that I have and I probably will always have pieces of homeopathy help me work through some of that but that was the crazy making part for me was trying to talk to medical providers about pans and trying just trying to get help and treatment I go for you Lori I it's funny

not funny but Relatable that you said that you were even trying to figure out how to explain it, because I feel like at the beginning when I was kind of wrapping my brain around it, I would explain it differently every time.

And I would be getting all these different reactions because for Poppy, it manifested in like rage and her behavior, but also her age.

People just, you know, they automatically think discipline or this or whatever.

And so I found myself trying to craft a very special go-to two sentences that had basal ganglia in it that was just really just nail it.

And it was going to convince people and it didn't.

But A2 Jodi did not have to go up against a family that was naysaying or telling me, you know, looking at me like I was crazy.

Anyways, I'm rambling at this

What are your initial thoughts on parents healing to kick us off?

My initial thoughts are you're gonna go into this kicking and screaming because you're gonna spend so much time on your kid that you're gonna forget about yourself.

I think we can all relate to that, even without PANS and PANDAS, right? [chuckles] It's just a normal parent thing.

But I will say, now that I'm on the other side, healing myself, which is still going on, of course, was the answer to get through my kid's journey.

Without healing myself in whichever fashion form that takes, um, I truly believe I would not have been able to ride the waves that came with my kid's journey.

I think we all find ourselves, when PANDAS strikes, PANS and PANDAS, in chaos, a total just storm, and, um, we're kind of flailing around, and you have to start dropping things 'cause all the focus goes to the kid, and you are the first thing that gets cut off the list.

And it's actually so counterproductive because if you're not balanced, you cannot steer the ship.

And so you might reach a point that you're not okay with things that you just let go and you suddenly seem like you're angry, but the anger is warranted and sometimes even necessary to move the system as a whole toward a better place, instead of just always being on your back.

You don't have to understand how your refrigerator works to know that it's working.

Very good analogy.

I think that was really hard early on, and maybe even still, but I'm so much better at it, was learning to live or stand or be in the middle, I guess.

Like still having a pulse on your kids, but not such a tight grip that you are causing issues when you're talking to your provider.

Allowing your provider to do the provider's jo- It's, it's just such a weird thing, and it really is a dance.

It just takes time.

So I think that goes back to your grace, Jodi, that, um, just know that that's what's going to be expected of you, and know that's where you're headed, and remain open and willing to pivot and willing to learn and willing to fall on your face over and over and over again.

You might get some of those, like a cheat sheet insights that you can be looking out for along the way.

What you got, Lori?

I think that I always think about when parents are adding all the things in is, what we say a lot on the group page, what you said, "Less is more," but you have to think of it in terms of our kiddos' bodies are already so overburdened with all the things and usually triggered by the world.

And so adding more, even good things, even the supplements I was adding, are still things the body has to process.

That's kind of how it worked in my head.

That's where I landed and became more comfortable with trying to limit all the outside stuff.

I also think, as a parent, especially at the beginning, who's been fighting tooth and nail to find something for their kid, to help their kid, you, you would never wanna leave any stone unturned, but I think this is where you go back to that trust in, "I've committed to this route." And I...

We really wanted to give homeopathy a chance to do its thing.

So-

Expect it and accept it, I think is the biggest thing for me.

And mine is just kind of echoing what you said.

Love the group, love the education that is available now to folks.

I was not prepared for this at all, even though you probably told me in the intake appointment, Doctor.

Like, you clinically prepared me, but my, like, my brain at the time wasn't absorbing much.

This was, for me, the most PTSD triggering part because I think that getting a little bit of a break from these symptoms, and it was just such a tremendous relief, like tremendous.

Even if it was just, like, we're taking a, an hour and a half to get to bed instead of three hours, that right there was such a huge break for me.

And so this is a time when being able to minimize interference with understanding your individual and unique responses and patterns is gonna be really critical.

And in fact, what most people end up finding is if they say, "I need this symptom to go away, and I need it to go away now," that ends up being the symptom that hangs around the longest, is almost always what ends up happening.

I think the mindset, um, at the beginning of it's just gonna take whatever it's gonna take and how long it's going to take.

Wrapping your brain around the fact that the body is the only thing that gets to decide what goes first, second, third, fourth, and how long it's gonna take is really hard when you're living in chaos and you just, like you said, need things to go away.

I remember when we started, I specifically looked at Rob and said, "We are gonna give this two years." I don't know why that was an arbitrary number at the time.

Maybe I'd heard it in the group or whatever, but I was like, "It's ...

It should take that long." Like if ...

I don't know.

But anyways, just important.

Can you talk a little bit about what your process was and how you came to terms with the fact that the labs that you were running wasn't actually giving you the answer that you were seeking?

You want me to go, Jodi? Go for it.

Yeah, so I think when I found that Google article or whatever it was, that page that talked about pandas and it really resonated with me and I was like, okay, this is it.

I still was very much on this island, right? Because there's not really anybody around you that knows about it or believes it or they all think you're crazy.

And a lot of stuff that happened to Poppy could be construed as age-appropriate.

at the time kind of because behavioral stuff you know and because it all comes on at different times and as your cup is overflowing and more symptoms start popping in you kind of look at them differently so you head up to all these different doctors but nothing that was all in one anyways so yeah so I needed some sort of doctor that was going to tell me yes this is that so that I could tell everybody else that I knew see that's what it is I really needed that validation I looked online, of course.

Not many specialists around here.

If there's a provider with less experience or whatever, anyways, it's just really important to make sure you're with somebody who knows pans inside and out and knows it in hundreds of children, not a handful of children.

Hearing this from so many people got me really thinking, what if we did some episodes on navigating recovery online? I knew that it could be super useful, and I knew it had to include one of our wisest and most supportive community members, Miss Lori Bean.

Hi, guys.

Hey, Lori.

Hey, Lori.

Thanks for being here.

You know, I'm always up for something like this.

So, Jodi, you brought this to me originally, and I immediately realized you were on to something super important, but I didn't think you were thinking big enough.

it really should be moms and

Hearing this from so many people got me really thinking, what if we did some episodes on navigating recovery online? I knew that it could be super useful, and I knew it had to include one of our wisest and most supportive community members, Miss Lori Bean.

Hi, guys.

Hey, Lori.

Hey, Lori.

Thanks for being here.

You know, I'm always up for something like this.

So, Jodi, you brought this to me originally, and I immediately realized you were on to something super important, but I didn't think you were thinking big enough.

it really should be moms and