Neuroinflammation and mould causing autism-like symptoms

K was a 7-year-old girl who had been absolutely fine until she had an illness on her first birthday and then became very resistant with meltdowns, tantrums and very rigid routines.  She became almost uncontrollably aggressive towards her parents and mum in particular.  I was asked to see to diagnose if this was autism or some kind of behavioural disorder.  It wasn’t autism because that is present from birth and does not have an acute onset like this.  It was not a classic behavioural disorder either – those aren’t brought on by illness.  What it was, was a form of neuroinflammatory reaction, somewhere in the spectrum of PANS/PANDAS.

To add to her problems the house had mould in it and was being renovated.  Mould is a potent neuro-inflammatory agent so she had at least two provoking agents at work.

K responded a bit to antibiotics as can be the way, but not hugely.  This is an area of debate but works in some.  She eventually settled a bit on some supplements and an SSRI for her very marked anxiety.  It turned out that she had had some tick bites so further investigations for Lyme disease were suggested – but she did not like or accept blood tests so these were hard to do.  K is not yet better but she is improved.  These cases are very complicated and can be extremely hard to treat.  Concerningly I am seeing more and more of them.