Chronic sneezing girl gets sleep test

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Lauren Johnson and her family are used to walking up to hospital after hospital for testing.  WAVY.com first introduced you to Lauren three weeks ago when her mother contacted 10 On Your Side for help in getting Lauren to stop sneezing.

The 12-year-old 6th grader from Chesapeake sneezes seven to 16 times a minute, sometimes more than 12,000 times a day.

Tuesday, Lauren and her family went to the Neuroscience Center at Bon Secours-DePaul Medical Center in Norfolk for a sleep study.

"It's hard you know, to watch her go through all the testing that we do," said Lynn Johnson, Lauren's mother.

However, the Johnsons know testing is the only way to find a cure for Lauren's chronic sneezing.

"We're going to do a couple of activation procedures just to see how your brain reacts to different external stimulus," the EEG technician told Lauren in the hospital room.

Lauren was measured and marked for tiny electrodes that monitor her brain waves.  She lay on a bed, ready to answer a number of questions.

"Do you know what day this is?" asked the technician.

"Tuesday," responded Lauren, sneezing.

A machine monitored Lauren's response to questions and her reaction to flashing lights and disruptive breathing patterns.

"We're definitely leaning down that road of this possibly being the PANDAS virus," said Lynn.

Doctors say PANDAS, Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders, is usually caused by severe strep throat, similar to Lauren's illness before she began sneezing four weeks ago.

Symptoms include the quick onset of "tics" like Lauren's sneezing.

"It's happening to a lot of children out there. There's not a lot known about it," said Lynn.

While there's no guarantee Lauren's condition is PANDAS, her family says what they're going through affects more people than they realized.

"This is bringing awareness to what's going on out there in trying to help other parents out there and other children who are struggling just like we did and we still are to find answers," said Lynn.

After the doctors at Bon Secours-DePaul evaluate all of Lauren's test results, Lauren's family tells WAVY.com the results will be packaged with other tests and taken with them to visit doctors at Yale University. Those doctors plan to evaluate Lauren later this week.