Sepsis now killing more Americans than heart attacks

Knowing symptoms of sepsis can mean difference between life and death

Patty Duke, Muhammad Ali and Jim Henson all have something in common: they died from sepsis.

Put simply, sepsis happens when the body sounds an all-out alarm due to an infection. It can happen in the hospital or at home, to those who are sick or who appear perfectly healthy.

Basically, no one is immune from the devastating effects of sepsis, which can result in tissue damage, organ failure, amputation and…death.

But the worst part is, many doctors don’t recognize the symptoms and act quickly enough.

That’s why it’s urgent that you do.

And that you know the single most important question you may have to ask a doctor.

A medical emergency

Dr. Steven Simpson, who is a professor of critical care medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, can sum up sepsis in three words, “It gets tricky.”

Different people have different symptoms. Plus that, certain drugs can mask how you react and make it harder for a doctor to diagnose.

Despite that, at Dr. Simpson’s hospital they managed to cut the sepsis death rate from almost 50 percent down to seven. And that wasn’t because they had a special new drug. It was rather due to an all-out effort to catch the condition and treat it as fast as possible with antibiotics.

The CDC just issued a report on sepsis, calling it a medical emergency and finding that it is now killing more people in the U.S. than heart attacks do. But even scarier, the agency estimates almost three quarters of those who develop it had just been seen by a doctor or nurse who could have caught the condition in its earliest stages — but didn’t.

And while we’ve all heard about sepsis cases in the hospital, as I said, you don’t have to be hospitalized to be in danger. Any infection can cause it — even UTIs, skin or intestinal ones. It happens when your body releases chemicals into your blood to fight the infection, but instead sets off a domino effect of inflammation that can damage every organ in your body.

Without rapid treatment it can progress to septic shock where blood pressure drops like a rock, and vital organs don’t receive enough blood.

Sepsis is treated depending on how far it’s advanced — always with antibiotics and sometimes with fluids and drugs to raise blood pressure. And knowing what to look for can mean the difference between being sent home or directly to the ICU.

These are the top warning symptoms to watch out for that often accompany sepsis:

Warning #1: Fever with shivering or feeling extremely cold, what you would expect from a really bad case of the flu.

Warning #2: A rapid pulse and fast breathing. That might also be accompanied by a drop in blood pressure.

Warning #3: Swollen, red tissue and intense pain. Someone with sepsis can also have mental confusion that rapidly advances.

If you have any of these symptoms, Dr. Simpson says it’s vital to ask your doctor this question: “Is this likely sepsis?”

According the new CDC study, cases are on the rise with more than 250,000 confirmed deaths from it in the U.S. every year. But since there’s no specific test, those numbers are likely much higher.

And wait until you hear this. Many commonly used drugs can zap your immune system and make you much more vulnerable to sepsis.

These meds include steroids (including ones used for asthma), meds such as Humira and Enbrel for psoriasis and arthritis, and stomach acid suppressing drugs such as Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec. Those proton pump inhibitors work by blocking stomach acid that causes acid reflux, but also protects the body against bacteria and viruses.

Look, we can’t live in a bubble. But knowing how to prevent and spot sepsis early may just save your life or that of someone you love.

Sources:
“CDC: Sepsis is a medical emergency, causes more deaths than heart attacks” Arlene Karidis, August 31, 2016, The Chicago Tribune, chicagotribune.com