realized he had every symptom of oppositional defiant disorder. It wasn’t until some time later when a stool test showed he had an abundance of strep bacteria in his gut that I knew it was PANDAS disorder, and despite the clueless doctor we were seeing saying it wasn’t PANDAS, I knew better.

It’s not normal for a child to become incensed over the color of his plate.

It’s not normal for it to take a child (particularly a very bright child- which he very much is) hours to write a single sentence.

It’s not normal for a child to become so angry about being disciplined that he lashes out and hurts his parent.

It’s not normal for a child to not be able to touch a paper towel because he can’t stand the way it feels, or certain clothes or bedsheets for that matter.

It’s not normal for a child to have a meltdown about something minor, becoming so angry that you fear for his or others’ safety, only to have him flip a switch and become completely pleasant a short time later.

It’s not normal for a child to make constant throat clearing or heavy breathing sounds, blink excessively, or have other strange, repetitive behaviors over which he has no control.

I could go on and on, but the point is, we battled all these behaviors (and worse!) for years while I beat myself up (truthfully, I still do) about it. If I was a good mom, why did my kid act like such a jerk?

PANDAS kids can’t help it.

The truth is, kids with PANDAS disorder (or PANS) can’t control their emotions or behavior. Their brains are on fire. They simply can’t help it. That’s the truth.

But here’s the frustrating thing, and if you’re a PANDAS parent, I know you know what I mean: PANDAS is hard to explain, particularly to those questioning both your parenting and your child’s behavior.

I’ve given so many excuses: “well, he has some symptoms of autism;” “he has severe ADHD;” “he has oppositional defiant disorder (yes that’s a thing; no it’s not an excuse for poor or permissive parenting);” “I really do discipline him; really! He just doesn’t listen;” or, my favorite, “I’m sorry, he got into some gluten yesterday.”

PANDAS disorder vs autism

While autism is a “spectrum” because symptoms and their severity can vary widely, many of those symptoms overlap with symptoms of PANDAS as well.

Everyone knows what autism is, and lots of folks sympathize with autism parents and give them a break for their kids’ behavior.

And not that I’m trying to have a pity party or anything, but I can’t exactly say “I’m sorry, my child has PANDAS.” No one knows what that means.

And while both well-meaning friends and judgmental strangers have let me know that what my kid really needs is a swat, what they don’t know is that my kid can’t help it, and I really am doing the best I can. Besides, a swat wouldn’t help anyway.

How is PANDAS treated?

Thankfully, PANDAS doesn’t have to be forever, and if you find a knowledgeable doctor, you really can heal it. We’ve gotten rid of the symptoms before using natural remedies, but because PANDAS is such a complicated and persistent disease, we’ve decided to incorporate some conventional methods at this time.

We’re continuing to use our favorite and most helpful natural remedies, which at this time (keep in mind, this is always a moving target), include:

Neural Balance for calming. Using a high concentration of passionflower extracts to help the brain create GABA, Neural Balance helps to improve focus, lessen aggression, and improve sleep, anxiety, and social behaviors. I’ve found it especially necessary as my son has been on an antibiotic and his little body is waging a war inside against invaders, resulting in worsening of behaviors.
Pooper for bowel function. I adore BioRay Kids formulas, and my son is almost always on at least one or another. At this time, as we are killing off the bad guys in his body, it’s really important to be sure his bowels are moving every single day.
A gentle but effective probiotic for gut health. The probiotic I most often recommend, particularly for children with PANDAS, is Smidge. Smidge was designed with sensitive kids like those with PANDAS/PANS in mind, and it’s a great formula to try. Get it here.
Florastor saccharomyces boulardii to keep yeasts balanced. When one is on antibiotics, the flora can become imbalanced and opportunistic yeast like candida can take over, creating a whole new set of problems. Saccharomyces boulardii is a good yeast which helps to keep candida under control.
Adrenal and sleep support herbs. Attacking infections is hard on the body, so I’m supporting my son’s adrenal glands and sleep using herbal remedies. I give him my homemade adrenal extract as well as BioRay Kids Sleepy, or sometimes vary with other herbs, depending on what he needs.

While these natural remedies help with some of the symptoms, what we really needed at this point was a doctor who was knowledgeable about PANDAS disorder.

We’ve been so fortunate to find such a doctor (who, by the way, did confirm a PANDAS diagnosis) and, though it’s been a rough month as we’ve navigated treatment and I’ve gone from trusting only myself to treat my son’s symptoms to relying on a doctor who knows much more than me, I’m confident we’ll finally resolve this horrible condition once and for all.

To find a PANDAS specialist near you, look at this list of US providers.

Does your child have PANDAS disorder? How have you navigated this tricky disease?

August 31, 2016

A Holistic Approach – The Oppositional Defiant Disorder Treatment

If you have a child exhibiting symptoms of defiance, anger, rage, and more, these tips for a holistic oppositional defiant disorder treatment are for you.

The anger. The yelling. The tears. The mood swings. And I’m just talking about the behavior of the mama of a child with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. I kid, but let’s be honest, having a child with ODD is hard on the whole family. If you’ve read how we healed symptoms of PANDAS, it will come as no surprise that we’ve taken a holistic approach to our oppositional defiant disorder treatment.

The symptoms of ODD and PANDAS actually overlap a lot, and though they have two different clinical names, the white coats tend to be behind on the fact that emotional and psychiatric disorders are caused by underlying infections. For our son, it was all wrapped up in a strep infection in his gut.

I had made the obvious connections with diet and pinpointed reactions to food (read about one surprising trigger food here), but it was years after the onset of his ODD symptoms that we had testing done which revealed the strep infection. That was when the real work started.

Our holistic oppositional defiant disorder treatment

If you’re living with a child with symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder, you’re probably at your wit’s end, wondering what you can do to help your child.

