My name is Julie and in 2018 Sepsis almost killed me. I am one of the lucky ones who was treated on time and have spread awareness about this silent killer ever since.
Sepsis is a deadly reaction to any infection. One-in-five deaths globally is associated with sepsis and roughly 3,000 people die annually in Ireland from Sepsis.
My week in the high dependency unit of the Rotunda hospital (where I was so minded well!) taught me that although extremely common, once caught early, Sepsis is very treatable.
I’ll briefly explain my own experience with Sepsis. My first child was 8 days old and I was high on life, I truly felt fantastic just before I became so ill, so quickly.
I came downstairs to my family in the kitchen at around noon and lay down on the couch saying that I was tired, but then I began to shake a little. I suspected I was shaking with tiredness, my mother quickly ordered me up for some much needed sleep as I must have been exhausted, 1 week postpartum, which I agreed with and up I went to bed while my mum and aunt minded my new little baby.
The rest of this story is all from their words as I lost 90% of my memory from the next 24hours almost immediately.
At around 1pm my mum heard me screaming for help and when she came up to me she found me completely delirious and in a complete sweat with a 39+ fever, while also uncontrollably shaking and with ice cold to touch hands/feet.
My mum cleverly phoned The Rotunda hospital who suggested I should be brought in and then phoned my husband who had just gone back to work that day.
When he arrived home 30 minutes later I had deteriorated further and the shaking was out of control. We later discovered that it was called “rigor” A rigor is an episode of shaking or pronounced shivering which can occur with a high fever. It is an extreme reflex response which occurs for a variety of reasons. It should not be ignored, as it is often a marker of significant and sometimes serious infection.
Luckily my family were there and didn’t let me ignore it, as my husband sped into town through the bus lanes, he described me as being completely delirious. It was as though I’d been drinking for 12 hours, making no sense and slurring my words while also shaking uncontrollably. The scariest thing for my husband was when I started to tell him I was dying, and with such certainty apparently. I do slightly remember the feeling I had. I was telling him what I wanted him to say to our child, I even texted a few friends later that night in hospital to say goodbye - I was CONVINCED that I was dying! Little did I know that this is one of the key symptoms of sepsis.
I arrived in A&E of the Rotunda at about 3:30pm and was on about 3 different drips less than 20 minutes later - they couldn’t have acted quicker and by the sounds of it suspected sepsis from the very beginning!
Over the next 5 days every single nurse and doctor that we spoke to thanked and praised my family for bringing me in so fast, as they were sure that the outcome would have been very different had they not seen and treated me as quickly as they did.
I had “puerperal sepsis” it’s when an infection occurs as bacteria has infected the uterus and surrounding areas after giving birth. It’s also known as a postpartum infection.
I was released from hospital on Christmas Day 2018 late that afternoon and have never felt more lucky to return home. I think it was a week later when I heard that a young woman named Karen McEvoy died on Christmas Day 2018 having developed maternal sepsis and septic shock secondary to infection. I still think of Karen and her family every single day.
When I got home I had my baby to focus on and keep me busy, so in a way I didn’t really focus on my own recovery how I probably should have. I tried not to think about it all.
However less than 6 months later I started to experience very intrusive thoughts and had become extremely anxious about germs and infections. After being referred to a therapist I was diagnosed with PTSD and began to work through the issues I was having post sepsis.Here I learned that it was very common to have a multitude of these feelings post sepsis too, which gave me reassurance that I wasn’t alone in my feelings.
I’m happy to say that having passed the 6th anniversary of the entire sepsis episode, I now feel healed, I don’t relive the experience as much any more and didn’t dwell on it after my sons birthday last year for the first time. So I am happy to say that time does heal all (or certainly most) of the symptoms but I will share the key symptoms and a few of the social media pages that have helped me over the years incase you are in the early stages of learning about sepsis, I hope this helps you too…
Symptoms of sepsis
These are displayed on the side of many Irish emergency ambulance and paramedic unit vehicles. The following is an acronym for sepsis symptoms:
S - Slurred speech or confusion
E - Extreme shivering, muscle pain, fever
P - Passing no urine
S - Severe breathlessness
I - It feels like you are going to die
S - Skin mottled or discoloured
Other symptoms may also include:
Altered mental status, difficulty breathing, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, weak pulse, low blood pressure and cold extremities (hands and feet). Know the symptoms – it save lives!
https://www.instagram.com/irishsepsisfoundation?igsh=NWFlb283bXBhZ3g5
https://www.instagram.com/endsepsis?igsh=MWJvd3o1ZHY4b3dvdw==
https://www.instagram.com/worldsepsisday?igsh=ODA5cDZibjlrOGYw
https://www.sepsisfoundation.ie
