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Signs & Symptoms of Sepsis



The signs and symptoms of sepsis are usually rather straight forward. Since an infection and fever almost always antecede sepsis, the body temperature is always either very high or very low. Here are the symptoms:

  • The patient usually experiences severe shaking and chills. Even when the weather is warm, or the patient has been made warmer, the chills and the shaking continue.
  • The patient's heart keeps beating very rapidly and the blood pressure also remains very low. The patient may also have rapid breathing while experiencing palpitations.
  • There is a lot of disorientation, agitation and confusion. The patient is usually unaware of everything that is happening around them. There is increased urination and a lot of dizziness.
  • Sepsis may often lead to development of rashes on the skin. Small red dots are usually seen throughout the body, but there may be localized red discoloration on the skin as well.
  • Though this is not characteristic of sepsis, a lot of people develop joint pain especially in the wrists, elbows, knees and ankles.

Causes
Diagnosis
References
  1. James M. O’Brien Jr, Naeem A. Ali, Scott K. Aberegg, Edward Abraham, Sepsis, The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 120, Issue 12, December 2007, Pages 1012-1022, ISSN 0002-9343, 10.1016/j.amjmed.2007.01.035.
  2. Adriana Cristina Galbiati Parminondi Elias, Tiemi Matsuo, Cintia Magalhães Carvalho Grion, Lucienne Tibery Queiroz Cardoso, Paulo Henrique Verri, Incidence and risk factors for sepsis in surgical patients: A cohort study, Journal of Critical Care, Volume 27, Issue 2, April 2012, Pages 159-166, ISSN 0883-9441, 10.1016/j.jcrc.2011.08.001.