MENINGITIS
(Keywords: Meningitis, chiropractic, head neck pain, headache chiropractic ) Meningitis should always be considered in the patient with a stiff neck and headache, simply because it is so serious. Not many patients with infectious illnesses appear in the chiropractor's office, because this patient is SICK! It is a highly infectious disease, so the doctor is also at risk. In hospital the patient will be immediately be placed in isolation. Because we chiropractors treat so many patients with headache, this is a rare but very serious disease that we should keep in the back of our minds.
SYMPTOMS
Severe headache is the most common symptom (87%) followed by neck stiffness 83%. The classic triad of diagnostic signs are: - unable to flex the neck forwards onto the chest
- sudden high fever (40 degrees C) and
- altered mental status. This patient is Sick! with a capital S.
This is not the typical stiff neck where you can't turn your head to the side, but flexing the head onto the chest is very painful and severely restricted. The classic test of Kernig is done with the patient lying on their back, with the hips and knees bent in the so-called 90/90 position. If someone supports your thighs, and straightens your knees, and it causes neck pain, then it's definitely time to get to hospital. Not to your doctor, nor to your chiropractor. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200, GO STRAIGHT TO THE HOSPITAL. Remember this illness may be highly infectious. Your family and acquaintances should immediately be alerted. The condition may be viral or bacterial. In the latter a rash is common. Meningitis is a medical emergency.
MENINGITIS is not HEADACHE CHIROPRACTIC ...
HEAD NECK PAIN ...
JOHANNESBURG — Tenor Siphiwo Ntshebe, who was to sing Hope at the World Cup opening ceremony, died in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, his record label said yesterday.“Within days of realising his dreams he was struck down like this. It is a great loss,” said Sony Music Entertainment CEO Keith Lister. Ntshebe (34), dubbed the “new Pavarotti”, had just finished recording an album. He contracted bacterial meningitis and was admitted to hospital last week. Lister said the Hope track is already on the official World Cup album. Sony is still deciding what to do about Ntshebe’s album. The Natal Witness, 27-05-2010
FROM THE COALFACE
For years I had a weekly date with a good friend at the squash court. He had a spondylolysthesis, a low back condition that required occasional visits to my couch. We knocked a few kilos off after work, added a few more back with a couple beers, and generally shot the breeze. We were also BMW motorcycle fans, and enjoyed a few rides together. One day he didn't arrive for our date. It was not like him. He phoned the next day to apologise, telling me his better half was in hospital with a very stiff neck."In hospital? Why not in my office?" I asked foolishly. She died three days later. A teacher, she caught it from a child who survived. Headache, stiff neck, high temp? Don't mess with it.
The meninges form the covering of the brain and spinal cord. Here you can see them peeled back during an autopsy of a patient who died from meningitis. Can you see the little bleeds where blood vessels have ruptured?The meninges extend from the brain right down to the low back, covering the brain and spinal cord. That is why in Kernig's test, straightening the legs stretches the meninges and reproduces the neck pain. In a slipped disk in the lower back something similar happens, but without the infection. If flexing your head forward onto your chest causes low back pain, you have no fever or stiff neck, then make an appointment today with your chiropractor. For more information,
click here. SLIPPED DISK ...
VACCINATIONS
"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies in my tenacity."
Louis Pasteur
Vaccinations remain a troubled subject in the Chiropractic profession, and I confess I have no strong opinion. That they sometimes cause death and disability is beyond debate. Just recently three healthy babies in the Netherlands died in one week, within ten days of having a vaccination against meningitis. However vaccinations also saved many lives and we live today in a world without Small Pox thanks to Louis Pasteur.
NUTRITIONAL CORNER
HELENS 15 EURO SALAD ...
BROCCOLI FACTS ...
USEFUL LINKS
Olive garden menu TAPENADE ...
Return from MENINGITIS to HEADACHE CHIROPRACTIC ...
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A DAY IN THE LIFE OF CHIROPRACTOR BERNARD PRESTON ...
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