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Common infections can spark psychiatric illnesses in children

economist.com

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Re: Common infections can spark psychiatric illnesses in children

#3
I remember feeling pretty normal until I had a strep throat infection when I was 7, after which I got really introverted and twitchy/compulsive ever since. Maybe a coincidence but I sometimes wonder if that did something to me.

edit: I swear I made this comment this before reading the article. It starts off with a boy at 7 with strep that got twitchy, which is 100% in line with my experience. Crazy.

Re: Common infections can spark psychiatric illnesses in children

#4
I wonder if these findings may partially explain the often derided theory that childhood vaccines can cause autism. The article directly mentions that an autism misdiagnosis can result from psychiatric symptoms resulting from an autoimmune response after certain infections.

Re: Common infections can spark psychiatric illnesses in children

#5

I remember feeling pretty normal until I had a strep throat infection when I was 7, after which I got really introverted and twitchy/compulsive ever since. Maybe a coincidence but I sometimes wonder if that did something to me. edit: I swear I made this comment this before reading the article. It starts off with a boy at 7 with strep that got twitchy, which is 100% in line with my experience. Crazy.

I had a similar experience! I can’t recall if it was strep or what, but I do remember a particularly nasty illness from which I never really feel I recovered from neurologically.

Re: Common infections can spark psychiatric illnesses in children

#8
This is sad: "years spent campaigning to get doctors to take the illnesses seriously."

It's like that saying, "Capitalism: The worst economic system, except for all the others". Our medical system where we rely on individual doctors for primary care is really flawed but it's better than any alternatives that we have (or that we can afford anyway)

Re: Common infections can spark psychiatric illnesses in children

#9

I remember feeling pretty normal until I had a strep throat infection when I was 7, after which I got really introverted and twitchy/compulsive ever since. Maybe a coincidence but I sometimes wonder if that did something to me. edit: I swear I made this comment this before reading the article. It starts off with a boy at 7 with strep that got twitchy, which is 100% in line with my experience. Crazy.

That is terrifying

Re: Common infections can spark psychiatric illnesses in children

#10

This is sad: "years spent campaigning to get doctors to take the illnesses seriously." It's like that saying, "Capitalism: The worst economic system, except for all the others". Our medical system where we rely on individual doctors for primary care is really flawed but it's better than any alternatives that we have (or that we can afford anyway)

>Our medical system where we rely on individual doctors for primary care is really flawed but it's better than any alternatives that we have (or that we can afford anyway)

The US one I presume? Says who? Based on what metric? We can, and other countries have, do much better.

That this parent "is “exhausted” by years spent campaigning to get doctors to take the illnesses seriously" doesn't say much.

It's not like she had to go the public health system and didn't have the option to go on "individual doctors for primary care" if she could afford it (in fact it would have been way more affordable than in the US).

She campaigned to spread awareness for the cause, not for them to treat her own special case.

Second, the average person would be much more exhausted when chacing their own (or kid's) treatment trying to afford hellishly expensive treatment in the US, sacrificing their kids college fund or their own pension (or even ending in bankruptcy (CNBC: "Two-thirds of people who file for bankruptcy say medical bills or other issues related to illness contributed to their financial downfall").

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