Sepsis awareness

Bad news—she took a turn for the worse tonight and was rushed over to Akron. Word is she had a stroke, so... I guess we all know what comes next.

So, my brother just developed sepsis right after surgery for bladder stones. To make matters worse, he’s a quadriplegic, so his overall health and immune system are already pretty compromised. He actually looked okay the day immediately following the procedure, but once he couldn't clear his lungs and his fever spiked to 100.4, everything went south fast. They rushed him straight to the ICU where they found his blood pressure had plummeted to a terrifying 52/28.
He got moved into a shock room, and thankfully his pressure is climbing a bit now, though he's hooked up to one of those machines—I honestly can't even remember the name because I've been swallowing medical jargon like crazy for the last forty-eight hours.
His heart rate is sitting at 130.
We're just stuck waiting on the lab results to identify the specific bacteria, which is going to take forever... In the meantime, he’s on broad-spectrum antibiotics.
This waiting game is absolutely killing us...
Is there any kind of therapy out there that could potentially stabilize him or at least slow down the infection while we wait for the labs to pinpoint the exact bug and get the right antibiotic dialed in? I know I'm probably talking nonsense here, but we're just grasping at straws at this point.

Where even is he? (I mean, it totally depends on what kind of gear they have on hand, like if they can get him into an oxygen chamber at the Mayo Clinic)

Tyler James5 said:Where even is he? (I mean, it totally depends on what kind of gear they have on hand, like if they can get him into an oxygen chamber at the Mayo Clinic)

Look, we're out here in San Diego right now, so I'm guessing the closest thing would be down in Miami. But honestly, it’s worth looking into regardless. Could you walk me through how exactly that works and how it actually helps the patient recover?

I honestly can't believe they're going to move someone in such bad shape... and look, antibiotics are clearly the gold standard when you're fighting sepsis.
Look, I’m no medical expert, so I can't give you some deep dive on how hyperbaric chambers actually work, but from what I gather, it helps boost tissue microcirculation and gets more oxygen into the blood... plus there are studies out there showing it can help with sepsis cases. You should really just sit down and talk to the doctors at the Mayo Clinic where your brother is staying.

Tyler James5 said:I honestly can't believe they're going to move someone in such bad shape... and look, antibiotics are clearly the gold standard when you're fighting sepsis.
Look, I’m no medical expert, so I can't give you some deep dive on how hyperbaric chambers actually work, but from what I gather, it helps boost tissue microcirculation and gets more oxygen into the blood... plus there are studies out there showing it can help with sepsis cases. You should really just sit down and talk to the doctors at the Mayo Clinic where your brother is staying.

Thanks for getting back to me so fast.
I'm just praying those antibiotics do the trick.

it’s actually better since they're responding to the antibiotics 👋

Richard Morris43 said:it’s actually better since they're responding to the antibiotics 👋

sweet 🙂

I’ve been reading this thread, and honestly, it just gets harder to stomach every single day. I feel like I’ve already processed all of this through reading medical journals and professional articles. I really should have insisted on having Mom transferred to the Mayo Clinic. It feels like they at Baltimore don't even know how to handle sepsis properly. Maybe if she had been in the ICU, they might have stood a chance. They didn't even tell us there wasn't enough room, which was their excuse for not transferring her, even though I asked twice. Once septic shock sets in, there's just... there's almost no hope for recovery. That’s how it was for my mom. But for a major hospital like the Cleveland Clinic to miss the initial signs of sepsis? They were so obvious. I tried to warn them, I really did, but they just brushed me off because it happened to be a Sunday. It felt like they didn't even want her to make it, and they certainly didn't show any remorse about what happened—which shouldn't have happened in the first place. I truly don't understand how people can act like this when their entire profession is built on helping anyone who reaches out for help. I mean, I wonder... would they react this way if it were one of their own family members? If they actually had the will to react in time, provide the right IV antibiotic therapy, or move the patient to intensive care.

