Sepsis - raise awareness

[whoruntheworldgirls]

Not AIBU but following a session I've just attended i wanted to share this as wide as i could

sepsistrust.org/about/about-the-charity/

My friend had a "chest infection" she even had a GP call to her house on the Wednesday morning, checked her over confirmed viral chest infection, just plenty of fluids and rest etc. She died less than 24 hours later at home in bed. Her devastated husband realised she must have got worse whilst they were both sleeping. He has never forgiven himself for it even though he is not to blame. She was 39 and left behind 2 children.

It made us blow some savings on an amazing holiday to know that life is bloody short, and at times brutal. She was a very funny, loving and kind woman and I miss her.

Ds was 14 covered in hives but totally well, I sent a pic to the GP surgery as asked and they told me to come in immediately, gave him a full check up and told me that he clearly had something going on internally that hadn't manifested any symptoms yet but the hives were a reaction to something and keep an eye out for worsening condition. Basically I had a front line pass for the surgery and told if it was out of hours go immediately to A&E. This is the same GP surgery my friend was at, they take no risks now. Lessons have been learned. There was a review but at that point she just had a chest infection, no indication of sepsis.

I wonder if the phrase "septic shock" might be useful to return to. I had a day of D&V and then got very confused, started shaking uncontrollably and thought I was going to die when my appendix burst and my husband said to the nurse "I think she has sepsis" and the nurses said "oh no she's just in shock". Luckily I was already being prepped for an appendectomy so they quickly realised it really was sepsis and not "just shock".

(I don't remember any of this myself because I was totally out of it and basically incoherent but have heard the story from DH many times since!!)

I'm lucky in a way that I don't remember most of it when I had sepsis. The nurses were so cheerful when I was in hdu so it wasn't until I got better and googled what I'd had that I realised how serious it had been. Dh was amazing and kept taking photos of ds so I would have as many as possible of him if he died and I survived. He said afterwards that he kept thinking about how he was going to tell our older dc that their mum and baby brother had both died.

But obviously I am still here and we have our lovely son too. We are definitely one of the lucky ones.

Forgot to add, definitely more awareness needs to be raised. It's important that friends/relatives are aware of the symptoms, especially as these days you can easily be dismissed by the g p receptionist if you aren't assertive enough.

They sent both my father and my husband out of hospital twice with sepsis (four separate occasions). I was protesting all four times, saying they weren’t well. My husband ended up in intensive care and my father got so weak he caught various superbugs and died.

@NewNameWhoDis3 thank you for sharing that. I survived sepsis 3 years ago - I’ve made a full physical recovery but I’ve struggled far more with the psychological scars and it almost feels like “survivor’s guilt”. Maybe I should contact them x

@GettingThereCharleyBear - were you in ICU? There is also a support group called ICU Steps which can help with the psychological trauma.

Sorry I don't know how to tag! But I second reading the info on ICU Steps for anyone who was in ICU. My husband was there 4 days, he was very delirious but he kept ringing me the first night until the nurse took his phone away. He was absolutely adamant that he was being held captive and that there was some conspiracy with all the staff to keep him there for some kind of illegal testing. He was really angry with me as he said nobody believed him, even me. Apparently this is so common to either feel you've been kidnapped, or you're in a war zone. They don't really know why, possibly something to do with being 'tethered' to all the machines. My husband really believed this to be the case for weeks and weeks after, even well after the delirium had ended. He also had massive gaps in his memory, he was in hospital 7 nights but thought it was 2. We got through it by talking after and crying a lot together. But ICU asked if he wanted to go back to discuss exactly what had happened day by day and look round ICU etc, which I thought is an absolutely fab idea. Post sepsis syndrome is very very real and trauma related to being in ICU. Thanks so much everyone to raise awareness for this. X

Thank you for sharing this.

I had sepsis when DS1 was two weeks old. I had mastitis which was being treated with antibiotics. About 3 days in, I woke up in the morning feeling so cold, like a pp said - it felt like my bones were cold. I couldn't stop shivering. I was so, so thirsty but didn't need the toilet. DH took me to the out of hours surgery and I sat there 45 minutes while everyone was called in ahead of me. When it was finally my turn, my doctor took one look at me and said he'd call an ambulance if I didn't have anyone to take me to hospital. Thankfully DH was waiting in the car outside and drove me straight to the hospital. The doctor has referred me to the surgical assessment unit but then called ahead to say I should go to the maternity ward so DS1 could stay with me. My legs gave way into a wheelchair and they wheeled me underneath the service bits of the hospital to get to the ward quickly. I was on oxygen and IV antibiotics for a day or so. I felt so ill I thought I was going to die and I didn't even care. I remember my mum and dad coming to visit me that night and DH taking DS1 home as I wasn't well enough to look after him and they wouldn't let DH stay in the room to keep DS1 with me. I had been breastfeeding up to that point as well, although was too scared to after that.

