A BRECON woman who was potentially hours from death wants people to be more aware of the symptoms of sepsis and to see a doctor if they are at all concerned.

Carol Wothers says it was only after she was treated in hospital for what she thought was an upset tummy that she found out she’d had an illness that could have taken her life.

Carol, who works in the editorial department at the Brecon and Radnor Express, fell ill on August 17 last year but was determined to brush it off as a mild stomach complaint.

Over three days her health plummeted and she only went to see a doctor when her husband, Richard, returned from a trip and insisted she go.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition in which the body attacks its own tissues and organs as it seeks to fight off an infection. Most deaths are the result of multiple organ failure, although septic shock and respiratory failure can also lead to death.

The condition has been in the news recently because scientists in Scotland have declared they are developing a test that can diagnose sepsis in two-and-a-half minutes. However until that day the symptoms remain hard to detect, especially in the early stages.

Carol, 50, from Llanfaes, Brecon, said she had first noticed something was wrong when she began to feel “extremely tired” during the week before she developed her upset tummy.

She had dropped off her two adult children, Adam and Emma, at the Green Man festival on the Glanusk Estate on the Thursday but felt progressively ill the next day. Instead of joining her children back at the festival after work as planned she took to her bed as her ‘tummy bug’ was getting worse.

“I went to bed thinking I would just sleep and it would go away,” Carol said. “I was drinking loads of water to try and flush it out as I assumed it to be just a bug but nothing seemed to get rid of the raging thirst. I was extremely shivery but put that down to being cold as I couldn’t keep anything down.

“Being home alone for the weekend as my husband was away meant I didn’t realise how ill I was getting. When he came back he was shocked to find me confused, lethargic and a funny (tanned) colour.

“He insisted I went to the doctor on the Monday morning although I still didn’t think I was ill enough to bother them. The doctor did a few tests such as blood pressure, heart rate and temperature. My blood pressure was very low and my temperature and heart rate were both high. The doctor realised I was gravely ill and took me to the nurses room where I had an intravenous drip put into my hand for fluids and an ambulance was called to take me to Nevill Hall hospital in Abergavenny.

“On arrival I was whisked into a private room where blood tests were taken. They then informed me I had severe dehydration and was at risk of kidney failure. My kidney function had dropped to 23% (below 20% without dialysis is usually fatal). I was given two types of intravenous antibiotics as well as saline fluids and was in hospital for a week. I didn’t know at the time that it was sepsis and wasn’t told until I was out of hospital, thankfully. Looking back my symptoms out of the six common signs of sepsis – discoloured skin, slurred speech, passing no urine, extreme shivering, fast heartbeat, fast breathing – were the extreme shivering and discoloured skin.”

Fortunately, the rapid intervention of the nursing staff at Nevill Hall Hospital meant Carol was soon on the road to recovery, although she was off work for several weeks. Carol says she is grateful to the medical staff who treated her but also realises a key part of her recovery was that she went to see her doctor in the first place. She says it is vital people are aware of sepsis symptoms and go to a doctor as soon as possible if they think they have it.

“It was frightening thinking about how ill I had become over the course of a weekend. I am very grateful to my husband for making me go to the doctors and to the doctor for realising that I had sepsis and getting me straight to hospital,” she added. “It took me two months to recover before I was able to go back to work as I was very weak and tired after the infection had been treated.

“I didn’t know you could get sepsis from a tummy bug. It would be good to raise awareness - basically if you have any of the symptoms go and get yourself checked out by a doctor as soon as possible. Don’t put it off.”