TerryB

Hi I'm new to this board. My 4 year old daughter was diagnosed with OCD about a year ago and we went to the Yale Child Study Center. They are researching autoimmunity as a cause for OCD in some patients. Many of you have heard of PANDAS and I have to say that it is real. Strep is a cause for OCD in some patients so you need to bring it up with your doctor (there is a specific treatment). It is actually the autoimmune response to Strep that causes the OCD.

My daughter is interesting in that she already has one autoimmune disease called Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. She does not have PANDAS but the psychologist at Yale speculates that my daughters arthritis and OCD might be related. The two conditions actually wax and wane together. We have a genetic risk as well (2 family members have OCD.)

My guess is that my daughter has a genetic tendency for OCD and rheumatoid arthritis but the mode of operation for both conditions is autoimmune. Wouldn't it be great if someday medications to inhibit the immune system are given to people with OCD. They seem to work for my daughter's OCD; when she has an arthritis flare the OCD and the arthritis go away with medical interventions. Of course the stress of arthritis pain might be the cause of the OCD flare but it is interesting how precipitously the OCD goes away with the arthritis treatments. Hmmmm????

Terry