Wow, so many sad stories here. I am sorry to all who have lost a loved one. Sepsis is such a serious thing and growing even larger. As of 2011 it was the most expensive reason for hospitalization and we spent over $20 billion in 2011 alone. We spend around $55 million daily in hospitals across the country treating sepsis.
Because of Crohns disease I started taking an immunosuppressant called Humira for a short time before I started having bad reactions to it. I would get MRSA infections for no reason at all. Since 2009, I have been hospitalized or treated for a STAPH infection probably over 100 times. The last two years it has really slowed down but my last MRSA infection happened a couple of months ago. It was on my leg and started from a tiny nick from shaving. I use a new razor every time I shave my legs and got a small nick, it was really nothing. Within a day the back of my leg got infected. I now circle the size of them with a marker so I can see if it is getting larger. I am very familiar with these and can at times take care of them myself. This grew over 6 inches within a 3 hour period and while most make me feel a little flu-ish and sometimes have a fever, this one had me feelling the absolute worst I ever felt. My husband drove me to the ER, which I have been to many times as my ID dr, wants me to go to the ER with every infection because I am always MRSA positive.
I normally run low with my blood pressure, around 100-110. When I was being triaged my blood pressure was 70 and my heart rate, normally around 65-70 was 170. I could tell immediately as they whisked me to the back in a wheelchair and about 3 drs attending to me that something was very different and much more serious. They told me they suspected I had sepsis and immediately started iv hydration and taking blood samples. They took cultures to test for sepsis but those take a little bit to get back and started IV antibiotics. My lactic acid (I think) was high and they said along with my fever, low blood pressure (especially since it is normally higher when I am in pain) and high heart rate these were all signs. It turns out I did have sespis (bloodstream) and I was hospitalized for about a week.
I have been hospitalized many times especially the first few years but I had been doing better with hospitalizations further and further apart. I am a relatively healthy 46 yr old who runs almost daily, exercises daily and eats a very healthy diet with little processed food. This is by far the worst I have ever felt. I can only explain it by saying I really thought I had a good possibility of dying and a weakness I have never known. I felt much better when I got out of the hospital and I was 100% about 2 weeks after that but it was very scary.
It is really crucial to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I put it off for two hours because I felt so sick, I really didn't want to sit in the ER so my husband really pushed me to go. I probably would have waited a couple more hours because I literally didn't have the energy to dress myself. When you feel like that despite knowing that is when you NEED to get your butt to the ER, it is the time you least want to get ready to go. My husband had to literally help me get dressed. I have never been in that type of situation where I couldn't dress. He wanted to call an ambulance immediately and we fought because I stubbornly refused, I thought it was just the same type of infection I have had many times and nothing serious enough to warrant an ambulance. Now I know to not put it off for a second. We had a long talk after that and he told me he felt terrible I talked him into NOT calling an ambulance. I will never put him in that position again.
Please, if anyone is feeling symptoms or you even think it could be a possibility, do not put it off for even minutes.
@Noel7, I think this post is great info and really important for so many people to know. Thanks for putting this up. I am sure it will be useful to any poster who reads this!
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
JFK
Blogs & Forums
Forums
Blogs
