When to hit with antibiotics
My 7 yo daughter had her first big bad PANDAS flare back in April. Confirmed strep prior to that. She was treated with a month of Azithromycin and improved dramatically. About 6 weeks ago she had a minor illness and flared somewhat... some OCD symptoms came back, but have been manageable. Today she came home from summer camp and is clearly unwell again. I of course feel panicky every time she gets sick now, because her original flare was horrifically traumatizing for us all.
My question is when you make the call to go straight to antibiotics for an illness. I realize that not every illness is bacterial. But we have an Aziz prescription "on file" at the pharmacy for if we ever need it, and I'm wondering whether to just do it, rather than risk things getting bad.
If you have a child with PANDAS, how do you decide when to treat with antibiotics vs when to just accept that this one has to run its course? I feel like the risk of unnecessary antibiotics is lower than the risk of an unchecked flare.