Caitlin Alsop was 23 years old when a rash kept appearing on her face. It happened for months and was the only illness – she was a “typical, healthy” woman in her early 20s.
But the redness was a sign that something deadly had arisen inside her body.
“I went to a couple of doctors but I didn’t think anything was going on and then I ended up with some flu-like symptoms,” Alsop told news.com.au.
She said she was experiencing a fever, sore throat and earache and her GP agreed she just had the flu and should take it easy, so she did.
Finally, Alsop began to feel better and went to dinner with a friend. But while eating, she felt as if she had bitten her tongue. A few hours later, her tongue was swollen and she was drooling.
She was having trouble breathing and her ability to speak, so she texted her family and they all agreed that she was likely having some kind of allergic reaction. However, when she was unable to swallow antihistamines, she was immediately taken to the hospital.
Within 45 minutes, the doctors also hypothesized that she had anaphylaxis and gave her adrenaline twice. But things got worse and she started to fade in and out of consciousness and a severe blue and red rash appeared on the upper half of her body.
Alsop was then transferred to the Gold Coast University Hospital, where she was known as a “medical mystery”. Her tongue started to turn black and there was talk of a tracheostomy and necrotizing fasciitis.
Doctors eventually performed an endotracheal intubation and transferred him to the intensive care unit. His skin was burning from the inside out. An anesthesiologist suspected that she had ludwig’s angina, which involves life-threatening cellulitis of the soft tissues involving the floor of the mouth and neck.
This meant a CT scan and the ultimate cause of her problems was identified. Her wisdom tooth was impacted and infected and almost killed her.
“I had no pain, no symptoms, and it almost killed me overnight. It’s absolutely crazy,” she said.
“I didn’t know an infection could be so serious. Like many young people, I had no idea that an infection could lead to this. I was walking around and then literally burning from the inside out in the ICU as a medical mystery.”
After it was discovered, she needed emergency surgery to remove the tooth. Her jugular vein also began to compress and so the pressure from this had to be relieved. She was in a coma for nine days.
“I felt like a child when I woke up because I was so disoriented,” Alsop said. “I had such strong drugs. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t talk, and it was just a very interesting ride.
“But I was so grateful to be alive, to be able to see, hear, breathe like I can’t describe that feeling.”
For the next two months, she had open wounds that needed to heal. It wasn’t until a year later that she discovered how close a call she had. Alsop’s infection had actually developed into sepsis.
Sepsis is a serious condition that occurs when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection, resulting in tissue and organ damage.
Alsop said that while that knowledge is scary, and not having it at the time likely changed her recovery process, it has given her a new lease on life.
“I’m very determined to make sure I leave this world a better place,” she said.
“But you know, it’s really scary — and what’s scarier is the number of people who message me saying they’re worried that their loved one is going through something similar, and they see my story and they want to make sure it doesn’t happen to them. “We all need to work together to make sure we prevent the loss of life from sepsis.”
She encouraged people who may suspect they have sepsis to go to the hospital and not be afraid to ask if it is sepsis and get it investigated.
Since then, Alsop has created the Face Sepsis project after talking to GPs and dentists and realizing that so many ordinary Australians didn’t know much about it.
Face Sepsis is a simple education program designed to help supportive practices and primary care recognize the symptoms of sepsis, as the sooner it is treated, the better chance people have.
Alsop is sharing her story ahead of World Sepsis Day on September 13, where Sepsis Australia is launching a social media campaign to raise awareness of the condition that kills 8,700 Australians each year.
Sepsis kills one in three people it affects, but only 61 per cent of Australians know what it is. Symptoms of sepsis may include fever or chills, muscle aches, failure to urinate, rapid breathing, confusion or slurred speech, pale skin, and a fast heart rate.
Associate Professor Sanjaya Senanayake, infectious disease physician at Canberra Hospital, said: “Sepsis is a time-critical medical emergency as the risk of death from sepsis increases by 8 per cent with every hour that passes before starting treatment. Recognizing the signs and common symptoms will help reduce the risk of preventable death and disability.”
The Sepsis Australia campaign challenges Australians to take part in this tongue twister: “I am susceptible to sepsis and susceptible to sepsis”.
Love Island Australia star Anna McEvoy is one of the Aussies throwing their weight behind the sepsis challenge.
In 2023, McEvoy was rushed to hospital after a urinary tract infection that she had progressively worsened after taking antibiotics for seven days.
“I had severe pain in my side that was gradually getting worse in my left arm, back and moving forward,” she said at the time.
Eventually, a doctor suspected kidney stones, but the scan didn’t show it. Eventually, the pain worsened and she ended up in the hospital. She was eventually discharged, but things got worse as she began shaking uncontrollably, her lips turned blue and the pain was “excruciating”.
She was eventually diagnosed with a kidney infection that turned into sepsis.
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Image Source : nypost.com