Curious what you guys think about the 12 teenage girls with Tourette's like symptoms

[drsdonthelp]

Not sure if anyone has seen the teenage girls that were on the Today Show having Tourettes like symptoms.. Doctors are calling it a "Mass Hysteria" and conversion disorder....

Le Roy Ny is a couple of hrs. away from where I live and of course my brain is on "Lyme Mode".. I can't help but think that its in the Lyme category or some sort of bacterial infection...

Wondering what you guys all think? Just curious..

Pam

[drsdonthelp]

HI guys,,, I did some youtube searching and found a wonderful respectable dr (my doc) he he....... His video is about the link between PANDAS AND LYME!!! HMMMM, IMAGINE THAT!!! lol

Check it out. it is from 3 months ago!! He needs to test these kids!

[JackieCalifornia]

14 vials of blood??  Yeow.  Who knew Count Dracula had gone into the medical labs business!

Why would PANDAS affect only teens?  Do the bacteria care?  

About nerdy wallowing in medical journals, you're in good company.  I do it for self-defense purposes against some of the docs out there who don't seem to be up on their reading, if you know what I mean.

I don't know that I've read how EBV and possible Lyme could interact, or is it a matter of your immune system being stirred up?  Hope you get some good, actionable news back from the labs.

[dolfnlvr]

Funny, I was just about to post about PANDAS too.  Having just gotten my blood test results from my LLMD (14 vials drawn) the actual Lyme was inconclusive but my ASO Titer was over 500 and there is evidence of a reactivated EBV infection.  Anyway, the ASO (strep antibody) titre was really high considering that I had not had a strep like illness during any of this, and the Dr. mentioned PANDAS--of course I'm not a kid and she said not to worry about it, but still was curious about the high titer--will retest in a month.

All that junk said, I of course googled PANDAS after the appointment for more info. and wound up reading hours worth of medical journals etc (I AM SUCH A NERD)  14 girls with tourettes like syndrome all in same area sounds infectious in nature, and I think PANDAS is a likely candidate.

[JackieCalifornia]

Just read some interesting things online about the possibility of this being a strep infection (which I think someone here mentioned early in the comments), called PANDAS.  From wiki:

"PANDAS is an acronym for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections. This diagnosis is used to describe a set of children who have a rapid onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and/or tic disorders such as Tourette syndrome (TS), following group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal (GABHS) infections such as "strep throat" and scarlet fever.[1] The proposed link between infection and these disorders is an autoimmune reaction, where antibodies produced by the infection interfere with neuronal cells.[2]

"This diagnosis is controversial and its usefulness is disputed by some scientists who think this sub-set of patients do not differ significantly from the remainder of the patient population, and that infections do not increase the risk of OCD or tics.[3] Consequently, the PANDAS model is a complex and rapidly-moving area of medical research, with a 2009 review stating that the link between streptococcal infections and tic disorders has remained unclear, despite a great deal of work in the area.[4]"

[JackieCalifornia]

I am a great fan of vaccines, but think the med people need to step up their game in a number of ways.  So I hear you.

I'm leaning toward the idea of a viral or bacterial infection for the (mostly) girls in this current inqury.  We'll see.

[nutrinut_bob]

Before the internet Jackie, we were stuck with taking the word of someone who really had no idea at all what the real problem was.  Since these kids are about the same age, another thing to suspect would be vaccines they were given.  In many cases, youngsters have no choice.  I have previously said that I feel my problems really started after a typhoid vaccine.  Mycoplasmas, glad to see someone is checking for that in the kids. Dr. Nicholson is aware of the problem of mycos in vaccines.

[drsdonthelp]

Well,, it could be that there is a big cover up as far as the grounds of the school. Something about the train wreck, chemical spill from the 70's, and school officials would not allow Erin Brockovich's team nor Dr. Drew's team to gather any soil or water, or whatever they needed... Not so sure anymore about it being Lyme,,, worried it could be something to do with the chemicals,, these poor kids, I hope the parents keep on keeping on, to get to the bottom of this..

[JackieCalifornia]

Before the internet, we never would have heard (much less been able to group-research-and-comment on) any of this.  Maybe it would have gotten picked up in the morning paper, but probably only once and no follow up.  Ain't technology grand?!

