meningitis

[amnesiac]

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/l...on/6548185.htm

[Jazmommie]

Timely info for me -
we went to ER last night because I thought my son (15 ) had the
signs /symptoms of this-
he had a fever -x3 days but was 101.5 last night -a severe headache (worst one I ever had ,mom)-light hurt his eyes-coughed up mucus with a streak of blood x1-
So we go in to ER-the Dr checks his neck-moves his legs so they bend -to see if that action hurts his head or back,do blood work-CBC-then decide that it could be a sinus infection - do a cat scan-NO INFECTION-CBC results showed White Blood Cells were ok at 10,000-monophils were up -showing he was getting over an infection-They gave a dose of Tylenol & a dose of Toradol
"Do you want to do a LP(lumbar puncture?"
If it is Viral meningitis ,there is nothing they can give you to get you better,so no -the headache is improved & he feels better -so we go home !

I was waiting for the vaccine talk-but no one brought it up!

[amnesiac]

Toradol for a headache?! That's a new one on me. I've only ever given it to kids fresh out of surgery. Glad he's better though!

[Tracy]

For that reason, the CDC and other groups of health professionals recommend that all college freshmen consider getting the meningitis vaccine

why do they think it is more prevelant in college? Curious.

my college had about 15,000 student, dh's had about 30,000 no vaxes for either of us. No disease for either of us. why now?

[Jazmommie]

I looked up Toradol in my PDR-
I was not familiar with it -strong anti-inflammatory NSAID -he only had 1 dose -
They looked at me like I was nuts when I said he had not had any Tylenol-I did not want to cover up his pain so I would know how serious his illness was & his fever was only 101.5.

So now that his body's inflammatory response has been turned off -he is feeling better -mentally & some better physically -but I wonder is that really a good thing or has his body been messed up more ???

I am using Vit C & cod liver oil-echinacea,licorice,elderberry-
a hot tea with red clover & elder -

Any other suggestions -?

[amnesiac]

It's like taking mega ibuprofen.
Zinc & selenium.
I've also been digging my lemon balm lately. I grow it in the back yard & have a lot so it's easy for me to get. I either grab up a handful of that along with mint, catnip & thyme then either make a tea to drink or steep it in the bathtub for a soak with epsom salts. Seems to work really well as an anti-viral for the kids & is also really relaxing.
If it's anything that really gets them down I use astragalus too & this nasty concoction called Herbal Resistance that tastes like that has lomatium, osha, myrrh & some other junk in it.

[gardenmommy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but why is it recommended that you receive a vaccine to protect against bacterial meningitis? I thought that vaccines were supposed to protect against viruses, not bacteria.

Seems a bit confusing to me. Is it just another ploy to get you to accept a jab?

Margaret

[Katana]

For about ten minutes last March, the hospital was worried my ds had meningitis. He'd had a fever for over 3 days, right at about 101.5. I couldn't get him to eat or drink anything (stubborn is an understatement type of adjective for him) and he was dehydrated. So he was groggy.

When we got to the hospital, they gave him Motrin and then his temp dropped way down, and they freaked out. To make a long story short, they ruled out meningitis, Hib flu 4 and 14, about six other diseases and finally settled on atypical pnuemonia, which they said he'd caught topically while waiting for 3 hours in the ER. :

He was in the hospital for a week while the whole immunology department remained mystified before they finally settled on pnuemonia. I have his medical records, I looked through them, and they were not any help. I think someone wrote them while skateboarding, and even though I have a medical dictionary, I can't make any sense of what I could read.

The whole point to this was, they never once asked me about vaccines either. Not in ER, not in PICU, and not in Pediatrics. He was 4, so I expected it, but nothing. It was so weird because we were in such a pro-vax, pro technology type of hospital. It was bizarro world.

He recovered really well and fast from *whatever* once we got him home and he got lots of C and lots of probiotics.

[menudo]

Hmmm...sounds like the virus I am getting over..and my DD has...and many others have now. It is a few day virus with above symptoms (esp. a major headache!! and when that and teh fever combine-can we say dizzee!!) Anyway, never thought of meningitis but geez, if people here read that they'd be raking in on vaxes as this bug goes around...

Gotta love scare tactics! BTW, most illnesses have the SAME symptoms, ya really gotta search for distinctions.

[amnesiac]

And it tends to get muddied even more when you add in the enteroviruses that can cause rashes that look like some of the the others.