Is this meningitis in toddler?

[vanillas]

Toddler developed a high temperature on Tuesday and woke up at night complaining about a neck ache. I thought it might be due to him staying in one place while asleep and his neck feeling stiff because of that. I gave him paracetamol, cooled him down and managed to put him back down again. Yesterday, he spent the day sitting in once place and telling me he was tired (but wouldn't nap). I gave him paracetamol/ibuprofen and managed to convince him to eat something small and take small sips of water. He had another rough night and today refused to walk a short distance to collect his sister from nursery. I've just got him changed for bed and noticed he's got a rash on his trunk that won't disappear. Is this meningitis? I got him to look directly at the spotlights in our kitchen and he was able to. About to take him to A&E but need to go in armed with info in case they fob me off and tell me he's fine and it's 'just a virus which'll go away soon'.

Has he had his meningitis jab(s)? (Long time ago now so can’t remember at what age they’re given)

I’ve had meningitis twice as an adult. First time resulted in 2 week stay in hospital and begin unconscious for 3 days the 2nd time I was awake when it started and By the time I was in A&e I couldn’t even lift my arms up for them to undress me! So if he’s bouncing around he’s likely to be fine.
Oh and i never had a rash.

Has your DS had all his jabs? Meningitis B was added to the vaccine schedule in 2015, presuming you're in the UK?

That's good news, OP. I hope he's feeling better, and you are feeling reassured.
You did the right thing.

A&E.

I thought I'd be fobbed off with vague symptoms on Sunday. She had sepsis, only just discharged.

Please go.

@YukoandHiro

A&E.

I thought I'd be fobbed off with vague symptoms on Sunday. She had sepsis, only just discharged.

Please go.

Maybe read the thread 😊

I'm glad they think it's not meningitis op but stay vigilant, you know your son best.

Thank you all for being here while I was imagining the worst. Son was in amazing spirits last night and enjoying the attention from the nurses and doctors. I'm so grateful their initial observations suggest no meningitis. Someone mentioned me sounding unsure at the conclusion the doctor reached- I was/am. DS has been incredibly poorly the last couple of days and has only been able to keep his head up because of alternate paracetamol/ibuprofen doses. There's definitely something going on which the doctor last night wasn't willing to entertain. I rang our GP this morning about something unrelated and mentioned our A&E visit and was disgusted when she asked me if they'd carried out blood tests or administered IV fluids, etc. and I said no. She's asked me to come in next week with son so we can have a full blood panel done for DS to rule out something more. As mentioned previously, our local hospital is terrible (and dare I say it negligent- so many cases where they've got things so badly wrong). And that's coming from me who is one of the NHS's biggest advocates.

*the doctor was disgusted when I said there were no bloods taken/IV fluids, etc. She actually used the words "useless" to describe staff at the hospital.

Difficult to say. A&E won’t take bloods for every unwell child who comes in, because it’s quite traumatic for the child. Bloods are incredibly useful in helping to determine whether a bacterial infection is present, even if the focus of the infection can’t easily be determined (not obviously pus covered tonsils, for example).

Probably with his history they should have at least done a urine sample, and with a non-blanching rash a blood test would have been a good idea. But also when my kids have been really unwell the paracetamol/brufen hasn’t made them magically well all of a sudden. They have still been clearly very obviously unwell with medication.

I’m also a bit confused by your GP - if she was worried why didn’t she ask to see him yesterday? That part doesn’t make sense to me.

GP so disgusted in the actions of the medic who saw him they have said they want to see him next week

@IamJuliaJohnson

I wouldn’t call it traumatic- they numb it first! Hopefully they haven’t not taken blood due to the shortage in equipment!

And I would call it traumatic having experienced it often enough with one of my children in particular. Point is, the threshold is different to (most) adults, where you come in unwell and they just take bloods as part of all the things they might do. For kids they tend to take bloods because they need to.

The numbing cream is good, but some kids are allergic to it (mine is). First blood test for a child is probably ok, they don’t know what’s happening, once they’ve had it more than once it’s a different story for many children (and I’m someone who is pretty firm and active in the restraining of my child for blood taking).

We’ve had a good number of A&E visits over the years with unwell kids, bloods are not the norm. Difficulty is when they really should be, which for this child seems like it would have been a good idea.

@Sirzy exactly! Im not sure what bloods in a weeks time will do.

And the GP is taking a child's bloods? That's unheard of in my trust. They always have to go to paeds outpatients for bloods.

Any update @vanillas hope all ok with your son