@toomanydicksonthedancefloor1 I was hallucinating that I was in prison and I kept crying to the nurses that dh wouldn't visit me and I didn't know why. I felt so bad about that afterwards as dh had been running around everywhere trying to look after 4 children under 8 as well as visit me and the baby. I kept phoning him and reminding him to put the bins out too. Several times a day for 4 days, none of which were bin day!

Oh yes DH thought nobody had been to see him at ICU too when he was there 4 days. I was there for around 6 hours a Day and his parents had been there after me for 1-2 hours every day! We didn't know at the time that this happens to a lot of people.

The nurse looking after him was a lovely transgender lady and every time she came in the ward my DH would shout really loudly 'here he is' and I would apologise to her, luckily she understood and actually thought it was hilarious! She understood he was want in his right mind. But my DH was mortified when I told him after, as it was so out of character, he's the most polite and considerate person usually.

It's really bizarre how it affects you mentally, I had no idea. 11 weeks on he still struggles with forgetting things a bit, he's not quite as sharp as he was.

The first time I was poorly after it was rough too, it gave me massive anxiety as I was scared that I'd get sepsis again. I needed a tooth pulled as HG wrecked it and I wouldn't let the dentist do it because I was adamant I'd get an infection, get sepsis and die (still haven't had it pulled). I had my gallbladder out a few years ago and told my consultant all about what happened and his whole team were great, gave me premeds to keep me calm and after I got home he made a point of having someone on the team call me every day for the first week to check how I was doing and check for any signs of infection. He didn't need to do that but I really appreciated it as it reassured me a lot.

I was in an emergency care hospital when I had sepsis so luckily was able to keep my baby with me as I was on the maternity ward, its all individual en suite rooms and can deal with complex cases. They had a discussion over the top of me where they debated moving me to HDU but decided to treat and monitor there instead. I was in hospital on two types of IV antibiotics for a week then had ten days of two kinds of oral antibiotics at home. It took a while to feel like myself again afterwards, not just brain fog and tiredness but mentally I was quite despondent too.

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is sepsis and how do you get it?

@Wildernesstips no thankfully the lady on 111 and the paramedics recognised my symptoms very quickly so I was in HDU and on super strength ABs. I felt ill but I don’t think I realised quite how unwell I actually was until the very lovely doc explained to me why I couldn’t go home however desperately I wanted to 😢.

Hi, hope this explains

sepsistrust.org/about/about-sepsis/

My dad has had it twice, second time earliee this, year, luckily he recognised the symptoms. The neighbour who called the ambulance was questioned about how dad knew it was sepsis; in the end the neighbour had to shout 'because he's bloody had it before'. To be fair the ambulance then came v quick and he was seen in a and e, doctors were initially dismissive and then apologised when his bloods came back. He was very lucky, anything that raises awareness is good in my book!

Basically it's when an infection sends your immune system loopy and it goes into overdrive, causing it to fight the useful bits of your body instead of just the infection.

I had retained placenta which was completely missed, my fundal height was still at the bottom of my ribs five days postnatal and I was in a lot of pain. This unchecked infection triggered off sepsis and I became very ill, very quickly. It can fatal within hours if it's not picked up on and treated but the symptoms are so similar to those of the initial infection that it can be difficult to spot. It's also know as septic shock, blood poisoning and septicemia.

@toomanydicksonthedancefloor1 I also had hallucinations and was convinced that the staff were trying to kill me. From what you have posted there is a possibility that your DH & I were in the same hospital.

Thanks for your work to raise awareness about Sepsis!

I work for the UK Sepsis Trust, and just wanted to pop by to say that there will be a documentary about sepsis airing at the end of this month - it is called ‘Jason & Clara: In Memory of Maudie’ and will be broadcast on ITV1 on Thursday 30th March 2023 at 9pm. More info here: sepsistrust.org/maudie/

If you or a loved one has been affected by sepsis, The UK Sepsis Trust offers support - we have online and face-to-face support groups, as well as a freephone support and information line staffed by nurses. Just email support @ sepsistrust.org for more information.

Thanks,

Beth

@Wildernesstips were you in a SY hospital and the nurse had a name beginning with G?

Just bumping this up to mention a documentary about sepsis on ITV. It’s about actor Jason Watkins and his wife’s experience of losing their 2 yo daughter to it.

https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2023-03-29/the-silent-killer-the-personal-reason-why-i-made-a-programme-about-sepsis

Arrgghh sorry! I just saw it’s been mentioned above.

Thank you Beth for raising awareness and for the documentary. I lost my child to it 14 years ago.

So sorry to hear about your child. We offer a range of bereavement support including an online bereavement group if you'd like to join. They are actually meeting today as it happens: Support groups | The UK Sepsis Trust

Or you can email our support nurses and schedule a call to have an individual chat if you feel this would be helpful, particularly if you found watching the documentary difficult or there is an anniversary approaching. Their email is support @ sepsistrust.org (delete spaces)

Thank you bumping. The wider this reaches the better.