Woman, 23, Thought She Had the Flu — Until Her Tongue Turned Black from Impacted Wisdom Tooth: ‘Nearly Killed Me'

• Caitlin Alsop, 23, thought she had the flu – but it was the start of a life-threatening sepsis infection caused by a broken wisdom tooth
• She says she was in a coma for 9 days and had open wounds for a year after battling an infection
• She said she was “literally burning inside” from sepsis – and has since launched an organisation, FACE Sepsis, to raise awareness of its seriousness

The Australian woman thought she had the flu – but it turned out to be life-threatening sepsis caused by an impacted wisdom tooth.

Caitlin Alsop, 23, struggled with sporadic rashes on her face but told news.com.au: “I went to a couple of doctors but I didn’t think anything was going on and then I ended up with some flu-like symptoms.”

Flu was the diagnosis, she says, and on doctor’s advice, she took it easy until she felt better.

Caitlin Alsop, 23, nearly died from a sepsis infection caused by a broken wisdom tooth.

Caitlin Alsop on Facebook

It wasn’t until she went out to dinner with a friend that Alsop says things suddenly took a serious turn for the worse.

At dinner she said she felt as if she had bitten her tongue; Later, she told the newspaper that her tongue swelled and she started drooling. Thinking it was an allergic reaction, she told news.com.au she tried taking an antihistamine – but couldn’t swallow it because of the swelling.

Alsop says she went to the hospital, where doctors also thought she was having an allergic reaction of anaphylaxis — but the normal course of treatment for the life-threatening condition didn’t help.

That’s when Alsop says she developed a blue and red rash and began to lose consciousness.

She told the publication that her tongue had turned black—doctors thought she had necrotizing fasciitis (a bacterial infection known as “flesh-eating disease,” the Cleveland Clinic explains) or Ludwig’s angina (which the Cleveland Clinic says is cellulitis of the tongue and neck).

But it wasn’t until she had a CT scan that the real cause of her illness was revealed: an impacted, infected wisdom tooth.

Caitlin Alsop.

Caitlin Alsop

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“I had no pain, no symptoms and this almost killed me overnight. It’s absolutely crazy,” she told news.com.au.

She needed emergency surgery to remove the tooth and told the outlet she was in a coma for nine days after her jugular vein – located on the side of her neck – began to be crushed by the pressure of the infection.

“I didn’t know the infection could be so serious. Like many young people, I had no idea that an infection could lead to this. I was walking around and then I was literally burning from the inside out in the ICU as a medical mystery,” she told the publication.

Alsop was left with open wounds that took a year to heal, and told news.com.au she learned her infection was actually sepsis.

Caitlin Alsop is now raising awareness of the risks of sepsis.

Come to Confidence/Instagram

As the Mayo Clinic explains, sepsis occurs when the body “misreacts” to an infection — in Alsop’s case, an infected wisdom tooth.

“Infection-fighting processes involve the body, causing organs to malfunction,” the Mayo Clinic says, adding that “when the damage is severe, it can lead to death.”

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“It’s really scary — and the scariest thing is the amount of people who message me saying they’re worried about their loved one going through something like this, and they see my story and they want to make sure it’s not going to happen to them,” he said. is Alsop for the publication.

Her experience inspired her to launch the FACE Sepsis project, which she hopes will raise awareness of the risks of the disease.

“We all have to work together to make sure we prevent the loss of life from sepsis,” she said. “I am so determined to leave this world a better place.”

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Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education