Skip to main content

Septic Shock

Septic Shock



Overview

Septic shock is a serious medical condition that can occur when an infection in your body causes extremely low blood pressure and organ failure due to sepsis. Septic shock is life-threatening and requires immediate medical treatment. It’s the most severe stage of sepsis.

What’s the difference between septic shock and sepsis?

Septic shock is the last and most dangerous stage of sepsis. Sepsis can be divided into three stages: sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock.

Sepsis: Sepsis is life-threatening. It happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection.

Severe sepsis: This is when sepsis causes your organs to malfunction. This is usually because of low blood pressure, a result of inflammation throughout your body.

Septic shock: Septic shock is the last stage of sepsis and is defined by extremely low blood pressure, despite lots of IV (intravenous) fluids

Symptoms

Septic shock is the third stage of sepsis. Early signs of sepsis can include:

Fast heart rate.

Fever or hypothermia (low body temperature).

Shaking or chills.

Warm, clammy or sweaty skin.

Confusion or disorientation.

Hyperventilation (rapid breathing).

Shortness of breath.

When sepsis turns to septic shock, you may experience additional symptoms. These include:

Very low blood pressure.

Lightheadedness.

Little or no urine output.

Heart palpitations.

Cool and pale limbs.

Skin rash.

Causes

Any infection can lead to sepsis which can then develop into septic shock if it worsens. Not every infection will lead to sepsis or septic shock. But, if an infection causes enough inflammation, it can develop into sepsis. Most of the common infections are from bacteria, but both viruses and fungi can also cause infections and sepsis. Infections can start anywhere but commonly begin in your lungs, bladder or stomach.

Risk Factor

Your septic shock risk increases if you have a weakened immune system which increases your risk for sepsis. People with weakened immune systems include:

Newborns.

Those over age 65.

Pregnant women.

People who use recreational drugs.

People with artificial joints or heart valves.

People with chronic medical conditions have an increased risk of sepsis. These conditions include:

AIDS.

Diabetes.

Leukemia or lymphoma.

Immune disorders.

In addition, people who’ve had recent infections, surgeries, transplants or medical devices implanted have an increased risk of sepsis.

Complications

Septic shock is a very serious medical condition. It’s the most severe stage of sepsis. Septic shock can lead to:

Brain damage.

Lung failure.

Heart failure.

Kidney failure.

Gangrene.

Death.

Diagnosis

Your healthcare provider may suspect sepsis if you’ve had an infection and you suddenly develop a fever or hypothermia, rapid heart rate or breathing rate, or low blood pressure.

Your healthcare provider may run blood tests to check for:

Presence of bacteria and/or infection.

Complete blood count.

Blood chemistries, including lactate.

Blood oxygen levels.

Organ malfunction.

Your healthcare provider may also collect samples of your urine, saliva, tissues and/or cerebrospinal fluid for further tests.

In addition, you may have imaging tests to find the source of infection. These imaging tests include:

Chest X-ray.

Computed tomography (CT) scan.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan

Treatment

If you have septic shock, you need immediate treatment. Treatment is usually in an intensive care unit (ICU).

Your healthcare provider will start you on antibiotics immediately. They will also give you fluids through your vein (intravenously) to rehydrate you and help increase your blood pressure.

You may receive oxygen through a face mask or a nasal cannula, a small plastic tube with two openings for your nostrils. A breathing tube may be placed in your windpipe (trachea) to connect you to a breathing machine (ventilator) if you can’t breathe well on your own.

In addition, you may need surgery to remove the source of the infection. Abscesses may be drained. Dead or infected tissue may be removed. Catheters, tubes and medical devices may be removed or changed.

If fluids don’t increase your blood pressure, you may receive medication to raise it. Medications such as vasopressin (Pitressin®) or norepinephrine (Levophed®) cause your blood vessels to narrow and increase the blood flow to your organs.

You may receive insulin if the septic shock has increased your blood sugar (glucose) levels.

If fluids and medication haven’t helped increase your blood pressure, you may receive corticosteroids.

Type of Doctor Department : Intensive care medicine specialists and emergency room physicians

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Charge Syndrome

Overview CHARGE syndrome is a recognizable genetic syndrome with known pattern of features. It is an extremely complex syndrome, involving extensive medical and physical difficulties that differ from child to child. CHARGE syndrome is correlated with genetic mutation to CHD7 and the prevalence of CHARGE syndrome is 1:10,000-1:15,000 live births. Babies with CHARGE syndrome are often born with life-threatening birth defects. They spend many months in the hospital and undergo many surgeries and other treatments. Swallowing and breathing problems make life difficult even when they come home. Most have hearing two little girls sitting on a carpet, one girl has a trach and is biting her finger.loss, vision loss, and balance problems that delay their development and communication. Despite these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, children with CHARGE syndrome often far surpass their medical, physical, educational, and social expectations. One of the hidden features of CHARGE syndrome is the ...
7 comments
Read more

Dehydration Due to Diarrheal Diseases

Overview Dehydration occurs when you use or lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn't have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If you don't replace lost fluids, you will get dehydrated. Anyone may become dehydrated, but the condition is especially dangerous for young children and older adults. The most common cause of dehydration in young children is severe diarrhea and vomiting. Older adults naturally have a lower volume of water in their bodies, and may have conditions or take medications that increase the risk of dehydration. This means that even minor illnesses, such as infections affecting the lungs or bladder, can result in dehydration in older adults. Dehydration also can occur in any age group if you don't drink enough water during hot weather — especially if you are exercising vigorously. You can usually reverse mild to moderate dehydration by drinking more fluids, but severe dehydration needs immediate medical treatment. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) Disease

  Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) Disease Disease Overview Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease is a rare disorder of unknown origin that affects many body systems, including as the eyes, ears, skin, and the covering of the brain and spinal cord (the meninges). The most noticeable symptom is a rapid loss of vision. There may also be neurological signs such as severe headache, vertigo, nausea, and drowsiness. Loss of hearing, and loss of hair (alopecia) and skin color may occur along, with whitening (loss of pigmentation) of the hair and eyelashes (poliosis). Signs & Symptoms Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease is initially characterized by headaches, very deep pain in the eyes, dizziness (vertigo), and nausea. These symptoms are usually followed in a few weeks by eye inflammation (uveitis) and blurring of vision. This may occur in both eyes at the same time or in one eye first and, a few days later, in the other. The retina may detach and hearing loss may become apparent. The chronic stage follows...
Post a Comment
Read more