Blood poisoning.

[Scorpius]

A friend of mine is in hospital diagnosed with "blood poisoning" I understand he is in a coma,

obviously this is very serious but how does one incur this, apart from the obvious what are the possible side effects, any thoughts would be appreciated.

[helixhelix]

Blood poisoning or septicaemia can be the sad result of all sorts of infections, from minor scrapes to infections following big operations. My step daughter got it after birth of second child and was also in a v bad way for several days (with an ESR off the scale, which gave me some perspective about my piddly readings). With luck they'll be no after effects for your friend once the infection is under control. It's not really something you can avoid entirely in your life unless you seal yourself up in a plastic bubble and never do anything, so just stick to normal hygiene.

[Scorpius in reply to helixhelix]

Thanks for your reply, do I understand it's often caused by an infection entering the blood stream via say, rusty nail as apposed to the ingress of contaminated food, are you aware of what treatments are given to control the condition.

[helixhelix in reply to Scorpius]

Look up sepsis on NHS Choices website - but don't scare yourself rigid as they give all the outcomes.

[sylvi]

I think they had an infection,but i don't know.Just praying they recover.xxx

[allanah]

I think you have to take this step by step. Ye this is a serious infection and the body needs support and a large amount of help in some cases to recover. Hopefully the intravenous antibiotics will help and the doctors and nurses will work hard to get the infection under control.

Obviously you roll get news from the family and they will get lots of advice from the hospital . Try not to worry yourself as the last thing they need is that you flare from the worry , dong mean that to sound harsh, it's just I recently did that when my daughter was ill and it didn't help any of us. He's in good hands , thinking of you xxxxxx A

[Scorpius]

Thanks for the replies and kind words.

[JamieRN]

"Blood poisoning or septicemia, the medical term can occur different ways. I was " septic' about 7 years ago from a kidney stone that lodged in the tube coming from ur kidneys to ur bladder which backed up the urine back I to my kidney which made me have pyelonephritis, a very serious and deadly infection of ur kidneys that eventually makes it into ur blood stream. I'm a registered nurse and like most stubborn, thought was just another kidney stone, but I began to have 105 temps couldn't get out of bed, became delirious, was taken to my kidney DR BY my husband tho I have no memory of it, he was able to diagnose me immediately. My blood pressure was so low he told my husband if he hadn't of brought me in to see him, I prob had 2 hours to live. I was44 years old. I was transferred to the hospital to ICU, BY THEN was in a coma, had to keep my bed in the " head down position" to keep my bp up plus many bpd drugs to raise my Bp they packed me in ice as my temp rose to 106, they told my family they were trying to find the rite combo of antibiotics to fight the blood infection and the kidney infection but that can take a few days so they were told I may not make it. By the grace OF God On the 2 nd day things started to turn around. The 3 rd combo of antibiotics was working, the blood pressure medicine had brought my blood pressure back up and I was out of my coma, tho I was still having some hallucinations. I went home in 10 days and I will never ignore those symptoms again. But we nurses tend to ignore our own illnesses to be able to help others. I hope that helps you to understand one way people can get "blood poisoning" I pray your friend makes it thru and fully recovers.

[Scorpius in reply to JamieRN]

I thank you for the information, sounds like you had a lucky escape, kidney stones in my case were very painful without the complications you experienced, pleased to hear you are well now. Thanks again.

[Mimi21]

The UK Sepsis Trust have an information leaflet on sepsis and the recovery which can be very long. My Dad has sepsis in the summer from either a urine infection or chest infection. He was in hospital for 4 weeks but the first week was quite scary . If they have diagnosed your friend and treating him hopefully he is in the right place. Hope he's ok x

[Scorpius]

I thank all of the respondents to my post regarding "blood poisoning" regrettably he died at 4pm yesterday, as yet we are not aware how he contracted the infection, he didn't come out of the coma. 38yrs old, very sad and a great loss to us all.

[nomoreheels in reply to Scorpius]

I didn't reply as I had nothing I could add that would have helped but I do want you to know I'm so sorry your friend didn't come out of his coma. It will make no difference to the outcome but I do hope it's found what caused the sepsis, it will help his family deal with their loss a little better if they have a cause.

[helixhelix in reply to Scorpius]

So sorry to hear this, as so tragic at that age. Best wishes to you and your friend's family.

[JamieRN in reply to Scorpius]

Oh Scorpius I'm so sad to hear that. I was lucky tho md said I was 2 hrs from death. At least they knew the source of my sepsis and were able to get on it quickly. I am so sorry.

[julie1908]

I had Sepsis last year. I was relly run down with my RA getting infection after infection and eventually ended up with a sebactious cyst in my groin that turned into an abcess and after 3 courses of strong antibiotics over a few weeks (in this time i was feverish and very unwell) they admitted me to hospital and i had the abcess drained and cut out. After 48 hours i was allowed home with yet another course of the same antibiotics but 36 hours later i went downhill very quick and my husband had to call 999 i was admitted with sepsis and pneumonia and in a very bad way but after 12 days on intravenous antibiotics i was allowed home. My rheumatology doctor also got involved as they wasn't sure if it was down to all the medications i had had that year that had killed my immune. If they had checked my blood when i first had the abcess they would of realised that all the antibiotics they were giving me would never of cured the infection as the bacteria i had was immune to them.