PANDAS and PANS are creating a paradigm shift in the mental health landscape as we begin to understand that immune activity in the body affects the brain and its function. They are neuroimmune conditions in which infectious and/or environmental triggers initiate an autoimmune response in the brain, primarily in the basal ganglia, thereby affecting a child’s behaviour. The Core 4 of a functional medicine approach to PANS/PANDAS will be discussed, including how to set the foundation of a treatment protocol for PANS/PANDAS. Learning Objectives
- To identify the most common infectious and/or environmental agents preceding the onset of PANDAS or PANS symptoms
- To gain an understanding of the mechanisms of injury to the brain from the infectious and/or environmental triggers
- How the mechanisms to injury relate to the observed symptoms and behaviour changes in a child
- To learn emerging treatments that may be used to address the causes contributing to the neuroinflammation and changes in neurochemistry, immunity, and the gut microbiome
The principles of this webinar extend to supporting children with anxiety and other conditions which cause or are caused by neural inflammation.
