Thank you for sharing. Swamp Boy was of particular interest to me personally. In 2010 my son at the age of 10 suddenly, (overnight really)developed a “Tic”. After ignoring it for a few weeks (in hope that it would go away as quickly as it came on) decided to schedule him an appointment with a Psychiatrist at his Pediatrician’s suggestion. We had to wait several months for the appointment, so in the meantime I decided to do some research of my own to see if I could find a possible cause for the sudden onset. Six months prior to the Tic my son had a very bad case of strep, with extremely high fevers and a rash that developed at the end of the illness. He was also diagnosed with Scarlet Fever. He was treated with a round of antibiotics and got better. In my research I found some medical journals and kept coming across the acronym PANDA. Curious about what it meant (as it was being referred to often), I looked it up. And after hours of reading I thought for sure that there might be a connection between the onset of the strep infection and the sudden development of his Tic. I contacted his Pediatrician to ask about the possibility and what his opinion was on PANDA, and like the Campbells my concern and questions were dismissed. At the Psychiatric appointment my concern was more than dismissed. I walked away from the appointment feeling like an idiot after the Doctor patronizingly waved is hand at me as if I had no idea of what I was concerning myself with. He did however provide me with a prescription and another appointment for three months later. None the less I felt like I had stumbled across the PANDA information for a reason and after researching the side effects of the prescribed medication I couldn’t bring myself to fill it. (In no way am I saying that choosing Psychiatric medication is wrong, every circumstance is different and each person has to make their own choice.) Eventually my son got better and the Tic went away on its own however, several years later he was diagnosed with ADHD. I feel like as a society we have moved away from funding the type of research that leads us to finding root causes of many diseases. Instead research seems predominantly focused on treatment (mainly pharmaceutical.) I hope to see a shift.
Thanks for sharing, Sharon. Happy your son got better. I agree with spending more resources in finding 'root causes' other than treatment. That was the theme of the 'Swamp Boy' article – that and the lengths parents will go to heal a sick child. Appreciate you reading and commentating. Feel free to drop a note anytime.
Thank you for sharing. Swamp Boy was of particular interest to me personally. In 2010 my son at the age of 10 suddenly, (overnight really)developed a “Tic”. After ignoring it for a few weeks (in hope that it would go away as quickly as it came on) decided to schedule him an appointment with a Psychiatrist at his Pediatrician’s suggestion. We had to wait several months for the appointment, so in the meantime I decided to do some research of my own to see if I could find a possible cause for the sudden onset. Six months prior to the Tic my son had a very bad case of strep, with extremely high fevers and a rash that developed at the end of the illness. He was also diagnosed with Scarlet Fever. He was treated with a round of antibiotics and got better. In my research I found some medical journals and kept coming across the acronym PANDA. Curious about what it meant (as it was being referred to often), I looked it up. And after hours of reading I thought for sure that there might be a connection between the onset of the strep infection and the sudden development of his Tic. I contacted his Pediatrician to ask about the possibility and what his opinion was on PANDA, and like the Campbells my concern and questions were dismissed. At the Psychiatric appointment my concern was more than dismissed. I walked away from the appointment feeling like an idiot after the Doctor patronizingly waved is hand at me as if I had no idea of what I was concerning myself with. He did however provide me with a prescription and another appointment for three months later. None the less I felt like I had stumbled across the PANDA information for a reason and after researching the side effects of the prescribed medication I couldn’t bring myself to fill it. (In no way am I saying that choosing Psychiatric medication is wrong, every circumstance is different and each person has to make their own choice.) Eventually my son got better and the Tic went away on its own however, several years later he was diagnosed with ADHD. I feel like as a society we have moved away from funding the type of research that leads us to finding root causes of many diseases. Instead research seems predominantly focused on treatment (mainly pharmaceutical.) I hope to see a shift.
Thanks for sharing, Sharon. Happy your son got better. I agree with spending more resources in finding 'root causes' other than treatment. That was the theme of the 'Swamp Boy' article – that and the lengths parents will go to heal a sick child. Appreciate you reading and commentating. Feel free to drop a note anytime.