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I just finished reading a medical journal article written by doctors from the CDC in Washington, D.C. It really puts things into perspective. My mom’s experience with urosepsis—which she actually recovered from—really highlights how critical timing is. You have to act fast and start antibiotics immediately, even before the culture results come back. Once the sensitivity report arrives, then you can adjust the treatment if needed. According to the data, only about 18% of patients progress to septic shock, which is unfortunately fatal. I honestly think the staff over at Baltimore could learn a thing or two from these more experienced specialists. Instead, they just keep insisting they did everything possible for my mom, when in reality, they didn't do much at all. It’s almost bold of them to say that. The sepsis actually developed while she was under their care, and it just wasn't treated quickly enough.

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Hi there. I’m a guy—and I’m gay (hoping for zero judgment here). During some recent sexual activity with my partner involving fingering and penetration, things got a little intense. About an hour later, while using the restroom, I noticed some blood on the toilet paper along with some residue. My concern is this: is it actually possible to contract sepsis this way? What are the symptoms I should be looking for? Can bacteria really jump from waste directly into the bloodstream via toilet paper? And could the manual stimulation itself lead to sepsis? Thanks in advance—and again, please, no judgment...

So, an elderly person I know—about ten days after a pretty intense surgery (I think it was just a benign tumor)—ended up catching sepsis. From what I last heard, they're actually in a coma now, which is just devastating because they seemed to be recovering so well. Honestly, what are the real chances of them pulling through this? 😢

And I mean, could this have been some kind of oversight by the doctors, or is it just one of those things where it happens regardless?

Might not be directly related, but I'll drop this here instead of starting a whole new thread...

So, Saturday afternoon, I stepped on a nail. Tore up about a centimeter of skin. Rusty, obviously. What else would it be?

I hit it immediately with some rubbing alcohol and slapped an alcohol-soaked cotton ball on it.

Look, no fever or anything, just the usual wound pain, but I’m feeling pretty wiped out and sluggish.

Last tetanus shot was probably 14 or 15 years ago.

Should I head to the ER or what? Is it possible for blood poisoning to kick in after a few days?

The wound is a little swollen, but honestly, it looks like any other centimeter-deep scrape.

Look, a wound is a wound—it hurts like hell, plain and simple.

I can see you aren't dealing with any stiffness in your neck or muscle aches—honestly, that could be one of the big indicators right there.

You should probably head over to the doctor today to get that protection sorted out for Ana.

Went in this morning for my first round of routine checkups.

Now they're sticking it in my arm instead of my thigh.

Something new

Alright. My health is a mess. Physically. And I feel like nobody takes me seriously—they just write everything off as me being lazy.

So. On May 19th, I went through sepsis and hit septic shock. They put me in an induced coma for about seven days. After that, I spent a month fighting off severe pneumonia.

The fallout is still happening.
Here’s what I’m dealing with four months into recovery:
-Weight gain
-Missed periods
-Hot flashes—cold sweats on my face and back that literally drip like someone poured water over me
-Erectile dysfunction—haha, just kidding—total loss of libido
-Vaginal dryness
-Neuropathy—nerve pain all over my body
-Right hamstring feels paralyzed
-Numbness in the front of my left foot
-Insomnia
-Extremely dry, sensitive skin that reacts to UV rays—a few minutes in the sun and my arms turn bright red. I have to use medical-grade baby lotion just to shower.
-Hair loss on my arms and legs—especially my thighs
-Not long ago, my hair was coming out in clumps when I brushed it. Thank God that stopped. Luckily, I have thick hair, so the thinning isn't super obvious.
-Zero stamina—after walking for five minutes, I'm sweating and gasping like I just ran a sprint.6.2 miles

All of this has triggered depression. Antidepressants are basically just keeping me afloat so I don't sink completely. But I've withdrawn into myself so much that even basic tasks, like going to see my doctor once a week, feel impossible. There's a mountain of specialist appointments to get through. I don't know what to do. Honestly, I'd rather they just admit me to an internal medicine ward at a place like Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins so they can run every single test right there in the hospital. Is that even a thing?...

Has anyone else gone through something like this?

But seriously.