Help me to understand what happened to me...

[googleisnotadoctor]

Let me start by saying I know that the only way I can get a definite answer is to speak to my GP or request hospital notes (which I think I will probably do)

I just wondered if anyone knows or has experienced similar?

A few years ago I had a missed miscarriage. I opted to let it happen naturally. I thought it was all finished but I didn’t stop bleeding for quite a while. I noticed a foul smell which I was hoping would go away (it didn’t) and one evening I started cramping (similar to contractions so very painful). It was so painful that I took myself to hospital and was kept in and put on a drip immediately. I was disorientated and on my own so can’t remember much about it. I was allowed home the following day.

I know it was some sort of post miscarriage infection most likely caused by retained product (I assume). I’ve been reading up about it today and I came across ‘Sepsis’ a few times. I do remember the consultant telling me I was very lucky I came to hospital when I did as the outcome could have been a lot worse. Does it sound like a simple infection or was I septic? Any ideas from what I’ve described? I just want to understand what happened to me.

Will likely request my notes to be sure.

[florenceandthefig]

Was it perhaps an infection in your womb?

I had a miscarriage and they hospital were pretty hot on telling me to keep an eye out for the symptoms you've just described.

Womb infections are really serious and can affect fertility if left untreated so the hospital were very quick to tell me to come back if I felt unwell

[googleisnotadoctor]

@florenceandthefig Yes it could have been a womb infection. I don’t remember feeling particularly unwell but the smell was awful and the cramping excruciating. I was given 2 bags of fluids through a drip and felt a lot better afterwards and that’s pretty much all I remember. I didn’t have to have a d and c or anything and I don’t recall a follow up scan or anything. I’m just keen to know what actually happened. It’s what the consultant said ‘You’re lucky you came in when you did’ that plays on my mind. I want to ask ‘Why? What would have happened?’. I could kick myself for not asking at the time but just wanted to get home.

Thank you for replying

[florenceandthefig]

Perhaps it's linked to the potential loss of fertility if a womb infection is left untreated?

[Didntcomeheretofuckspiders]

We’re you given antibiotics? You definitely should have been!

It does sound like it could have been sepsis; although all sepsis is, is a severe response to infection. It could also just have been a bad infection.

[IWouldLikeToKnow]

TBH if you did have sepsis you would have been unlikely to be allowed home the next day. Probably best to speak to your GP who should have a discharge report from the hospital which will fill you in on a diagnosis. However, it could just say you had a uterine infection.

[googleisnotadoctor]

@Didntcomeheretofuckspiders I’m not sure if I was given antibiotics or just fluids. This is what’s bothering me (although I don’t know why it’s bothering me now after all this time!)

[googleisnotadoctor]

@IWouldLikeToKnow I’ve done a bit more reading up about sepsis and now I’m not convinced. Especially as I was allowed home the next day after 2 bags of some sort of fluids and I didn’t have to have a follow up of any sort (that I can recall). Will get on to my Gp and see if it’s any clearer on the discharge letter

[Noobie123]

Sepsis is the body's organs shutting down in response to infection and is life threatening. A diagnosis of sepsis would involve a prolonged hospital stay and lots of antibiotics

[Laiste]

My mum was luckily caught in the early stage of sepsis recently and had a 6 week hospital stay.

It sounds as if you had a womb infection OP

[afrikat]

I had a womb infection after my second baby. I was in agony, very unwell and the smell was awful. I didn't need hospitalising but had alot of oral antibiotics. I suspect iv antibiotics would have been required if I'd left it much later to be treated

[Caulk]

You’d know if you had sepsis. Sounds like an infection to me.

[Herja]

I remember myou mum having sepsis. It was caught quickly, 2 she was in hospital for a long time. I doubt it was sepsis. Still sounds horrid though.

[UnbornMortificado]

I devolved sepsis after going in early labour with DD, no one told me I didn't find out until I read DS's discharge notes.

Also my niece aged one developed it from a urine infection. SIL wasn't informed in hospital her GP told her afterwards.

Seems to be a thing to not be told about it.

[Bluntness100]

Did you get sent home with antibiotics?

I had an infection that not only got into my womb but also my blood stream, due to a prolonged period in theatre when I had my c section. I was on iv anti biotics for about a week, .and you need to stay in for 24 hours after your last iv.

They also do various tests when it’s first detected , I can’t recall thr name, but they take a sterile blood sample and grow it in a Petri dish in thr lab for 24 - 48 hours to ensure they are treating with the right antibiotics and know the type of infection,, and in the mean time they give you a mix, I think I had nine different anti biotics in my drip ( not uncommon or as scary as it sounds), till they know what exact one to treat it with. So it’s not fast.

I’d ask your gp. If you were given fluids could you have been dehydrated with an infection?

[googleisnotadoctor]

@Bluntness100 Sorry this happened to you.

I wasn’t given anything to go home with so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t sepsis. The only things I remember clearly were the awful stomach pains (the pain is what made me go to the hospital), the awful smell and having 2 bags of some sort of fluids. Also I remember the consultant was called in from home, he was wearing jeans and a jumper and just told me I was very lucky as I could have ended up much worse off of I’d left it any longer. If it was an infection I assume I would have been given some antibiotics to go home with?

[googleisnotadoctor]

@UnbornMortificado It seems really odd not to tell people about it. I wonder why?

[googleisnotadoctor]

Also I remember feeling really disorientated. I don’t know how I drove mys LG to the hospital. Looking back it as really dangerous to do that but I had no choice and just wanted the pain to stop

[TabbyMumz]

Sorry to ask, but what is a missed miscarriage? It's a phrase I've never heard of? Was it a miscarriage or not? I think you are best just asking your GP what happened.

[UnbornMortificado]

I've heard a couple of similar stories from women I'm on a prem support page with.

I had to have IV antibiotics for 48 hours but I discharged myself straight after with not much bother. No follow up either.

[HashiAsLarry]

My df developed sepsis after surgery, no one was told but my sister discovered it having a nose through his notes.

DH recently had a run in with it too, which again he wasn't told at the time. It was caught early enough thankfully to not affect his organs. He was told at a consultant check up after discharge. When he asked why he wasn't told at the time he was informed that on the wards they 'Don't like to use that word'

It's of course possible that it was just a very very nasty infection you had though.

[WhatwouldAryado]

I was given a drip antibiotic following retained products. (Yes that phrase is awful awful awful). No sepsis. But the foul smell yes.
A missed miscarriage is where the miscarriage hasn't yet occurred but the developing gets has failed or died but the body has not reacted. One of my three miscarriages happened that way.

[WhatwouldAryado]

Sorry that was for TabbyMumz

[WhatwouldAryado]

Arrggh gets = fetus . Ratted phone

[CMF1812]

I had similar symptoms and treatment with a womb infection (post birth). Disoriented, foul smell, fluids and antibiotics in an IV for two days, temperature so high my organs nearly started to shut down and nearly ended up in intensive care. They can be pretty nasty. Next time your at the docs I would just ask what it was.

[IWouldLikeToKnow]

TabbyMumz a missed miscarriage is when the heartbeat stops but you don’t realize it or start to bleed.* For example, I went for a scan at 8 weeks and the baby was still measuring 5 weeks and had no heart beat. This was a mmc. A week later I still had no bleeding so ended up having an ERPC. I could have waited for nature to take it’s course but there was no telling how long it would have taken.*