PANS and PANDAS care from a team that has published on it
PANS and PANDAS describe a sudden, dramatic change in a child: obsessions, compulsions, tics, restrictive eating, rages or regression arriving almost overnight, often on the back of an infection. If that is what happened at your place, here is the direct answer you are searching for: ReMed is 1 of Australia’s most experienced naturopathic teams in this area. Our founder co-authored peer-reviewed PANS research, we support families in every state by telehealth, and everything we do works alongsideyour child’s medical team, never instead of it.
When your child changes overnight
Most parents who land here tell a version of the same story. A settled child got sick: strep throat, a virus, something ordinary. Within days everything changed: rituals from nowhere, refused meals, rages you had never seen, separation anxiety, bedwetting. At 3am, after another impossible evening, you typed “pandas syndrome” into a search bar. You are not imagining the speed of the change. Abrupt onset is exactly what defines these presentations, and it is the first thing we ask about.
What PANS and PANDAS actually are
PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) describes the abrupt onset of OCD or severe food restriction together with at least 2 other neuropsychiatric changes: anxiety, emotional lability, irritability, behavioural regression, a drop in school performance, sensory sensitivity, sleep disturbance or urinary changes. PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections) is the closely related presentation where OCD or tics begin or sharply worsen after a streptococcal infection.
Both descriptions come from international research, including the US National Institute of Mental Health. Identification is clinical: no single test confirms or excludes them, which is why a careful history matters so much, and why diagnosis always remains with your child’s doctor.
Why families come to ReMed for this
Keonie Moore, ReMed’s founder, co-authored “N-Acetyl Cysteine and Curcumin in Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome”, peer-reviewed research published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. She presented the keynote “Acute onset OCD and Tics in Children” in Kochi, India in 2018, and is recognised as a leading practitioner in PANS and PANDAS. Her own family includes lived experience with PANS, autism and ADHD, so she has sat on the parent side of these consults too.
Behind her sits a dedicated team and 19 years of clinic history. None of this is a promise about your child’s outcome; it is the reason families trust us with the investigation.
How we investigate
Every PANS and PANDAS enquiry starts with a 60-minute consultation that maps the timeline in detail: what your child was like before, what happened in the weeks around the change, infections, antibiotics, family immune history, gut symptoms, sleep and eating. Functional testing is recommended only where clinically indicated, commonly gut microbiome testing and organic acids testing, so the plan is built on your child’s data rather than a generic protocol.
Understand
A 60-minute initial consultation covering your child's full history, not a 10-minute snapshot.
Investigate
Targeted functional testing where clinically indicated, so decisions follow data, not guesswork.
Support
A personalised plan, reviewed and adjusted as your child responds, coordinated with your child's doctors.
Working with your child’s medical team
Your paediatrician, GP, immunologist or psychologist leads diagnosis and medical treatment. We do not replace them, and we never suggest stopping or changing prescribed medication. What we add is time and a detailed functional perspective, and with your consent we share our findings with the practitioners treating your child. Many of our families run conventional and naturopathic care side by side: in our view, that is exactly how it should work.
What support can include
Depending on your child’s history and results, support can include nutritional strategies for restricted eating, evidence-informed herbal and nutritional supplementation chosen around test results and any current medication, gut-focused dietary work, sleep support, and flare-time planning so the household knows what to do when symptoms spike. Plans are reviewed and adjusted as your child responds, at the clinic or by telehealth.
“I cannot speak highly enough of Keonie & the ReMed team... Her care of our children has helped our family move ahead in the face of a debilitating & life-altering diagnosis of both our children...”
Donna, Geelong
PANS and PANDAS questions, answered straight
PANDAS and PANS are described in international peer-reviewed research, including work from the US National Institute of Mental Health. Awareness still varies between Australian practitioners, which is why many families see several professionals before the pattern is named. ReMed's founder has co-authored peer-reviewed PANS research, and our practitioners work alongside the doctors involved in your child's care.
Identification is clinical. Clinicians look for the defining pattern: abrupt onset of OCD, tics or severe food restriction, accompanied by changes like anxiety, regression, sleep disturbance or urinary symptoms, often following an infection. No single blood test confirms or excludes PANS or PANDAS. At ReMed, the 60-minute initial consultation maps that timeline in detail, and functional testing is added only where clinically indicated. Diagnosis itself always sits with your child's doctor.
PANDAS is the narrower description: OCD or tics that begin or sharply worsen after a streptococcal infection, such as strep throat. PANS is broader, covering sudden-onset OCD or severe food restriction together with other neuropsychiatric changes, where the trigger may be a different infection or never clearly identified. In practice the 2 presentations are investigated in a very similar way, and the hallmark is identical: a child who changes abruptly, over days rather than months.
No. ReMed's care is complementary, and we are firm about that. Your child's paediatrician, GP, immunologist or psychologist leads diagnosis and medical treatment, and we never advise stopping or changing prescribed medication. Our role is the detailed history, the functional testing perspective, and day-to-day nutritional and lifestyle support around your child's medical care, shared with your child's treating team whenever you consent.
Telehealth consultations run Australia-wide and internationally: families like Donna's in Geelong and Nicole's in Sydney already work with us by distance. Book a 60-minute initial consultation (from $242) online, and your practitioner takes the full history by video. Where testing is clinically indicated, kits are posted to your home with clear instructions, and follow-up appointments, results and plans all happen the same way.
Free tools and related reading
Built for PANS and PANDAS families, alongside all 11 conditions we work with.
If this page reads like your child, you don’t have to work it out alone
Or call (03) 9431 0331
ReMed's care is complementary to, not a replacement for, conventional medical care. We work alongside your GP, paediatrician and specialists, and our support is not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. In an emergency call 000. Every child is different: outcomes vary and no specific result can be guaranteed.