Natural PANDAS treatment:

Diary of a Naturopathic Mom and Two Boys with PANDAS

Chapter 1 – My life by accident

This is my story as a Naturopathic Doctor who learned the power of natural PANDAS treatment. Natural treatment of PANDAS / PANS is essential for children and their families because autoimmunity is medical and treatable. Naturopathic treatment of PANDAS changes the lives of children and their families. Including mine!

It seems that all the men in my life were meant to arrive by accident.  After completing my post graduate training in Naturopathic Medicine, I decided I needed to forge out on my own. I packed up my things in my new standard Ford Focus and learned to drive it on the way out to the east coast.  Destination; Halifax.  I arrived during the storm of the century which for a southwestern Ontario girl came as quite a shock.  Twelve-foot snow banks surrounded me as I took in my new reality of living provinces away from my loving mom and sister.

My profession by accident – Discovering Natural PANDAS Treatment on the front lines

I decided to become a Naturopathic Doctor somewhat by accident as well.  An avid baller, I spent my university years focused on playing basketball with the UWO Women’s team. During this time my father was losing his battle with cancer so school just wasn’t a huge priority for me. Learning came easy, thankfully, as I floated through my existence without much thought of my future as an adult. Maybe it was my symptoms of ADHD which made it difficult to plan in advance.  Blessed with a brain that could learn quickly and a lot of family responsibility, I ended up following my sister on her path to become a Naturopathic Doctor. And I am so profoundly grateful that I did! 

My training as a Naturopathic Doctor has been the single most important aspect of having two sons with PANDAS.  Natural treatment of PANDAS and PANS saved both my sons from daily pain and developmental delays. Firstly, PANDAS stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus.  Similarly, PANS stands for Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome.

Natural treatment of PANDAS is life changing for families!

For some, the intense symptoms of PANDAS and PANS result, unfortunately, in broken families and years and years of children struggling without help or understanding. For us, we were blessed with an incredible knowledge of how to treat PANDAS with natural treatment by addressing autoimmunity and the root causes of PANDAS… and it is NOT streptococcus as the name implies.  

After many years of supporting families who have kids with PANDAS and PANS, with this in mind, I am sharing our story to help raise awareness about natural treatment of PANDAS / PANS and how using a systematic approach stops the brain from being bombarded… leading to recovery. 

Naturall PANDAS Treatment

Sonya Doherty, ND, FMAPS (Cand.)
Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine
Chief Medical Officer at Treat Autism


Continuing reading – Chapter 2