ASPIRE Blog

Dr. Swedo briefly explains the importance of this research and its results. 

The Frontiers article is an important replication and extension of previous work by Dr. Madeleine Cunningham and her colleagues. The investigation reports results of assays done on samples obtained from 60 PANDAS patients, 8 children with Sydenham chorea, and 2 “control” groups — children with other psychiatric/neurologic disorders (25 with OCD, 18 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 18 with Tourette disorder), and 28 healthy controls. 

Lyme ­­is it Affecting My Child? You Bet Your Rash & Other Signs, Symptoms, and Treatments Nancy O’Hara, MD, MPH, FAAP, a member of the ASPIRE Professional Advisory Board, presented […]

Chain Jennifer L., Alvarez Kathy, Mascaro-Blanco Adita, Reim Sean, Bentley Rebecca, Hommer Rebecca, Grant Paul, Leckman James F., Kawikova Ivana, Williams Kyle, Stoner Julie A., Swedo Susan E., Cunningham Madeleine […]

I guess my advice for a PANDAS family would to always be there for your sick child. To always tell them that they are brave. Because we are. There may only be 1 in 200 of us, but we are the bravest people on the earth 🙂

My name is Ella and I was diagnosed with PANDAS at age 13, now 15. Before PANDAS I was a four-sport athlete (basketball being my favorite), I loved hanging out with friends and family, I was doing good in school, and I was your normal teenager. 

ASPIRE sits down with Julie Cox, LCSW, to discuss why therapeutic strategies can be beneficial to PANS PANDAS parents and caregivers, how not to pathologize everything, and ways to accept that the healing journey is often slower than we would like it to be.

Interview with Christopher Pittenger, MD on the study: Antibodies From Children With PANDAS Bind Specifically to Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons and Alter Their Activity ASPIRE sat down with Christopher Pittenger, MD, […]

Antibodies From Children With PANDAS Bind Specifically to Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons and Alter Their Activity Jian Xu, Rong-Jian Liu, Shaylyn Fahey, Luciana Frick, James Leckman, Flora Vaccarino, Ronald S. Duman, […]

Romy runs an Instagram and Facebook account Tourettics Unite to spread awareness on Tourettes, OCD, and PANS/PANDAS. She and I have been touch a little bit over the past few months, and I have been impressed by her work. Recently Romy shared a video of her reciting a poem about OCD and Mental Health that I want to share with you all. So we sat down remotely and talked about her story, her recent efforts to pursue a PANS PANDAS diagnosis and treatment, and why she wants to help spread understanding about these conditions.

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 […]

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 […]