Brody – Realizing His True Potential

In the fall of 2013 we started to notice a drastic change in Brody’s behavior. He started to become violent, uncontrollable and not the same happy child he had always been. Brody had already been struggling for a while with issues relating to attention, hyperactivity, sensory processing and cognitive development. We had seen many different specialists over the past couple of years searching for answers to the various issues that would arise. Each time we would implement whatever treatment plan was suggested for the particular diagnosis. Each time the success of treatment was very short lived or never happened.

However at this time, the issue was more drastic and much more concerning. One neurologist actually tried to diagnose him as bipolar without once running a single test on him. One night a friend of mine contacted me and asked if I had ever heard of PANDAS. I immediately began doing research and found it overwhelmingly seemed to fit the criteria of Brody’s symptoms. One thing was always common when Brody’s issues arose – illness.

Since a very young age, Brody has always been prone to catching various illnesses over and over again. At first it was ear infections but tubes seemed to resolve that issue. Then it became strep throat. He had undergone T&A surgery in 2012, however, continued to get recurrent strep infections. I quickly discovered that finding a doctor to diagnose PANDAS was very difficult. I was finally guided to a doctor who was a 5 hour drive, one way, from our home. We made the trip in March 2014 for our first visit and it immediately changed our lives. This doctor spent 3 hours with us in our first visit and we went over every last detail of Brody’s medical history. He confirmed he believed he had PANDAS, however, also suggested that we test him for Lyme disease as it seems to be a trend that one comes with the other.

In May 2014 it was confirmed, from a Western Blot test from IgeneX labs that Brody had Lyme disease as well. It also appeared that the Lyme disease had caused a host of issues within his body. He also tested positive for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Brucella, CMV, Adenovirus, Heavy toxic metals, high yeast, high testosterone, hypothyroid, parasites and strep in his gut, leaky gut syndrome and his numbers for his IgG subclasses were low indicating possible immune deficiency.

I truly believe that this doctor is Brody’s lifesaver. Under his care Brody has done nothing but thrive. He’s finally gaining weight after being the same weight for over a year. He’s gone months without catching any illness whereas before we were in the pediatrician’s office several times a month. We realize he has a long road ahead of him but we are so thankful to have our doctor leading the way. We are also grateful to the LymeLight Foundation for helping to make Brody’s treatment possible through the grant they gave us. We believe that Brody has Neuro-Lyme and only time will tell whether he will fully recover. Through Brody’s diagnosis we followed through and had our entire family tested for Lyme. All 5 of us tested positive. Brody essentially has saved us all. I just wish he didn’t have to suffer so badly but am grateful to finally have answers to our health issues. I wish that Lyme was more mainstream and looked at more often by other physicians. However, I have faith in our doctor and feel that every day he brings light to more obstacles and provides more successes. I look forward to discovering the true potential of Brody’s future.