Blog Post

When viruses, bacteria, germs, and other possible harmful substances get in your body, it’s the job of your immune system to isolate and eliminate these threats to your health. 

Problems that affect your immune system include a range of potentially dangerous complications, and sepsis is one of the worst when it becomes severe. To learn why this condition can present such a threat, let’s examine what it is, how it affects the body, and how to avoid or treat it.

Residents of the greater Houston and Spring, Texas, area looking for ways to avoid sepsis and other harmful infections can get help from our medical team at Houston Medical ER.

Facts about sepsis

Sepsis is when your immune system has a dangerously adverse reaction to an infection and damages healthy organs and tissue, leading to inflammation through the body. The infection gets into your bloodstream and leads to a chain reaction that causes blood clots that reduce blood flow throughout the body and leads to organ damage and failure. 

Sepsis is frequently due to bacterial infections such as:

• Pneumonia
• Urinary tract infections
• Appendicitis
• Peritonitis
• Brain and spinal cord infections
• Bowel problems

Other infections that can lead to sepsis affect your liver and gallbladder, and can be due to catheters, and skin inflammations and wounds.

Sepsis can cause a range of symptoms such as urinary problems, severe fatigue, hypotension (low blood pressure), fever, hypothermia, chills, shaking, extreme pain, and hyperventilation.

What it does to the body

Sepsis has three stages, and the effect it has on you depends on whether you have sepsis, severe sepsis, or septic shock. 

Severe sepsis is when the infection leads to organ damage, and septic shock is the most dangerous form of this illness. This complication leads to extreme hypotension, altered mental function, and organ dysfunction, and has a mortality rate of up to 50%. 

Getting sepsis treated before it gets this bad is vital for the best chances of survival.

Both severe sepsis and septic shock can have similar signs, including:

• Acute confusion
• Dizziness
• Severe breathing problems
• Cyanosis (bluish discoloration of the skin, lips, and nailbeds)
• Abnormally low urine production

People at high risk of these problems are those with extended stays in hospitals, the bedridden, diabetics, newborns, the elderly, and those with suppressed immune systems due to autoimmune disorders. 

Prevention and treatment options

The best way to prevent infection is through regular cleaning, vigilance with chronic conditions, and basic steps to avoid viruses and bacteria. Wash your hands with soap and water frequently, keep your vaccinations up to date, clean skin wounds, and get medical care for infections as soon as possible.

Treatment will likely be in an intensive care unit (ICU) and will target maintaining blood pressure, stopping the infection, and keeping affected organs functioning. 

There are several methods to manage it, like intravenous (IV) fluids, antibiotics, vasopressor medication (for narrowing blood vessels and raising blood pressure), a ventilator to help with breathing, extra oxygen, dialysis, and surgery. 

Sepsis can be fatal if you don’t take care of it as soon as possible, so if you show signs of this condition, contact us at Houston Medical ER as soon as possible to get the treatment you need.