Events

Here are a few things I have learned: The conventional approach of PANDAS seems simple. IVIG to get rid of the autoimmune response, antibiotics to kill the strep, sometimes antidepressants or SSRI's. But NOTHING to reduce brain inflammation (other than ibuprofen which simply tackles symptoms not the underlying cause). Nothing to address gut health, which is severely impacted due to microglial activation and cytokines gone haywire. Nothing to support the regeneration of neurons that have been damaged by the "fight" against the basal ganglia. Addressing each of these underlying causes is PIVOTAL in healing from PANS/PANDAS.

I had been reading and researching like crazy how gluten affects your thyroid because the gluten protein is almost identical molecularly to the thyroid hormone, and so your body begins attacking your own thyroid which can lead to thyroid disorders, etc. I decided after having such a negative response to gluten upon reintroducing it, that we would just cut it out altogether.

The pain that this belief brought up was indescribable and the tension grew as I continued to fight when God was asking me to surrender and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I began to have to look at my belief about who God is… is he kind? Is he for me even in this? Where is he when I’m being crushed? Does he even see how much this is costing us emotionally, spiritually and financially?

I began to ask the question: If God is with me, then what is He doing right now that I can begin to keep my eyes on?

If God is with us, then what does he want to BE for me right now that he could not be at any other time?

And within those questions, God became real to me in depths I didn't even know I needed him.

Very few details were spared in this episode, and yet none of it was at the expense of her ex. Amy shares candidly of her experience of walking out shame and the recovery because she knows that talking honestly with vulnerability about the process is ultimately what pulled her out. “I remember just like this sinking feeling in my stomach that I was like, I'm going to hear something really bad. And I don't know what it is. But I just feel like it's gonna be really, really bad.”

I hear people say a lot in Christian culture "His Grace is sufficient for you!" when you share struggles or challenges or the extreme emotional fatigue that comes from fighting hard and long battles. First let me say- His grace ABSOLUTELY IS sufficient for me... but sometimes there is more to it that just that.

When I first landed in the “special needs parent” category 5 years ago, I had no clue just how long and hard the journey would be. We received the diagnosis of PANDAS in June of 2018 and really didn’t know if or when our daughter would recover.

I knew that taking care of my physical health was important, but trying to find the time to eat right, move my body and get good sleep felt impossible with the constant demands of therapy appointments and behavior management.

What enabled you to endure in the last season may not be what you need to endure in this season. When we have to walk through hard things, it’s normal to want to pull on strengths from the last season, but we need to redefine what endurance means for the season we are in.