Hi last year my partner found me collapsed in our flat. I was rushed to hospital where I slipped into a coma which lasted for two weeks I was also ventalited as I had double pheomia. At first the medical team could not wake me out of the coma and it was touch and go with my family and love ones told I only had a 10% chance of survival. If my partner had been a little later in finding me I would have died. I have no memory of that night except for the terrible halutinations I had before I slipped into the coma. These continued after I woke up this time due to the drugs I was on. In the third week in ICU I was taken of the ventilator and given a temp tracheostomy
In total I spent five weeks in ICU. I couldn't walk or write I couldn't speak due to the trachie and due to muscle weakness I couldn't write so had no way of communicating. I then developed a DVT in my left leg which had travelled to my groin by the time it was discovered. In total I was in hospital for two months. I was not warned of the after effects from sepsis. I had long hair past my shoulders but about a month after I got home I noticed that I was losing my hair! It was so bad I was afraid to wash or brush it as it was falling out in clumps my finger nails became very brittle and broken and my skin dry and sore.
The worst part for me was losing my hair I know that sounds vane and I was lucky to be alive but as a woman losing my hair was like losing my identity. I also have big gaps in my memory and I can not remember very little of the weeks leading up to my collapse. I now have terrible short term memory and on going issues due to bladder damage from being cathertised for six weeks and lung damage I also have circulation problems due to the DVT. It will be a year this month since I contracted sepsis and I am still struggling with the after effects. My hair is now growing back but I fear I will never be the same.
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Juleswilbur
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You have done well to survive your awful experience.
My hair and nails fell out a year ago when I got home after sepsis caused by food poisoning. It was shocking as I was unprepared for it.
I'm happy to say it is completely regrown and is thick and just as shiny and healthy as before. I had it cut and coloured to manage the regrowth better. My nails have completely recovered too.
My GP told me that a balanced healthy diet would help and just time with rest. I pushed myself to be active daily and tried zinc and multi- vitamins supplements.
Reading about what could have happened to us we were the lucky ones!
I just tried to respond to you and relate my experience to you but when I sent it It was Blocked due to Privacy. I didn't put anything of Personal Nature etc. Sorry I couldn't help you but just remember You Are A Survivor and there are many who are not. Just Hold Your Head Up High and remember that.
I found this article helpful too when researching the post effects of Sepsis. It helps me when I start to feel really down that it is the Sepsis talking not me! I tell myself “Not today Sepsis”. Hahaha!
Thanks for sharing your story! I also am losing my hair and it is a very emotional time. I keep reading it grows back so that is encouraging. I feel the same way I don’t know if I will ever be as strong as I used to be. Hopefully with more time that will change. They say for every one day in the hospital it takes 10 days of recovery, so you have 600 days of recovery.
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2 month coma
One year on..
Where there’s life there’s hope
Almost a year after ICU stay and sepsis
Ongoing Amnesia.
