Special Needs Parenting
PANS/PANDAS Awareness
PANDAS
(Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strep)
Our Story
Our story with PANDAS began in 2018 after our spunky, lively, intelligent and witty 7 year old got a strep infection from a classmate.
We treated it appropriately, but once the fever and throat symptoms went away, our daughter was never the same. She became angry, irrational and picky about everything. Her pupils were dilated all the time- a symptom of autonomic dysfunction. She began having rages and meltdowns that would last for hours at a time.
All in the course of a few days, our life was flipped upside down and changed forever.
Thankfully, with the help of various practitioners, therapies, and services, we were slowly able to heal her immune system and her brain, but it was a slow process filled with lots of ups and downs.
Regardless of where you are starting with your child, there is hope for healing!
Andrea Jones
Registered Nurse
Andrea graduated from Linfield Good Samaritan School of Nursing in 2007 and landed her dream job at Randall Children’s Hospital (Previously Legacy Children’s Hospital) working nights as a full time Nurse. She cared for children of all diagnoses from 0 days old all the way up to 18 years of age, and managed care for diagnoses as mild as a cough and fever, all the way up to severe brain injuries that left children ventilator dependent requiring 1:1 nursing care.
Over the course of her 12 years at Randall Children’s Hospital, she developed a passion for caring for children and families and now works with children and families to overcome their health challenges holistically using the most up to date lab testing and clinical assessments.
As Featured On
Special Needs Mom Podcast (2021)
Mom & Doc Talk with Resilience Naturopathic (2022)
Christian Parenting Magazine (2023)
Need Pediatric Advise? Suspect Your Child May Have PANDAS?
Mom & Doc Talk
with Resilience Naturopathic
Andrea sits down with Dr. Jennifer Bahr, ND, DHANP, founder of Resilience Naturopathic and shares her journey navigating special needs parenting and the PANDAS diagnosis of her daughter, Alexis.
PANDAS Blog Posts
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A Day in the Life of a PANDA
Once I recognized these emotions, I found some online support groups of parents who were also struggling with these issues. I was utterly AMAZED at the number of families who have gone undiagnosed for 5-20 years! 20 YEARS! Unbelievable suffering. Watching your kid slowly lose control of themselves is akin to walking through hell. The rages. The look of terror they feel at being in their own body. The inability to control themselves. The defiance. HARD is an understatement. I was also surprised at how much I needed to know that I wasn't alone. That other people knew what we were experiencing and I could learn from them was a tremendous comfort and relief. This is a whole new territory to me so I by no means have it figured out.
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Taking Care of Your Health as a Special Needs Parent
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.
But the reality was that the constant stress of those 5 years did a number on my gut-brain health, and once Alexis started to heal, my body fell apart.
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The Most Painful Part
I've been thinking a lot about surrender and what it means as a believer... as a daughter of the Living God. I used to think of surrender as pious act that I MUST do in order to appease an angry God... as if my surrender would somehow convince Him to do what I felt I needed or wanted at the time.
Now, I would have never said these things out loud... I'm not even sure I knew I believed them, so when our oldest daughter got sick with autoimmune encephalitis (PANDAS) and we entered the fight of our and her life, I was in fight and contending mode- not surrender mode. We were going to beat this thing and she was going to heal no matter what.
