Post Strep Infection

One reason I am personally unable to juggle as easily as a normal person is due to an illness I contract occasionally that I currently am on amoxicillin for, called Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections, also referred to as PANDAS or more commonly, Post Strep Infection. Among other issues that I can have, it leaves my dopamine completely unregulated, causing random spikes, which can cause me to be irritable about very small things. Dopamine not only creates positive emotions, it also is what gives us interest, motives, and the drive to do something. It also is used in natural muscle movements, and has a large part in muscle control. This is shown in me by the worst case of PANDAS I ever had, which occurred back in fourth grade, the first diagnosis I ever had. …show more content…
This was going on for about a month, and I started to have strange twitches in my hand, which led to my tests being done, because at one point, I had no control of my right hand for almost an hour. Due to this lack of focus in my mind, I have a hard time doing complex motions, such as juggling, and sometimes can show a decrease of interest in certain things that I normally perform well in, such as school. While I don’t have those tremors anymore, the clouded and slow mind is still an ongoing issue that I have when I have this infection. Due to a lack of ability to focus, I can have a hard time learning how to do a new activity. Luckily, I don’t always have PANDAS, but I do now, and when I have it, it can cause issues. One reason that it can take a while to detect is that it takes four weeks before the ASO antibodies created by my body to fight this infection reach their peak amount, which means I can have it for a couple weeks, and a blood test won’t detect