Putting her sweats and aches down to high temperatures on a Majorca holiday – Lauren pushed through her pain only to discover she was knocking on death’s door before having major surgery
A fitness fanatic claims she was 24 hours from death when a pulled muscle from running turned out to be killer sepsis.
Lauren Carson got a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in August and started a week-long course of antibiotics, but said her symptoms didn’t improve. The 31-year-old then started experiencing back pain and feeling hot while in Majorca on holiday, which she put down to being active and being abroad.
But when the pain left her unable to walk after she returned home, the financial crime specialist called a doctor on Friday 22 August, who ordered her a taxi to take her to hospital.
Lauren, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, said: “I would get UTIs quite a lot, I think most women do. As a woman you just assume it’s a UTI and that you need to drink more water and cranberry juice.
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“I had a course of antibiotics, [but] it didn’t seem to ease the symptoms. I ended up getting severe back pain on one side of my back.”
Within six hours Lauren had scans that revealed she had kidney stones, believed to have been caused by a UTI, and went into septic shock. Lauren is part of a concerningly large wave of women who have contracted life-threatening sepsis after a UTI that wasn’t taken seriously.
Doctors reportedly told a horrified Lauren she had just 24 hours to live if she didn’t have surgery. Lauren had the kidney stones removed and stayed in the Royal Victoria Hospital, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for five days following her operation.
Now, Lauren is sharing her ordeal to raise awareness of how serious UTI complications can be.
She said: “I thought I had strained a muscle from running but it wasn’t that at all. It was because the UTI had developed into kidney stones and I hadn’t realised.
“I was really warm, sweating so much, but I just put that down to being on holiday in Majorca. When I got home from holiday I couldn’t stand up straight, the pain on my back was so sore I couldn’t walk or drive. I rang [my GP] and they ordered me a taxi.
“My blood cell levels were so high because the infection was already passing into my blood, it went into sepsis at that point. I went to the hospital and I got septic shock within six hours so I couldn’t remember anything at all. I went from having a scan to being completely confused, not remembering anything.
“I was basically told I had less than 24 hours to live if I didn’t have the operation then.” Now recovering from surgery, Lauren said she still deals with UTI symptoms and can’t do activities that require lots of walking and strength. Lauren said: “I had the operation immediately. When I came out, I was told I wouldn’t be able to walk for a couple of weeks.
“I was quite active, I do yoga, pilates, go running, it was a shock, I haven’t been able to do anything like that. It’s changed my entire life from just having a UTI. They had to take the kidney stones, they were completely lodged, which is what caused the blood infection.
“I can 1760354399 drive, can’t walk too far and still have UTI symptoms.” Now sharing her story, Lauren aims to raise awareness and urges other women to take UTIs more seriously.
Lauren said: “I never expected it to be something so serious. UTIs are so common with women, you never expect it to be fatal. If antibiotics don’t work after three days you should go to the doctors and explain they haven’t gotten rid of the infection.
“Take UTIs more seriously because we are so prone to getting them and don’t ignore symptoms like tiredness and confusion.” The NHS cites sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection. It happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs.