Harmony Simmons

Hi, I am a 22-year-old woman who went into septic shock out of nowhere and being a person with chronic pain from back in sciatica, the initial attack was paralyzing back pain that put me into tears and I don’t cry over sciatica.

I went to the ER complaining and crying in pain. It was over 2 hours since my initial reaction before I got into the room and then the nurses where shocked at my vitals, 103 temp and 130 pulse. I don’t remember my blood pressure reading but it was dangerously low. They stuck to IVs in me then had to upgrade to a “PIC” line (central IV to my heart through my neck).

I was not sick had no symptoms almost at all and there I am in the ICU, confused. It wasn’t until I was released I learned what Sepsis was and I got VERY scared and felt soooo alone. It was a very out of body feeling knowing I could have not been here for my daughter who’s 4 years old and she has NO ONE but me. I was scared it was going to come back, but then I started to feel normal.

But, just when I thought I was OK it struck again last night. Woke up at 3:30 AM out of deep sleep with horrible bladder pain, I thought I was just needing to urinate but once I did, the pain sky-rocketed. I was covered in cold sweats within seconds and back into shakes and THIS time I paid attention to my symptoms.

So if I have sepsis and possibly urosepsis, I unfortunately have almost no signs until my body is going into shock and I feel like I’m going to – for lack of better description – seize out. This time I went to the ER within 20 minutes. I was rushed into a bed and put on IV, whereas last time I was uneducated on sepsis it was a full 2 hours of graduating septic shock before I was treated, so I nipped in the bud.

The downside is I KNOW THIS IS SEPSIS BUT they couldn’t read it yet, so I have to wait till it becomes a danger to my health before its treated? They discharged me saying I had UTI but if that was the case I’d be on antibiotics for UTI. They never identified the attacking bacteria when I was hospitalized for a week after septic shock, but after reading your info I have a little more insight I’m going to bring to the dr’s attention.

I’d like to get the most help I can on this matter if I don’t tackle it my daughter will lose me and I’m all she has. My life has always been a constant struggle and I’ve been in this alone. Sepsis is the icing on the cake of my hard life, but I’m more aware then ever and I’m not going waste ANY time. I have a new perspective on life, no matter how hard life is, I’m still alive, I survived and it’s not even over. I would like to be in contact with your Alliance if I could help spread awareness I will. This is a huge and frightening condition and once you have gone through it it’s hard to explain to others.

Thank you for your time.