When Your Child Changes Overnight: A PANDAS Recovery Story
It started with a move. A new town, a new school, and a child adjusting to change.
What followed was something no parent is ever prepared for.
At first, the changes were subtle—struggles with focus, a diagnosis of ADHD, and a prescription for medication. But then came the side effects. He stopped eating. Lost weight. His eyes became sunken. The joyful, outgoing child they once knew started slipping away.
Then came the moment they’ll never forget: an evening homework request that led to a blank stare and chilling words—
“You’re against me.”
His voice was unfamiliar. His demeanor, cold. His presence… different.
The Rapid Decline
Within weeks, he was spiraling. Violent outbursts. Uncontrollable rage. Sensory overwhelm. He became afraid of eye contact—saying it hurt to look someone in the eyes. He began isolating, refusing to go outside. Social skills deteriorated. He couldn’t keep up in school. His handwriting worsened. He stopped engaging in the things he used to love.
New diagnoses came in: OCD. Then motor tics. Then possible Tourette’s. Autism evaluations came next. Still, no one could explain how this bright, affectionate child had changed so drastically—and so quickly.
Until a throat swab came back positive for strep.
The Diagnosis They’d Never Heard Of
That’s when they heard the word PANDAS for the first time:
Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections.
It finally made sense. PANDAS is a condition in which an ordinary infection—like strep—triggers an extraordinaryimmune response. In some children, antibodies created to fight infection accidentally attack the brain—specifically the basal ganglia, a region responsible for movement, emotion, and focus.
This autoimmune attack can lead to:
Sudden behavioral changes
Obsessive-compulsive symptoms
Tics or unusual movements
Rage episodes and emotional dysregulation
Regression in social or motor skills
Sensory issues and food restrictions
And it can all happen practically overnight.
A Different Kind of Recovery
When the family arrived at Infinity, we began with a full neurological and developmental assessment.
He still had primitive reflexes—those early motor patterns that should fade away in infancy. He struggled with balance. Eye tracking was unstable. Emotional control was poor. These were not “bad behaviors”—they were signs of a brain under stress.
We looked deeper with advanced lab work, identifying:
Inflammatory markers
Food sensitivities
Chronic immune stress
Neurological autoimmunity
Instead of just treating symptoms, we worked to uncover and remove the layers of stress affecting his brain.
Real Recovery Takes Real Support
Over the following days and weeks, we began a targeted program of:
Neuromotor therapy
Primitive reflex integration
Ocular stability training
Photobiomodulation therapy (laser therapy)
Nutritional and immune system support
And something amazing happened.
He began engaging again. He could fix his gaze. He tried new foods—something he hadn’t done in years. His impulse control improved. He didn’t just participate in therapy—he connected. He trusted. He tried.
And the spark started coming back.
The Brain Can Heal—If We Let It
Parents often tell us they feel crazy trying to explain what happened to their child. One day, everything is fine. The next, everything is different. And no one has answers.
But this story is not as rare as it seems. We see cases like this every week—sudden regression, mysterious diagnoses, kids lost in their own minds.
The key is looking beyond surface behaviors and into the neurological and immune systems that drive them.
Because when the immune system attacks the brain, it doesn’t look like a fever—
It looks like rage.
It looks like panic.
It looks like lost skills.
It looks like your child has vanished.
There Is a Way Forward
With the right tools, the right labs, and the right interventions, kids can come back.
The brain is resilient. It’s designed to adapt, to heal, and to grow—especially when we remove the roadblocks standing in its way.
If your child has changed suddenly…
If they’re not themselves…
If you’ve been told “it’s just behavioral”…
Don’t settle for that answer.
Keep asking questions.
Keep looking deeper.
We’re here to help you unravel it.
👇🏼Want to Learn How to Help Your Child at Home?
Take our course, Unraveling the Brain for Parents, where you’ll learn how to:
Assess your child neurologically
Understand labs that matter
Support immune and brain health
Rehab developmental systems at home
Because healing is possible—and you don’t have to do it alone.