Ben Update

Just a brief update on our son, Ben.

Further trips to the psychiatrist resulted in a tentative diagnosis which was confirmed today by a Naturopathic Physician....bet you've never even heard of it....it's pretty rare...did you expect anything less from the Bullers? It's called PANDA. That's right PANDA. What's THAT you say? That's what I said. Here goes....Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal infections. Bet this will intrigue my friends in the Crossmatch Lab!!

Ben likely had an asymptomatic strep infection several months ago and it went systemic to the point where it crossed the blood/ brain barrier causing the basal ganglia in his brain to become enlarged and inflamed. The symptoms he is experiencing today is the natural body's reaction. The next question is... will an antibiotic help. Oh no, no, no. That would be too easy. Apparently no literature supports the administration of an antibiotic at this point. It would be useless.

We've added additional tests including an Anti-Streptolysin Titre which will confirm whether or not Ben's been exposed to Strep A in the past several months. We are still trying to finagle our way into an MRI on the 12th. However with this stinky US system, you can't put the cart before the horse and we are waiting approval from the insurance company.

The moral of our experience...get that sore throat checked out...swabbed and cultured (not just a streptex)....especially if your child is prepubescent! Heed my warning.