PANS/PANDA
PANS/PANDAS unfortunately has nothing to do with the cuddly furry black and white animal. Instead, it refers to infections which trigger the immune system to mistakenly attack its own brain tissues. This triggers a collection of neuropsychiatric symptoms which are caused by infection but which can easily get misdiagnosed as purely psychiatric in nature.
PANDAS stands for Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptoccocal Infections and focuses on strep infection as the trigger for the illness. PANS stands for Paediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome and recognises that a range of other infections like Epstein Barr Virus, Coxsackievirus, Lyme, Mycoplasma and even Candida, can trigger ‘friendly fire’ in the brain. Nor is this condition confined to children. I see a growing number of young people and adults whose lives have been turned upside down by these autoimmune infection-driven conditions.
Why autoimmune?
I use the analogy of a boxer in a ring to explain what goes wrong with the immune system. When a boxer reaches exhaustion fighting a target, the sweat pouring down his face blinds him and he blindly hits out at any target. When the immune system is overwhelmed by an infection or infections, it can mistakenly attack tissues in the brain which look like the invading infection. The medical name for this is ‘molecular mimicry.’
Increasing awareness
The mission of PANS/PANDAS UK is to raise awareness of this condition. The organisation’s educational materials highlight the difficulties that parents currently face vis-a-vis the woeful lack of knowledge about PANS/PANDAS among medical professionals and teachers.
“The family and child are often traumatized, frightened and the sense of urgency is palpable. Doctors often wonder if this syndrome is really just ‘OCD or tic’ disorders, or fussy eating. The type of profound change in the child and the effect on their family really goes far beyond a simple OCD or tic diagnosis. If a parent suggests PANS or PANDAS, then consider this condition very carefully.”
Symptoms can include:
Sudden change of personality/behaviour
Increased anxiety and extreme emotions
Aggression/irritability
Hyperactivity/chronic fatigue
Deterioration in school performance
Fussiness in eating
Sensory/motor abnormalities
Inability to concentrate
Insomnia/sleep disturbances
Urinary frequency
Hallucinations/psychosis
Intrusive thoughts
A common scenario is a child/young person doing well in their studies and in life. Then follows a period of feeling unwell which heralds what parents describe as a change of personality. Instead of being confident, the young person becomes anxious, quiet and confused. He or she can no longer study or concentrate on anything. In extreme cases, they may stop eating, speaking and sleeping properly.
The Cunningham Panel
How can we tell what is going on? The only lab test that can really tell you if your brain tissue is under ‘friendly fire’ from its own immune system is the Cunningham Panel from Moleculera Labs. This panel identifies elevations in the following 5 antibody markers that indicate that a person’s symptoms may be due to an infection triggering their immune system to attack brain tissues. You only need one elevated marker to have a positive result on the Cunningham Panel.
The 5 Cunningham Panel markers are:
Cam Kinase 2: The higher the level, the more severe the condition. The patient will be uncomfortable and symptomatic. This triggers excess dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenaline which induces fight or flight behaviour (anxiety) from a constantly stimulated immune system. Cam Kinase elevation indicates active ongoing infections.
Anti-tubulin elevation can produce psychiatric symptoms of obsessive, obtrusive thoughts, ritualistic behaviours, poor cognitive ability, brain fog and memory impairment.
Anti-dopamine receptor D1 elevation can produce psychiatric symptoms that affect mood and cause anxiety, sleep problems, aggression and even psychotic episodes.
Anti-dopamine receptor 2 produces similar symptoms to the above.
Anti-Lysoganglioside elevation interferes with normal movements and neurological functions.
The Solution
Once it has been established via lab testing (Cunningham Panel and specific infection tests) that the person has an infection-driven autoimmune condition affecting their brain and central nervous system, there are three things that they must do to get well again:
Address the infections (all of them) to remove the stimulus to the immune system. This can include viruses, bacterial infections, mould, Candida etc. The famous Law of Two Tacks is applicable here. If you are sitting on two tacks (pins) and remove only one, you will still be in pain!
Address inflammation.
Address the aberrant immune reaction. This refers to immune modulation or dampening down the immune response as opposed to immune boosting!
Therapy is individual to the patient but the above is a broad outline of what needs to be done. I prefer a plant-based non-drug approach to do the job and that is the strategy I follow in my clinic.
If you would like to know more about PANS/PANDAS, please contact me on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com.