The Signs and Symptoms of Meningitis – Our Meningitis Scare

The night started pretty normally. Never did I think it would end with a meningitis scare. We’d gotten in from being at a party and both the boys needed a bath. Toby in first, followed by Ted. Except when I was getting Ted undressed, I noticed he had a rash on his leg.

Early Meningitis Symptoms

Ted gave no indication whatsoever that he might have a rash and, to be honest, after researching what I should’ve looked out for prior to our scare, I wouldn’t have thought they could have been related to suspected meningitis.

Early symptoms can include a high temperature which isn’t uncommon amongst babies, especially when at 5 months old we had teeth coming through; if that were the case I would’ve probably just given him some Calpol to help ease any temperature, however Ted was entirely asymptomatic.

Other symptoms would be things like cold hands and feet, vomiting and being difficult to wake/very sleepy. These are definitely things we could’ve looked out for but other things like a stiff neck, muscle and joint pain and headaches aren’t things that babies can explain to us. This is where instincts kick in and the NHS website says not to wait for a rash to appear.

What Does A Meningitis Rash Look Like?

Pin prick mark, ‘bruise like’ and my immediate reaction was – “I’ve seen this somewhere before” but not on another child. On a leaflet, on a bus stop advert, on the TV. I pressed it and it didn’t go away.

From the information available a meningitis rash looks exactly like Ted’s did. It looks like tiny pinpricks and the spots can either be red, pink or purple in colour. In early onset, meningitis can sometimes be dismissed as a scratch or as a bit of mild bruising so it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on anything just in case it develops. However, the skin could just appear blotchy. The rash can appear anywhere on the body.

Identifying A Meningitis Rash And Performing The Glass Tumbler Test For Meningitis

Was it meant to go away, or was it meant to stay?

Jamie was downstairs preparing our tea so I shouted for him to come up with as little panic in my voice as possible. He pressed it just like I did, but it still didn’t fade. He came downstairs to fetch a glass tumbler and a leaflet we have on the fridge about all the signs and symptoms of meningitis.

“This rash will not fade under pressure. Seek medical attention immediately.”

We rolled the glass tumbler over the rash. Backwards. Forwards. Backwards. Forwards. The rash was still very much visible under the glass tumbler.

I have literally, never in my life, felt as sick as I did at that point. I was absolutely terrified, although he seemed absolutely fine in himself (which I later learned was a good thing!). I dialled 999 straight away – I didn’t think twice. At this point, I was holding back tears trying to get through the conversation, all the while thinking that my child was going to be seriously poorly.

They didn’t dispatch an ambulance right away, they wanted to get a senior paramedic to call me back instead.

Well, excuse me for thinking that this was time critical.

I was so cross that they didn’t call me back for almost 20 minutes, anything could’ve happened to his condition in that time, especially being just under 5 months old. This is an illness that takes hold pretty fast. Anyway, he eventually called me back and echoed the operator’s decision to not send an ambulance, “just in case they have to come from a long way, it could be a 45 minute wait and you only live a mile or so”.

I don’t think I’ve ever thrown a bag together so quickly and shot down to the hospital. We had been advised to go straight to A+E where we could just tell them our name and they’d see Ted straight away. Wishful thinking on their part, I think.

I was fourth in the queue, after walking past 4 ambulances that were parked up waiting to go out. It was another 10 minutes before I got to the front of the queue where I had to explain everything that had happened, and try not to panic in the meantime.

Investigating The Rash

We were eventually directed to the paediatric unit on A+E and then into a side room as Ted had vomited a bit earlier in the day, so they didn’t want to take any chances. It was another 15-20 minutes before we were even seen. I was pacing the room, trying to talk to Ted, who was quite happy to bite on his toys, so I could keep my mind off of why we were there.

Eventually, the nurse came in and did all the usual observations, followed by a lead nurse who declared that she actually didn’t like children, but Ted was cute. Lady, I don’t care if you like kids, just tell me if my child has meningitis or not!

She confirmed it was “non-blanching” but that she couldn’t identify it so she was going to get another lady in, a rash specialist, to have a look. Linda, who was lovely, said that she could see why I was worried but even she couldn’t identify it. She reassured me that it was 99% not meningitis as usually the babies who come in with it are very flat, floppy and just generally very poorly.

We were then referred to paediatrics where a junior doctor came to have a look and, again, couldn’t identify the cause. It was then another hour, due to hand overs, before I got to see a senior paediatric registrar who was very confident that it was something viral and nothing more. We had to have blood tests done to be sure and then we were sent on our way. I ended up waiting up for the results after getting home at 11.30pm, and so didn’t get to bed until 2am. It was all confirmed as being ok and we didn’t need to go back or have a follow up but we were advised to keep an eye on it.

I can not express how scary those few hours were. From finding the rash, to the phone call confirming that it was just something viral. Safe to say I held him a little bit longer, and a little bit tighter before I put him down to bed that night.

The Meningitis Leaflet You Should Have In Your House

This is the leaflet I have at home and I urge you to read it just to familiarise yourself with the signs and symptoms, so you’re prepared in the case of a meningitis scare. There is also the NHS website which is always full of information.

Have you had your own meningitis scare? Do you feel confident knowing the signs and symptoms and what to do in an emergency?