Posts tagged as:

strep throat

Top stories on Thrive: 2009

by Melissa Jeltsen on December 31, 2009

Claire McCarthy, MD, is a primary care physician and the medical director of Children’s Hospital Boston’s Martha Eliot Health Center. Take a look at her blog archive.

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What a whirlwind of a year. Since launching this blog in July, we’ve had more than 230,000 visitors, many of whom have left thought-provoking comments on our posts.

We’ve enjoyed bringing you personal stories and expert insight about current pediatric health topics, and we hope you continue reading us in 2010.

What were our readers most interested in this year? Our most widely read stories range from a video series about defeating a milk allergy to a news report about the discredited Baby Einstein videos. Did you miss any of our most popular posts? We revisit them below. [click to continue…]

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One mother's story: How strep throat attacked my child's brain

by Kristin Cantu on October 20, 2009

Heckmann

Maura Heckmann and her son, Chris

Eleven-year-old Chris Heckmann was healthy and in good spirits when his mother, Maura, left him with friends for the night. But when she returned, 24 hours later, her son was unrecognizable. Stricken with paranoia, he refused to eat and paced around the family room, fear in his eyes.

At first, doctors thought Chris had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But he was ultimately diagnosed with PANDAS, a controversial neuropsychiatric disorder thought to be related to routine childhood strep infections. Here, Maura tells the story of her son’s rapid decent into illness, and his road to recovery. [click to continue…]

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