Brain Mat

03/13/2026

03/13/2026

03/06/2026

Jay Bhattacharya, the recently appointed acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on Monday urged families to consider vaccinating against measles as outbreaks acros…

03/06/2026

Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said in a Senate hearing Tuesday that he has not seen any studies supporting the theory that any vaccines cause autism, a brea…

03/05/2026

03/02/2026

Neuroimmune Foundation has many recorded webinars as a free resource for patients and families! View them here:
https://neuroimmune.org/patient-and-family-resources/pans-pandas-webinars/

02/26/2026

We recently had the opportunity to present for ACAYNA, an organization in Argentina dedicated to advancing clinical education and interdisciplinary care in autism. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to such a thoughtful clinical community.

The topic:
PANS/PANDAS Clinical Overview with Considerations for Autism and Restricted Eating

When an individual is being evaluated for autism, or already carries a diagnosis, and there is sudden psychiatric deterioration, abrupt food restriction, new-onset OCD, or rapid regression, clinicians must consider whether a medical trigger could be driving the change.

In autistic individuals, and in those undergoing assessment, inflammatory neuroimmune processes can be overlooked. Changes are often attributed to developmental baseline rather than investigated as a possible acute medical shift.

We discussed:
• How to distinguish baseline characteristics associated with autism from symptoms that characterize PANS/PANDAS
• The ways immune activation can intensify anxiety, rigidity, OCD, and sensory hypersensitivity
• Why sudden restricted eating may reflect obsessive fears, sensory amplification, or inflammatory changes, not simply behavioral feeding difficulty
• The importance of medical evaluation alongside therapeutic and nutritional support

Grateful to ACAYNA for creating space for a serious clinical discussion at the intersection of autism, nutrition, and neuroimmune disorders.

Correct identification changes outcomes.

https://aspire.care/featured/acayna-webinar-pans-pandas-clinical-overview-with-considerations-for-autism-restricted-eating/