DD being referred to child mental health.

[Ispywithmycynicaleye]

This may be long while I recount and explain. I appreciate anyone reading to the end and who can offer advice or support. Anything really, I'm desperate.

DD is only 20 months. She was a happy carefree baby until her 1st birthday. I have no clue what changed, but one morning she woke a changed child.

She used to be placid, shy, calm, smiley, always woke up from sleeps and naps happy and giggling.
One day after her morning nap, just after her 1st birthday she woke crying (for the first time). She had just been through 10 days of stomach bug projectile and diohrreah torture but still smiled.
So this was unusual.

Over the next couple weeks she just cried, then developed ticks (started making strange noises with her throat). Dr in a&e, after a load of tests told us it was behavioural and asked if we had heard of autism!!

Autism does run I'm my family. My older DS (21) has aspergers syndrome amongst others so that possibility isnt too far stretched.

At 20 months she self harms, makes strange noises, slaps herself on the head, freaks out if I go near her sometimes, if I accidentally touch her fork during dinner time, grimaces if I hold her baby sister near her, freaks if I touch her, or do anything one day that she isnt prepared for.

I am exhausted. She is my baby and is my everything, but I hide and cry all the time because I struggle to cope. She cries 80% of every day despite what we do together. Last night she didnt sleep and she screamed through her nap so I had to bring her back down stairs.

Is this autism? Is it something else? Is it going to get better? I read about pandora syndrome where kids with strep throat have a change in personality. Could it be this? My gp is shite, they dont care and I doubt they will properly test her.

I have brought up a child with aspergers syndrome so the show autism are familiar. She and flaps, it's getting worse.
She is a tie walker, shoes haavenf fixed this.
Her stimming is getting so much worse. She now stims going upstairs, where excited, while playing, while eating, while watching tv... every time. Alot of the time she deliberately hurts herself. This is the hardest.

I'm calling on all mums who have and are going through this if you can help me. I just want to cry all the time.

Get a private test for pandora if you can just to reassure you.

*symptoms of autism

Do you know anything about it?

Apologies for the typos, that's the predictive text.

She arm flaps and toe walks, both getting worse, shoes havent helped.

I've never heard of pandora syndrome but my DD has behaved similarly to this since she was a baby, she's five now. She does the flapping arms, hitting herself, not sleeping, getting very angry and upset if I do something the "wrong" way, so a way she either wasn't expecting or isn't used to or isn't how she thinks it should be. I hate seeing her hit herself but fortunately she has never injured herself from it. She is suspected to have ASD and undergoing the assessment for it, but there was no sudden change in behaviour from her like you described with your dd.

Did this coincide with the baby's arrival?

I think pandora might be a typo for PANDAS. And it does sound like PANDAS, which is very treatable, but not readily diagnosed.

Hi, there was a program on the tv about this maybe 1 month ago, and the child was around 5, but had had it a long time. No one had diagnosed it, and she had lasting damage. Please go to the doctors and insist, one day the child just changed. I don’t remember the program name.

Just found the article,
PANDAS stands for Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. It was first identified in the United States in 1998, and the number of sufferers is unknown (though the PANDAS Network estimates it may affect one in 200 children in the USA).

Researchers believe PANDAS is the result of a faulty immune response to a streptococcal infection (like strep throat, or scarlet fever). Normally, a child’s immune system will produce antibodies to fight the streptococcal bacteria – but in cases of PANDAS these antibodies cross the blood-brain barrier and attack a part of the child’s brain called the basal ganglia, which is critical for smooth motor function. The violent tics which result are characteristic of PANDAS.

But because PANDAS shares many symptoms with other conditions, such as OCD and ADHD, it can be difficult to diagnose. Dr Tim Ubhi, pediatrician and a campaigner for.

Please I don’t know if this is it, but could be worth asking, please let us know what happens.

I know a bit about autism, nothing about Pandas.

The only thought I had was that I have seen several babies adults have stomach bugs whereby they then become lactose or dairy intolerant, sometimes temporarily sometimes permanently. The stomach bug changes the gut sufficiently so that you can no longer tolerate lactose and or dairy. With the close links between the gut and autism, might there be a link? As she is so little autism "signs" could be a sign of something else. Can you research a safe way to remove lactose or dairy (I am not an expert).

This sounds extremely tough for you. You are going to have to steal every bit of strength to fight for answers for your daughter. I would also keep a daily diary. Sometimes when we are in the mire things are not actually as bad a reality. I am not trying to minimise just that when you start recording you find its less than it feels. Work out which categories you need to record every day and make notes.

Sending lots of love xxx

I have worked with a child with Pandas and also worked with children with autism. The big difference was the sudden change over night, which was shortly after an illness so I would think it would be worth at the very least asking for a paediatric referral.