“What Happened to my Child?”
The desperate query you type into Google as you battle another day not understanding what happened and why you lost your beautiful child seemingly overnight.
This is something that I come across as I’m talking with other parents navigating trauma and other nervous system disabilities like Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is the question of, “Is this actually PANS/PANDAS?”
What is PANS/PANDAS?
This is a great resource, https://pandasnetwork.org. In a nutshell, it’s inflammation of the brain that affects the nervous system causing a sudden change in the behavior of the child. Like with several other things, the symptoms of a trauma response overlap with PANS/PANDAS.
I wanted to highlight those symptoms here and draw the distinction:
Acute Trauma Response
- anxiety
- hypervigilance
- trouble sleeping
- hyperactivity
- mood swings
- aggression
- regressions
- loss of appetite
- TRIGGERS
- GUILT/SHAME & FLASHBACKS
PANS/PANDAS
- anxiety
- hypervigilance
- trouble sleeping
- hyperactivity
- mood swings
- aggression
- regressions
- loss of appetite
- TICS
- OCD behaviors
As you can see, the two lists parallel each other exactly with the exception of triggers, guilt, shame, and flashbacks – which are unique to trauma/PTSD and tics & OCD behaviors, which are unique to PANS/PANDAS. Both can come on seemingly ‘overnight’ and leave you wondering, “what happened to my child!?”
I hope that this information provides guidance for you and if you have any question at all that something “else” is going on with your child, listen to your gut no matter what dismissive things people say to you.
*If you are concerned that your child has PANS/PANDAS or has experienced trauma please seek medical attention for them ASAP.
parentingPTSD 