An infected wisdom tooth nearly killed Caitlin Alsop when it deteriorated into a "mystery" illness. or signup to continue reading She was home alone and thought she'd bitten her tongue when her mouth worsened with swelling and pain. "I was worried the lopsided tongue was a stroke," she says.
The then 23-year-old's health quickly deteriorated as she was left unable to speak or breathe. "By the time we got to the hospital, my tongue was swollen, my mouth was jarred open and I had a blue-red rash all over my face," she says. Doctors initially thought she was suffering an anaphylactic reaction so treated it with adrenaline but this only made her symptoms worse.
"I kept passing in and out of consciousness, I developed a fever and I couldn't breathe," Ms Alsop says. "I became a medical mystery." She had to be intubated while her skin started to burn from the inside out "like a microwave".
Her tongue blackened, nearing the point of amputation. Her family was told to prepare for the worst. Thanks to a doctor with a hunch, medical staff finally diagnosed severe sepsis as a result of an infected and impacted wisdom tooth.
"This infection I had known nothing about nearly took my life overnight," she says. She was placed in a medically induced coma and given an antibiotic infusion until she recovered. Five years later, Ms Alsop is using the terrifying experience to raise awareness of how common sepsis is.
"In nearly losing my tongue I have gained a voice and a cause of something I previo.