Makes the docs nuts, tho, that we walk in with our own ideas.  :)

[drsdonthelp]

Jackie,, lol, thanks, I try... I friended a "friend" of two of the girls on facebook. We have been messaging eachother and I started to ask her what other symptoms her friends are having. She did say that they have neck pain, (but of course, look at how much their body is jerking), fatigue, stuttering, and seizures. So far, on all of the comment boards from Dr. Drew's facebook page, there have been a good amount of people asking if these kids were tested for Lyme. There was even a Dr. that commented that.

Right now, Erin Brockovich is testing the grounds and water because of a train wreck that happened in the 70's spilling chemicals and whatever, (can't remember)  Dr. Drew kept interrupting her during her speaking time, and my kids were yapping away, LOL so I couldn't hear that much, but This other dr. that is going to be running tests on mycoplasma has my attention. Isn't mycoplasma a co infection of lyme?

I am so into seeing how this turns out for them.

Oh Yeah, I forgot,,,,,, another area/ group of people are experiencing these same symptoms.... What the hay is going on in this world???!!!!! OMG

[JackieCalifornia]

good reporting, pam!  we'll look forward to hearing more.

[drsdonthelp]

update!!!! now more kids are showing symptoms, and a boy is added to the mix, so its not just a girl thing anymore. Dr. Drew has been doing updates on this, Erin Brockovitch is going to the school to try to figure this out!!! Gooooo Erin!!!!! I hope she does a "tick drag" on school grounds and tests the ticks. A dr. from Rockland County, is also going to run tests on the kids for mycoplasma and some other things. Maybe he holds the key to the mystery illness..... i will keep updating when I find out more info...

Pam

[Ricobord]

I was thinking that they needed to get tested for Lyme, but their symptoms sound more like Sydenham's Chorea, which is an unusual manifestation of strep usually seen in girls.

[drsdonthelp]

so far the only other thoughts that are going around could be the gardisal vaccine, or PANDAS.. not many dr.s are coming forward with any real answers....... claiming "HIPPA".. I watched a video on youtube this guy had me lighting up my e-cig with him, he had some really interesting thoughts on this and he mentioned Lyme Disease and Plum Island... if interested check out .. leroy ny tourettes girls gone crazy,, or something like that, I know it doesn't sound nice but he makes alot of sense. The video is about 17 mins. long.

[drsdonthelp]

I am typing this and its on the Today show right now!!! but its almost 10 am here on the East Coast. My heart breaks watching this and I was swearing at the doc. on the TV, telling him he is full of BS!!! I am soo MAD and I don't even know these girls!!!

[JackieCalifornia]

Gotta agree with you that we female-types get hit with the diagnosis of being emotional and hysterical all too often.  A few years ago, I nearly died as a result of being diagnosed as an overly 'emo' female, when what I had was a rupturing appendix.  Almost lost a kidney as a result, and I still have daily pain from it all.  

So yeah, I had the same reaction as yours to the doc's sneer about the 'conversion reaction' he diagnosed in the NY girls.  (In fact, that doc looked a lot like the one who nearly killed me.  Why treat a patient when you can stereotype them instead?!)

Please post if you find any updates on the girls --

[drsdonthelp]

I have been checking for updates on them, and actually wondering myself if they had any other type of symptoms.. can't find anything, I just think that its messed up that they are not being told "what it is" and there is this whole cover up..

I have been reading other people's responses regarding what else it might be and some people have said Strep (something) can't remember... I just feel so bad for these girls, and its sad to say that because they are "girls" they are being told "coversion disorder" stress related. No offense to any of the guys out there, but for some reason, us women get that label alittle more often than men that we are "stressed".

So sad, I hope they can get the real answer to their problems, they are all soooo young to be dealing with that.

[AllergyNerd]

I really hope that they are being tested for everything that they need to be...

[JackieCalifornia]

I dunno, guys.  There were no descriptions of other symptoms like fatigue and brain fog ... Could be some other infectious agent producing meningitis.  Lyme wouldn't have been my first thought, but I'm no doc.

[nutrinut_bob]

Though I haven't seen it, don't watch TV,  you're both probably right.  That's why there's some who check the other forums and sometimes point people in this direction.  It really is everywhere.

[AllergyNerd]

They need to be tested for lyme.