PANDAS Diagnosis Near Rochester Hills
If your child has suddenly changed—developing anxiety, tics, OCD-like behaviors, or emotional outbursts seemingly overnight—you’re not alone. It can feel disorienting, heartbreaking, and frustrating to search for answers while watching your child struggle with symptoms no one can seem to explain.
Many parents in your shoes are now learning about a condition called PANDAS, or Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. PANDAS is a medical condition, not a psychiatric one. It occurs when a strep infection triggers the immune system to mistakenly attack areas of the brain, causing intense behavioral and neurological changes in children—often very suddenly.
At Restorative Medicine Center in Rochester Hills, I specialize in helping families navigate the complex world of PANDAS and PANS with clarity, compassion, and root-cause expertise. As a functional medicine physician serving Oakland County, my role is to ask the deeper questions most pediatricians and psychiatrists simply aren’t trained to explore.
Local families turn to us when conventional options fall short—when they’re told it’s “just anxiety” or are offered psychiatric medications without investigating what caused the symptoms in the first place. At our clinic, we dig deeper. We use advanced testing, in-depth history, and whole-child evaluation to uncover what’s driving your child’s immune system to go off track—and more importantly, how to help them heal.
What Is PANDAS?
PANDAS stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. It’s a condition where a simple strep infection—like strep throat—triggers an autoimmune response that mistakenly targets a child’s brain.
Instead of just fighting off the infection, the immune system “misfires” and attacks healthy tissue in the basal ganglia, a part of the brain that regulates movement, behavior, and emotional control. The result? A sudden and severe onset of symptoms like obsessive-compulsive behaviors (OCD), tics, extreme anxiety, rage, sleep disruption, and more.
Many parents describe it as though their child was “possessed” or “completely changed overnight.”
How Is PANDAS Different from PANS?
While PANDAS is specifically linked to strep infections, PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) is a broader category that includes other infectious triggers (like Lyme disease or Mycoplasma), environmental toxins (like mold), or even metabolic or neurologic stress.
In both cases, the core issue is the same: an immune-triggered inflammation of the brain—what we call autoimmune encephalopathy.
What’s most important to understand is that PANDAS and PANS are medical conditions with immune roots. These children don’t need to be labeled or medicated without understanding the cause—they need their immune systems evaluated, calmed, and guided back into balance.
Key Symptoms That May Indicate PANDAS
One of the hallmark traits of PANDAS is how suddenly and dramatically the symptoms begin. Your child may have been completely fine one day—then anxious, obsessive, or emotionally unstable the next. Many parents describe it as if their child was “flipped like a switch.”
This acute change is one of the biggest clues that you're dealing with an immune-mediated brain issue, not a typical behavioral or psychological condition.
Sudden Onset of Obsessive-Compulsive Behaviors (OCD)
- Repetitive rituals like handwashing, checking, or counting
- Intrusive thoughts that cause visible distress
- Extreme need for control or reassurance
- New, irrational fears—often contamination or harm-based
Tics and Involuntary Movements or Vocalizations
- Facial grimacing, shoulder shrugging, or rapid blinking
- Vocal outbursts like throat clearing, grunting, or repeating phrases
- Tics that wax and wane, often intensifying with stress or illness
Severe Separation Anxiety or Irrational Fears
- Refusing to leave a parent’s side
- Panic attacks at bedtime or school drop-off
- Fear that something bad will happen to them or their family
- Anxiety that appears out of character or unprovoked
Behavioral Regression, Rage, or Emotional Lability
- Uncontrollable temper outbursts
- Dramatic mood swings from calm to inconsolable
- Loss of previously mastered skills (e.g., toileting, self-soothing)
- Acting much younger than their age
Academic Decline or Cognitive Fog
- Sudden trouble focusing, remembering, or processing information
- Handwriting changes (often sloppy or illegible)
- Declining performance in school despite previous success
- Described by teachers as “daydreamy” or “just not themselves”
Sleep Disruption, Bedwetting, or Sensory Sensitivities
- Difficulty falling or staying asleep
- Nightmares or night terrors
- New onset bedwetting
- Overreaction to sounds, lights, clothing textures, or food smells
Why PANDAS Is Often Missed in Conventional Medicine
Far too often, children with PANDAS are misdiagnosed—or worse, not diagnosed at all.
Despite the sudden and dramatic shift in behavior, mood, and cognition, standard medical practice tends to focus solely on psychiatric symptoms. This means children are often sent to therapists, psychiatrists, or neurologists—but no one is looking at the immune system or considering the possibility that these symptoms were triggered by something as common as a strep infection.
