A mum who blamed her back pain on sitting on the sofa while working from home was later diagnosed with sepsis.
Louise Carter, 39, from Gilberdyke, East Yorkshire, says she begged doctors to test her for sepsis after self-diagnosing her symptoms on Google.
The mum-of-three had been experiencing back pain, which she dismissed as discomfort from sitting on the sofa to type during lockdown.
But, in August last year she was rushed to Scunthorpe General Hospital when she could no longer handle the searing pain.
She was unable to urinate and soon started vomiting, hallucinating, and running a high fever.
After several days without answers, the social worker Googled her symptoms and became convinced she had sepsis.
The life-threatening ailment is caused by the immune system damaging body tissue while trying to react to an infection.
Despite crying and begging doctors to test her for blood poisoning, she claims they refused and denied any possibility of her having the illness.
Fearing she survived a close call with death, Louise has spoken out to alert others to sepsis symptoms, and to urge people to follow their gut if they think they have it.
She said: "I had really bad back pain and thought it was because of working from home during the pandemic and sitting on the sofa typing all day.
"I could barely move because of the pain and couldn't go to the toilet either so I rang my doctor and he told me to ring an ambulance.
"They took me to A&E in Scunthorpe Hospital. I was really poorly and out of it.
"After a couple of days of being in hospital I started projectile vomiting, having hallucinations and was shivering but sweating at the same time.
"I told the doctor I think it's sepsis and she said it's not, she said my blood pressure was normal but I asked her to check my stats again.
"I was furious and crying because I knew something was wrong. I had to push for them to test me for sepsis and keep telling them that I had all the symptoms.
"They did more bloods and the next morning two doctors came to see me and said it was sepsis."
The mum-of-three spent two and a half weeks in hospital fighting the deadly condition and dealing with terrifying symptoms.
Thinking she was on her death bed, she asked for her three children Connor, 22, Kiah, 21, and Kadi, 17 to be allowed to visit despite Covid-19 restrictions on visitors at the time.
Louise said: "When I went to A&E they just put a catheter in because they thought it was something wrong with my bladder as I couldn't wee.
"I started being sick and didn't eat or drink for a few days. I'm not ever sick even when I've drank too much. I have an iron stomach, so I knew something wasn't right.
"Then I started having hallucinations - I saw one of my dead friends and a nurse peeping round the curtains in the room but the healthcare worker kept telling me no one was there.
"It was really scary. I was crying and asking if something was wrong with me.
"They should've recognised that I had the symptoms and done a blood culture test straight away.
"When they told me I had sepsis I asked if it was a good idea to get my family to visit me because I know how serious sepsis is and they said yes - I thought it must be bad if they will let me have visitors during the pandemic."
Louise made a full recovery after being treated with antibiotics but fears it could have turned out differently if she hadn't pushed doctors to test her.
She had to use a Zimmer frame for a week after leaving hospital because of struggling to walk from the back pain she suffered but this soon passed once she fully recovered from her ordeal.
The mum now hopes to raise awareness about the deadly condition and to encourage more people to speak up when they believe their symptoms aren't being acknowledged.
Louise said: "I feel really lucky to have not even lost a fingertip or anything because people pass away or lose limbs from sepsis.
"It's really important to raise awareness about sepsis because it affects so many people but there's not much out there about it.
"I'm nearly 40 and I didn't know the symptoms until I Googled them and realised I had it.
"If you believe you have sepsis you need to push to get blood cultures done."
A spokesperson for the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust said: “Timely treatment of patients with Sepsis is vital so we make sure all patients showing symptoms are screened.
"In cases like this where patients are staying in hospital they are monitored regularly and, if any changes are noted, our staff can take action quickly to start treatment so they can recover fully.
"We would invite this patient to contact our PALS team if they have any concerns about their care and treatment so we can discuss it directly with them."
