Kierha Megan H

It started on the morning of the 27th of November 2017. I woke up in the middle of the night in severe pain, I was freezing and dizzy. I have a chronic pain condition called CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) so I assumed it was that. Now I’ve had sepsis a good few times before but that wasn’t on my mind. I went back to sleep. I suffer from CVID (basically immunodeficiency) and suffer from tonsillitis A LOT. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System)

When I got up in the morning I couldn’t swallow, couldn’t drink, talk or anything. I was burning up and was still in a ton of pain. My mum didn’t have a good feeling and took me to the emergency doctor. She prescribed me some antibiotics even though we said I literally cannot swallow. By this point my temperature was 38.9*c and my throat had almost swollen shut. My mum took me home while she went to get the antibiotics from the pharmacy. She showed the pharmacist a picture of my throat and he said to take me straight to A&E. So we did. My local hospital is 10 minutes away but half way there I completely lost consciousness.

When we got there I was triaged and confused. I’m wheelchair bound so I didn’t need to walk or anything. The nurse triaging me noticed my temperature was now 40.2*c, my blood pressure was 56/44 and my heart rate was 156 bpm. She immediately put in a sepsis alert and I was rushed into resus. I was cathed (urine catheter), had 3 IVs and a central line in my neck placed. While there I began getting worse and worse and was transferred to the high dependency unit a few hours after.

The next morning they called my family in to talk about what had happened. It turns out I had gone into severe sepsis the night before then septic shock on the way to the hospital. I had a urine infection, strep throat (& tonsilitis) a chest infection and small infection in my leg (from CRPS). (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections, Sepsis and Pneumonia, Sepsis and Strep Throat, Sepsis and Bacterial Infections)

It was terrifying to know that the GP I saw had told my mum I’d be fine. The nurses on HDU soon told my mum that one more hour and I would’ve died. I do suffer from post sepsis syndrome and reoccurring infections that almost always trigger sepsis. (Sepsis and Post-Sepsis Syndrome) There needs to be more awareness about sepsis and I’m forever trying to do that!!!