Why the Diagnosis Gets Missed:
Symptom Overlap with Other Diagnoses
The symptoms of PANDAS—OCD behaviors, tics, anxiety, mood swings—can mimic more familiar childhood conditions, including:
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Generalized Anxiety or Mood Disorders
Without the proper immune and infectious disease workup, many providers label the behavior and prescribe psychiatric medications without ever exploring why the behavior began in the first place.
Lack of Immune and Infection-Focused Testing
In typical pediatric and psychiatric settings, there is no standard screening for strep titers, autoimmune markers, or chronic inflammation. Most children with PANDAS look “fine” on routine bloodwork, and unless a provider is specifically trained in immune-mediated neuropsychiatric conditions, the underlying problem goes undetected.
Even when parents bring up the possibility of PANDAS, they’re often told:
“That’s rare.”
“There’s no proof it exists.”
“Let’s just try medication first.”
This leads to months or years of misdiagnosis—and a growing sense of hopelessness for families.
What to Expect During a PANDAS Diagnostic Workup at Restorative Medicine Center
When you bring your child to Restorative Medicine Center for a suspected case of PANDAS, our first priority is to understand the full story—not just run a few labs and make assumptions. PANDAS is complex, and getting an accurate diagnosis requires both clinical insight and immune-focused testing that most pediatric practices simply don’t offer.
A Comprehensive Intake Process
Your first visit begins with listening.
We review:
- A detailed symptom timeline, noting when symptoms began, how they’ve changed, and what might have triggered them
- A full medical and infection history, including strep infections, ear infections, respiratory illness, tick bites, or other immune stressors
- An environmental review for possible exposures to mold, toxins, or ongoing stressors that may be amplifying the immune response
You’ll be asked to bring a written timeline or treatment calendar if possible—because patterns and triggers often become more clear when we map things out together.
Lab Testing That Looks Deeper
Strep Titers (ASO and Anti-DNase B)
These are blood tests that look for recent or unresolved streptococcal infections—an essential step in confirming a diagnosis of PANDAS.
CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) Markers
These markers help us determine if there is ongoing systemic inflammation, especially in the brain:
- MMP-9 – may be elevated in blood-brain barrier dysfunction
- C4a – associated with mold illness and immune overactivation
- TGFB1 – linked to autoimmune activity and neurological inflammation
- VEGF – gives insight into tissue oxygenation and vascular inflammation
Immune Function Panels
We check:
- Immunoglobulin levels (IgG, IgA, IgM) to evaluate overall immune status
- ANA and autoantibodies to assess for autoimmune processes
- Eosinophils, ECP, and hsCRP to monitor allergic or inflammatory burden
Testing for Co-Infections and Environmental Exposures
Because PANDAS rarely exists in isolation, we also evaluate for:
- Co-infections like Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Lyme disease, Bartonella, and viruses
- Mold and mycotoxin exposure, especially if symptoms worsen in specific environments or with seasonal changes
Symptom Burden Tracking
We use MSIDS-style tools (Multi-Systemic Infectious Disease Symptom scoring) and custom questionnaires to:
- Quantify symptom severity
- Track multi-system involvement (neurological, cognitive, immune, gut, sleep, etc.)
- Help parents and children recognize patterns over time
Correlating Lab Results with Clinical Presentation
The goal isn’t just to find abnormal labs—it’s to match those labs with what we see clinically. We don’t treat lab results. We treat the child sitting in front of us.
By combining advanced diagnostics with careful clinical correlation, we can offer a clear, evidence-based diagnosis—and a path forward that feels grounded, personalized, and hopeful.
Schedule a PANDAS Evaluation Near Rochester Hills
If you believe your child may be suffering from PANDAS—and you’re tired of being told “it’s just behavioral” or “they’ll grow out of it”—you don’t have to keep searching alone.
At Restorative Medicine Center, we take your concerns seriously. We specialize in identifying and treating the root causes of neuroimmune conditions like PANDAS and PANS, using an integrative, compassionate, and evidence-based approach.
We’ve helped families across Rochester Hills and Oakland County finally get the answers—and the support—they’ve been looking for. Now, we’re here for you.
Book Your Child’s New Patient Consultation Today
Restorative Medicine Center
📍 705 Barclay Cir, Suite 115
Rochester Hills, MI 48307
📞 Phone: 248.289.6349
📠 Fax: 248.289.6923
🕘 Hours: Monday – Thursday: 9AM–5PM | Friday: Closed
🌐 Website: www.restorativemedcenter.com