gkamom said...
The one thing that rowingmom didn't mention is rages. You may hear the term "Lyme rage" now and again.
rowingmom, you mention that K has(or had?) motor delays. Does that mean she missed the development milestones associated with motor skils? or does she actually have deficits? I ask because my son had motor dysgraphia and I was wondering if treating Lyme&co might result in those deficits going away eventually.
K did rage very significantly before bartonella treatment. Because we didn't specifically treat lyme, and our LLMD iterated that rage and other psychological difficulties were caused by bartonella, I have always assumed that her very low tolerance for frustration and raging (always against herself/self injury) were caused by bartonella.
K had significant motor delays which developed after her 15 month MMR vaccination. Before vaccination she was capable of stacking blocks, but after, not at all. Before the vaccination she was talking in 2-3 word sentences, within 3 weeks of the vaccination she couldn't speak (only scream and point at things she wanted) and weaned herself, I assume because she could no longer latch.
When her PANS/PANDAS symptoms developed after her 7 year MMR, she had gone though significant OT targeting handwriting, cutting with scissors etc., and private speech therapy to relearn movements of the mouth/tongue which she lost with the 15 month MMR. She didn't just miss milestones, she had to be taught each one. I believe that without the OT/Speech Therapy she would not have developed these abilities on her own.
After her autoimmune neurological syndrome had manifested, any infection would produce a decline in motor ability. With each virus she would catch her handwriting and math/spatial abilities would plummet. Her raging would increase. Her urinary incontinence would increase. She would socially regress several years. Her Tourette's symptoms would spike.
Only after bartonella treatment did these flares stop happening. K still has trouble learning new motor skills, but the ones she learned earlier in life are good now. It's as if she can't naturally figure out new motor plans, but once learned, they are good.
At this point she has better handwriting than most of her peers, she can dance, ride a bike, play the piano, hit a baseball sometimes, hit a tennis ball sometimes and is improving at soccer. But new complex motions, say for instance rowing, would be very difficult for her to emulate. Treatment doesn't seem to have fixed this problem, but at this point she now has most of the motor plans she needs to function properly.