to ask for your symptoms if you've had sepsis?

[cherryscola]

Hello,

I went to the GP this morning and was diagnosed with a chest infection. Have been given antibiotics.

I am just worried as I feel so unwell and this has been ongoing for over 10 days at the same level.

• I cannot get warm no matter what I do. I am currently covered in goosebumps and my skin on my arms has a purple tinge to it. I'm thinking this could just be because I'm so cold though?
• I feel so tired and weak, my muscles are just aching.

The other symptoms are usual of a chest infection, my chest is hurting and i'm coughing a lot, don't currently have a temp (36.1) atm.

I'm just curious on what your sepsis symptoms were? I don't normally get ill like this and it's just freaked me out.

I'm glad you're going to hospital. My mother had necrotising fasciitis which progressed quickly but the week before she had symptoms like yours which were the first signs of the infection taking hold.

If you had sepsis you wouldn't be able to chat on here. I diagnose it at work most days and its severe, people come in unable to speak and on the verge of collapse if they can get here at all.
Plenty of info online:

Sepsis | NHS inform

No longer having a temperature is a massive alarm bell with sepsis. A fever is your immune system's way of fighting infection by raising your core temperature too high for the bacteria or virus to survive. If you are still getting worse and your temperature has dropped, you need to get to hospital. I wouldn't wait for your DH tbh.

@NashvilleQueen I was hospitalised with that two years ago. Was debrided and lost the whole of the top of my torso. Am really lucky to be alive. Hope mum is ok.

Absolute nonsense.

When I was diagnosed with sepsis, I was sat in maternity triage texting my siblings. I was admitted moments later.

Granted, my vision was quite poor due to my low blood pressure, but I was still functioning at the time. It took me weeks to recover.

Honestly, if your job is diagnosing, you need retraining. I left it longer than I should because I had a midwife telling me I was fine hours before.

Same for me. Texting and making phone calls re DC coming home to an empty house while waiting for and in the ambulance.

Thanks @Stomacharmeleon She survived for a good number of years. Like you she underwent surgical debridement and it was pretty dreadful in terms of recovery. It had attacked her bowel so she ended up with a stoma but it was a miraculous recovery given where she was. Sadly some years later she developed a squamous carcinoma in the scar tissue and passed away a few months later.

Your experience also sounds absolutely awful and I hope that you are doing ok now. It's a truly terrible disease and the speed of progression and damage it causes is horrific.

Thank you for saying this. As a fellow sepsis survivor, it really upsets me seeing professionals misrepresenting sepsis symptoms.

There is a real issue in timely diagnosis of sepsis and survival, and this is partly the reason why.

Just goes to show, i couldn't peel myself out of the bed. I just slept and slept. Tbh i wonder what would have happened had i been at home, i might have just seemed tired.

Terrible rigors, confusion, feeling I was going to die, trouble breathing.

-Pain like I’ve never felt before
-Waking in night thinking I was going to die
-Crying and apologising to my mum for all the bad things I’ve ever done in my life

Oh yeh, and wanting to call an ambulance for myself. Never had that before.

I recently was hospitalised with sepsis

extreme shivering, temperature above 40 which I couldn’t bring down, fast heart rate, low blood pressure, extreme pain at site of infection, feeling like I was going to die

i’ve had sepsis 3 times. each time my temp was very high (can’t remember exactly) but i couldn’t stop shivering - that was the main thing. other than that i honestly wouldn’t have recognised it as a serious thing myself and was only caught incidentally twice because i was already in hospital and once because it stemmed from an ovarian cyst and i was in a&e with the pain

this is totally incorrect, might be time to refresh your training

@NashvilleQueen that's strange we sound so alike. As you can tell from my name I have a stoma too as a result. I already had crohns so it damaged further an already damaged bowel.
I had a tiny blood bruise under my boobs and a fluey feeling. Was due to go on holiday the next day and had slept downstairs. Dp came down and it had completely spread (I looked like a black banana) and I wasn't breathing.
It was super scarey. I have to be honest it was worst for dp as i Don't remember a lot. Had several debridements and it took me over a year to heal... I couldn't have a vacuum on the wound because of the stoma.
Sending a hug in honour of your mum.

Agree nonsense re 'you couldn't type' .

