ASPIRE Blog

ASPIRE created an electronic poster for the National Council for Behavioral Health (NATCON) conference. The poster is really a mini-website with a comprehensive overview of PANS/PANDAS including important information on Behavioral Health.  The ASPIRE e-poster for NATCON is available to the public to view. The National Council for Behavioral Health is the unifying voice of […]

Please complete this study from the Karolinksa Institute on PAN/PANDAS during the Corona Pandemic. It will only take up to ten minutes. If you have several children with PANS/PANDAS, you can take the survey multiple times, once for each child. 

ASPIRE thanks the NECH team for continuing to host talks and having ASPIRE write notes to share with the community. Patients of Dr. O’Hara and Dr. Wells can ask additional questions in the patient portal. Please check back for the upcoming schedule as well as Q&As and transcripts of previous meetings. NECH Educational Sessions. Patients […]

In response to the COVID-19, a global pandemic, that has affected all of our lives, ASPIRE is putting together a series of Q&As from a variety of professionals.  We will be updating this resource section as interviews are completed, so check back often and follow us on social media for updates.

Recently Dr. O’Hara and Vicki Kobliner held a Question & Answer zoom meeting for topics including COVID-19, Lyme, PANS PANDAS

So here we are, graduating by the skin of our teeth. Today with 13 months of sobriety. Just out of another flare in March, as allergies also trigger his immune system, he is holding a job down in a restaurant. Recording music and instrumental tracks. Fishing with his friends. Working on his car, and looking carefully to his future where he will start at the local JC.

Yeah, you bet. I am one proud mom. 

Antibiotics are the standard of care for Lyme disease treatment. However, it is reported that 10 to 20% of people continue to suffer from Lyme disease after being diagnosed and given a standard antibiotic treatment right away at the start of their illness. I think this number is probably pretty low, and the rates are actually higher. Antibiotics are most effective on the dividing spirochete form of Borrelia burgdorferi when there is an active infection. This bacteria is very smart. They’re much smarter than us, and they will evolve in ways that allow them to be protected. When the spirochete is in its active form, it can divide and reproduce; this is when antibiotics are the most effective in killing them off.

A Talk with Nathan Who is Recovering from PANS/PANDAS, Lyme & CIRS Gabriella: I had a chat with Dr. Nancy O’Hara, Nathan, and his mom a few years ago and was blown away by this dynamic group who worked as a team to focus on recovery with compassion, tenacity, and a lot of smarts. At […]

Lyme disease, PANS, and the Columbia University Lyme & Tick-borne Research Center. Shannon L. Delaney, MD, Director, Child and Adolescent Evaluation, Lyme & Tick-borne Research Center, is a neuropsychiatrist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center who is co-investigator with Brian Fallon, MD on studies of adults and children with Lyme disease. Her clinical research has […]

ASPIRE thanks the NECH team for continuing to host talks and having ASPIRE write notes to share with the community. Patients of Dr. O’Hara and Dr. Wells can ask additional questions in the patient portal. Please check back for the upcoming schedule as well as Q&As and transcripts of previous meetings. NECH Educational Sessions. Patients […]

This was a retrospective study from Wuhan China to examine the dysregulation of the immune response in severe COVID 19 patients using flow cytometry. Of the 452 consecutive patients, 63% were diagnosed with severe COVID 19 and the median age was 58 years. Fifty-one percent of the severe cases had a clinical history of chronic disease and underlying health issues, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and hypertension.

My message to parents is to listen to your child and trust yourself. We all have strong parental instincts for a reason. I know there will be days when all you want to do is hide under the covers and shut the world out. But, perhaps there will be days when your child is healthy enough that you start to forget how bad it was.