Demystifying PANS/PANDAS Podcast

Families tell me the same thing all the time. “I thought it was just strep.” Dr. Richard Horowitz arrived at the same place from the other direction, over 41 years in medicine and more than 13,000 tick-borne disease patients. His 16-point MSIDS model maps what he calls six rivers of inflammation running into one ocean, and he describes the way most medicine handles it as a patient walking in with sixteen nails in their ...

Michelle Pinto is a nurse, and when her two children were diagnosed almost ten years ago her first reaction was a professional one: how is this not covered by insurance. That question took her to the Massachusetts State House in 2019 to testify, then into a coalition of parents, an advisory council, and a PhD.

Her research is why I wanted her here. Most of what we know about these disorders follows the child. Michelle surveyed paren...

I always say it takes a village, and this conversation is a good example of what that village sounds like. I sat down with my dear friend and colleague Dr. Christine Saba at MAPS, and we ranged across a lot of ground, starting with the talk she gave on refined sugar as a genuine burden on children's health. Chris is a pharmacist and a pediatrician, so she sees the biology and the whole child at the same time, and she is wonderful a...

Scott Antoine and I have been telling each other for years that we are brother and sister from another mother, because when it comes to anxiety and OCD in our children we tend to see the same thing. What he brought to the Medical Academy of Pediatrics and Special Needs this year was a framework I had not heard put quite this way. He trained in toxicology. In the emergency department, a poisoning gets three responses: get the patien...

In this episode, I wanted to demystify something that gets missed far too often: the role that tick-borne and vector-borne infections can play in a child's PANS or PANDAS. Dr. Casey Kelley and I talk through why most families never remember a tick bite, and how other carriers like fleas, lice, mosquitoes, and pets mean a clean history does not rule infection out.

We walk through the symptom patterns that may raise a flag, the honest...

I recorded this one with Dr. Eric Gordon and Dr. Nafysa Parpia at the MAPS conference, right after the two of them gave an incredible lecture on the toxic world we live in, and it is exactly the kind of conversation I wish more families could hear when they feel stuck. So often the search is for the single toxin, the one test, the one thing to remove, and together they gently take that apart. Their view is that it is the total load...

In this episode, I talk with my longtime friend and colleague Dr. Julie Buckley about something she has been refining for years: a dairy-free ketogenic diet for children with autism, PANS/PANDAS, and seizures. Julie explains why dropping dairy matters so much. Because plant-based, medium-chain fats are far more ketogenic than animal fat, she can keep the ratio low enough that her daughter still enjoys nectarines, tomatoes, and cucu...

What if the most important vaccine question is not yes or no—but which child, which timing, and under what conditions? In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, Dr. Nancy O'Hara speaks with Dr. Ari Calhoun about immune activation, genetic susceptibility, microglial signaling, and why some children may be more vulnerable to neuroimmune responses when vaccines are given during sensitive developmental windows or periods of hi...

What if the real problem is not just screen time, but what constant digital stimulation is doing to a child's brain, mood, and ability to cope? In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, We speak with Dr. Koichi Tanji about the sharp rise in recreational screen use, how to tell the difference between overuse and addiction, and why chronic gaming, social media, and online stimulation can impair attention, increase anxiety, and ero...

What if a child's neuroinflammation began long before the first symptoms appeared? In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, Dr. Somer DelSignore joins us to speak about congenital vector-borne infections and how in utero exposure to pathogens and maternal immune activation may influence brain development, immune programming, and later neuropsychiatric or developmental challenges.

They explore why pregnancy timing matters, which ...

Sometimes the behaviors families rush to fix are actually part of a larger anxiety loop happening inside the home. In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, Dr. Nancy O’Hara speaks with Dr. Sarah Bren about why therapy can be such a powerful and flexible tool for anxious children, and how the SPACE model helps parents shift patterns that may be unintentionally maintaining symptoms.

They discuss the difference between reduci...

What if Bartonella is part of the reason some children with PANS remain stuck in cycles of rage, confusion, sleep disruption, and chronic neuropsychiatric symptoms? In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, we speak with Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt about why Bartonella deserves much more attention in the PANS world—and why the term 'vector-borne disease' is often more accurate than simply saying Lyme.

We discuss the broad range of...

What if sleep, feeding struggles, and behavioral changes all traced back to how a child breathes? In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, Dr. Nancy O’Hara speaks with pediatric occupational therapist Bri Kurcsak about why airway health, tongue function, and sleep quality are often the missing pieces in children struggling with regulation, eating, and recovery.

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About the Guest:

Bri Kurcsak, MS, OTR/L, is a pediatri...

The biggest driver of brain symptoms might be what’s happening in the gut. In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, we are joined by Dr. James Adams to talk about microbial metabolites, hidden yeast and bacterial issues in autism, a new urine-based metabolite test, and why microbiota transplant therapy may improve mood, sleep, and behavior by restoring microbial balance.

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About the Guest:

Dr. James Adams is a profes...

What if the behaviors everyone sees aren't choices at all, but signs of a brain under siege? In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, Dr. Nancy O'Hara speaks with ten-year-old Aiden and his mother about living through PANS, the loss of control it brings, and what helped them finally find clarity, compassion, and a path forward.

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About the Guest:

Aiden is a ten-year-old living with PANS who courageously shares his personal...

What if healing didn't start with another treatment, but with the space your family walks into every day? In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, Dr. Nancy O'Hara speaks with designer and author Stephen Saint-Onge about how home environments influence stress, regulation, sensory overwhelm, and emotional recovery for both parents and children.

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About the Guest:

Stephen Saint-Onge is an internationally recognized designer,...

The most powerful tool in pediatric care may not be a test or a treatment… but presence. In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, Dr. Larry Rosen shares how curiosity, listening, and relationship-centered care change outcomes for children with complex neuroimmune conditions, including PANS/PANDAS.

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About the Guest:

Dr. Lawrence Rosen is an integrative pediatrician and founder of the Whole Child Center, where he has...

What if one of the most commonly used childhood medications carries risks that medicine has failed to fully confront? In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, I speak with Dr. William Parker about decades of research connecting acetaminophen exposure, susceptibility, and neurodevelopment, and why timing, metabolism, and immune stress matter more than most studies acknowledge.

One overlooked moment may explain far more about auti...

In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PANDAS, I talk with TruDOSE leaders Tapley Holland and Elena Herning about how precision-dosed platelet therapy works to modulate immune dysfunction, calm neuroinflammation, and support healing in children and adults with complex conditions like autism and PANS/PANDAS.

When healing finally starts working, it doesn’t always look comfortable at first. In this episode of Demystifying PANS/PAND...