When I had it my overwhelming Main feature was uncontrollable shivering and feeling very very cold but having a fever. Also a bit breathless and slurring my words a wee bit.

When I went into hospital I also had really really fast pulse - 130+ I think and something with my BP but can't remember if it was up or down.

Oh and agree very very sudden onset

This just isn't true and is really dangerous rhetoric. I walked myself into a&e and sat in the waiting room texting dh about how I didn't think I needed to be there after all. My symptoms were nausea, a temp, a fast heartrate, weakness and extreme tiredness, in between texting dh in the waiting room all I could think about was curling up in the corner to sleep. As soon as I was given a bed in resus I was out like a light.

I had Sepsis and feel that you really need to be checked out in the hospital .I would call 999 TBH and explain your symptoms . Its very dangerous to leave it .Symptoms for me terrible headache , intolerance to the light and feeling cold and shivery .

I has sepsis after DD2 was born, my symptoms were:
Uncontrollable shivering
raised temp
elevated pulse
high blood pressure
and a feeling that something was very wrong with me.

I’m glad you’re getting help OP. Like some others on this thread I could still hold a conversation and it wasn’t the most ill id ever felt initially. I can’t remember how they diagnosed it (I was in labour and lots of obs on me and baby) though I had a fever/was shivering… the thing that stood out to me at the time was that I felt like I was on drugs (all spangly and strange, and seeing stars every time I closed my eyes) even if I could still talk / reason somewhat. I became increasingly out of it and sleepy over the next few hours but I was already on iv antibiotics by then.
good luck and take care of yourself. It sounds like you need to be seen anyway even if it is not sepsis.

I haven't had sepsis but I watched my husband with symptoms for 5 days before he was diagnosed with a perianal abscess which had caused the infection. He then went into septic shock as he went into surgery and was resuscitated twice and was very lucky to live. He was in ICU for a week after. So I feel I can tell you accurately what happened to him and say don't take no for an answer if you think you may have sepsis. When we sought medical attention everyone acted very swiftly, had they not he would have died.

Symptoms:-

• feeling hot and then cold
• Temperature (only lasted for 1 day though at the start)
• shaking uncontrollably (not like shivering but like I imagine an alcoholic or drug addict may do when detoxing)
• clammy and grey looking
• achey joints
• not really understanding how ill he was, he tried to go to work at one point when he could barely stand and I hid his car keys (so I feel it's good advice to someone to watch you carefully if they can)
• for the final 2 days he was very confused and forgetful and starting to slur his words (I started to think stroke at this point)
• low blood pressure which is probably the easiest one to spot, we didn't have a BP monitor - we do now! When we saw a GP it was 75/45 and he sent us straight to be admitted to a surgical ward, bypassing A&E (without a doubt this saved his life, he was in surgery a couple of hours later)

Sepsis awareness in some hospitals is severely lacking. Please please advocate for yourself or get someone on your side to do it for you. It can come on so quickly.

Then 6 months later my husband suffered a severely ruptured appendix which severed his bowel and was almost at sepsis levels of infection following surgery. This time nobody acted and I had to fight and fight and fight. Eventually his wound was drained and there was gangrenous tissue in his histology report and then he started to recover. But I knew what I was watching for this time.

I wish you well and if I can answer any questions I am happy to do so.

@OuiOuiKitty You're abolutely right. When I had sepsis, I drove myself to hospital with my newborn baby, got us into the reception and sat breastfeeding as I spoke to the nurses who came to triage me, at no point was I unable to speak or express myself so this is definitely not always the case.

OP I went into septic shock and had yellowish skin, freezing cold feet and hands, shivers and was the coldest I'd ever been in my life despite a temperature which went up to 41c. I also had horrendous pain and a feeling of being so ill I just didn't know what to do with myself, I hope you have managed to get to A&E and will be seen soon, wishing you a speedy recovery !

@cherryscola I developed pneumonia following a chest infection, and sepsis.
The pneumonia was discovered during a chest x-ray suggested by my GP, he didn't realise it was that serious and neither did I.
I was very ill and in hospital for a week with hugely elevated blood infection levels. Symptoms of sepsis were vomiting, feeling very cold, sweating like crazy, high temp. Hope you feel better soon & get the right treatment.