What is meningism?
Meningism is a collection of symptoms that are grouped together and may indicate certain diseases. What is confusing on this term is that it may or may not be associated with diseases such as meningitis. Sometimes meningism is used to describe several major symptoms of meningitis if it is not present and is considered separate from the disease. In other circumstances, doctors could use this term or term meningism to refer to all symptoms that are present in meningitis, in cases of brain damage or other diseases that could cause symptoms. Thus, there are several symptoms that can be associated with meningism. One of the big ones is the stiffness or difficulty in moving the neck. In particular, one does not have to be able to touch your chin to the chest and may have problems with searching. This is also called nuchal rigidity.
Another symptom that is part of meningism is how people react to light. If they show problems in clearAh lights and must squint or avert, they can suffer from photophobia. Thus, they meet the second aspect of meningism.
If these two conditions are present with headaches, which is often very serious, you need to consider meningitis, brain bleeding or other diseases. There are other ways to diagnose these conditions, but to get a person to a doctor is the best bet because meningitis and brain bleeding are medically urgent situations. In fact, when children have symptoms that include things such as high fever and headache, doctors often recommend parents to check nuchal rigidity by having a baby chin on their chest. If it is painful or impossible, the child should immediately obtain medical care, because swelling of mening, membranes that provide protection of the central nervous system is extremely dangerous.
However, a child or adult shows all these symptoms withoutswelling of meninging, brain bleeding or meningitis. In these circumstances, it is always better to be safe. When these conditions are excluded, meningism could indicate completely different diseases such as toxic shock syndrome. However, three symptoms called meningism should always be taken seriously.
When a person with meningism goes to a doctor or hospital, there is better diagnosis to determine the basic problem. Meningitis can be confirmed in diagnosis by performing various tests such as blood tests and backbone taps. Any bleeding in the brain is usually visualized for scanning CT (computer axial tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or X -rays. In terms of the strictest definition, man has meningism if none of these tests is positive for meningitis or brain bleeding. In a more general sense, such tests can help exclude potential conditions and show physicians to other diseases or patterns could cause symptoms.