Kids with ODD

lack respect for authority
become angry when they don’t get their way
manipulate the people around them to get their way
exhibit unreasonable anger over seemingly small things
are aggressive towards other children and even authority figures
suffer from mood swings
may also suffer from depression and anxiety.

Indeed, our son had all these symptoms and more. Thankfully, at the onset of his symptoms, our family was already interested in healthful eating and natural remedies, so a holistic oppositional defiant disorder treatment wasn’t a stretch.

Earlier this year, we rid our son of ODD for the first time since the whole ordeal started (he developed symptoms following an illness when he was four, which is associated with PANDAS).

Here’s what we did.

Diet

If you’ve heard me say it once, you’ve heard me say it a thousand times: diet is king. Before anything else, you have to get your child’s inflammation and food reactions under control.

In a disorder like ODD, a couple of things are happening behind the scenes. For one, the child is reacting to triggers in his environment: food and other toxins like mold and chemical exposures like laundry and cleaning supplies or home fragrances.

Secondly, poor food choices feed unwanted pathogens, making them stronger while the immune system and gut become weaker.

Children with ODD and related disorders (think of children on the autism spectrum, which is inclusive of a huge range of behaviors) are very sensitive. If they have a steady stream of toxins entering their body, their body will stay bogged down and their neurological and emotional health will be compromised.

Not only should you switch to natural products in your home, but it is very necessary to change the diet of a child with ODD.

We started with removing these five ingredients. Following the removal of harmful food additives, we removed refined sugars (see my guide to sugars to learn about acceptable replacements), then gluten and all grains, as well as processed dairy (we eat high-quality dairy which is raw, cultured, and grass-fed), and, eventually, we did the GAPS diet.

Changing our son’s diet got us 75% of the way to healing. The only problem was that he could not tolerate any cheating. Even a small amount of residue resulted in a meltdown.

After we found out about the strep, we tried lots of options for a natural oppositional defiant disorder treatment. Some were helpful, but most waned after time.

I wrote about how we used diatomaceous earth, oregano extract, and intestinal tract defense to rid our son of PANDAS symptoms. Following our success with those remedies, I added in what I now call the “game-changer.”

Our game-changing oppositional defiant disorder treatment

At the beginning of last year, we saw a holistic PA, who did the testing for us that revealed the strep infection. He also put us on a supplement called Liver Life from BioRay. I noticed an immediate improvement in both my and my son’s health after taking this liver support. It contains mushrooms and other nutrients to support detoxification of the liver.

When I learned that BioRay had come out with a children’s line of supplements, my interest was peaked, because I had already been impressed with Liver Life. One day, while browsing the supplements section, I came across one of their children’s supplements, called “Happy.” A tag on the bottle caught my eye: “formulated for unreasonable anger.”

I took the bottle home that day and started my son on it immediately (in fact, I’m pretty sure I gave him his first dose in the car). I noticed an improvement in his overall demeanor after just one dose.

I began giving him the maximum dose twice a day and he became more pleasant and helpful, and all traces of anger vanished.

Even in the midst of choosing joy over a strict diet, his symptoms of ODD stayed away.

Happy contains a unique blend of liver and immune-system supporting mushrooms, as well as chlorella, which supports detoxification, plus herbs that support the removal of unwanted organisms, like bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Most importantly, it has been clinically proven to reduce angry outbursts.

This formula is so powerful for removing infections that a couple of months ago, when several members of our family came down with a stomach bug that lasted for weeks, it was the only thing that finally stopped the symptoms. I had tried everything I knew of to help my family get better, and finally, on a whim, I gave Happy a try, and after one dose the stomach bug was finally abated.

Why every kid needs BioRay

Our kids are constantly fighting an uphill battle. Not only do they get bombarded with junk food everywhere they go, but our modern air and water are tainted, and they are frequently given unnecessary pharmaceuticals.

Every supplement in the BioRay kids line contains their formula they call “NDF” (natural detox factors), which is comprised of chlorella, an effective and natural ingredient for detoxification.

Chlorella is a tiny, single-celled algae. It bonds to heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides, dioxins, chlorine, and BPA.

Each BioRay Kids formula combines chlorella with a blend of mushrooms, as well has herbs that are targeted to relieve a variety of symptoms.

So far, our family has used Happy, designed to alleviate unreasonable anger, Calm, designed to ease anxiety and nervous energy, and Focus, created to boost attention and improve clarity and cognitive function. Each of these formulas do what they say they do!

Please note: BioRay is not paying me to say any of this. I have just been so incredibly blown away by their unique formulas that I want every family to learn about and benefit from them. Their formulas address just about any symptom a child may be dealing with.

These formulas have done things for my son’s health that no other supplements have been able to: they provide effective, broad-spectrum,yet targeted results.

Why we’ll keep using our oppositional defiant disorder treatment

I’m finding it necessary to keep my son on these supplements, particularly as we’ve enjoyed a summer of fun foods (though fall will be bringing balance back to our diet).

BioRay sums it up well: “As parents, we’d like to think the safest place for our children is at home. However, now with environmental toxins in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe, we have to do more to ensure our kids are able to grow up healthy and happy. Did you know environmental toxins can impact how our children behave, think, interact with others and even how healthy they are?”

Because our kids are constantly exposed to toxins, keeping my son’s body healthy is not a “once and done” situation. If we go long between bottles of Happy, his symptoms start creeping back, particularly if we’ve indulged too much in birthday party food, or he spends lots of time in a new environment, which tends to stress him out and spur on symptoms. I plan to continue his oppositional defiant disorder treatment indefinitely.

Have you discovered an effective oppositional defiant disorder treatment? Share in the comments, then be sure to share this post for your friends whose children may be struggling with ODD.