Whether you are a health professional or a parent with an unwell child, you must always remember that a mother knows far better than any doctor or physician whether her child is seriously ill or not. No member of the medical profession should ever ignore a mother's instincts in these matters, and neither should the mother.

This is particularly true of meningitis, which can very easily be misdiagnosed. Meningitis is a disease which required very rapid diagnosis to enable full recovery, particularly bacterial meningitis.

Meningitis symptoms are very varied and similar to many other illnesses which children commonly get, and very often the mother's instincts are more important than a doctor's knowledge. Let's take a look at some bacterial meningitis symptoms which are frequently diagnosed wrongly:

Sore throat and reddening at the back of the throat: This could be anything, including the tonsillitis that this condition is often misdiagnosed as. It could also be measles or a streptococcal infection ('strep throat') or a multitude of other conditions from the initial stages of diphtheria to flu.

Irritability: A child can be irritated for many reasons. She may be teething, which generally makes tots a bit grumpy, or just plain hungry or tired.

High temperature: How many illnesses cause a high temperature? At a rough guess I would say most!

There are many more, but some which a doctor should be able to associate with bacterial meningitis are stiffness in the neck, a bulging fontanelle (the soft part on the top of the head) and jaundice (slight yellowing of the skin). The problem with these symptoms is that they don't always appear. They can all be absent and the doctor will then have little to go on.

Most doctors have never come across a case of measles, let alone meningitis, and most never will. How then, could they be expected to spot the smaller signs of the disease which a mothers instincts will pick up on? These may be minor symptoms, but some are specific to meningitis in young children and even encephalitis.

This is where he should rely on the mother, but, sometimes fatally, most never do. However, a mothers instincts can be of critical importance in saving the life of her son or daughter.

One of these lesser, but just as important, symptoms is 'Paradoxical Irritability'. This is where a child does not become soothed when picked up by the mother, but rather gets more irritated, and it is an indicator of meningitis. A mother can spot this.

A mother also knows when her child becomes more lethargic than normal. Lethargy and a general disinterest in surroundings and stimuli are other symptoms of meningitis. Therefore, although a mother may not be aware of the symptoms of the disease, nor even suspect it, she can pick up on some of those which distinguish meningitis from most other diseases.

There have been many reported cases of a doctor and mother disagreeing as to the seriousness of a child's condition, resolved by the mother herself taking the child to Accident and Emergency. In lots of these cases the child survived only through the mother's actions, frequently made in contradiction to a doctor's recommendations.

Many consultant pediatricians recognise this, and impress on student doctors and nurses that they must listen to the mother. "A mother knows her child better than anyone else, and her instincts should be a prime tool used in the diagnosis of her child's condition". Perhaps not verbatim, but that is the gist of what many specialists teach.

Other symptoms only a mother may notice are a higher pitched cry than normal and a weaker suck during feeding. No doctor would know this. Added to this, there is that mysterious something which only a child's mother has and cannot be defined. A mother knows if her child is very ill, even if the symptoms seem very slight. Even sometimes when there are none. And that is something which must never be ignored. The father doesn't have it, only the mother, and it's magic!

If you feel that your child is seriously ill in contradiction to your doctor's diagnosis, insist on his or her admission to hospital, and if that fails take your child to Accident and Emergency yourself. It may be a false alarm, but at least you will have given your child every chance.

Many children are alive today for one single reason. A mothers instincts!

Irreplaceable!

Copyright 2006 Peter Nisbet