My sister is in the hospital and is Septic... now they say she has acid in her blood... they just called me?

I tried looking this up to understand what is happening exactly. Her blood cultures will be back tomorrow they just called to let me know about the acid in the blood. She is very sick and in intensive care fever between 102-106.. what happens now with the acid factor? She has lived through sepsis 3 other times but she seems much worse this time. Any help would be appreciated.

thank you both.. i have been with her all day.. they would not let me in the room tonight because she is septic and she also had MRSA infection they said this might be what has reached her blood stream.. im so scared... i looked at your sites you both put and she has all of these symptoms...Because of the MRSA they will not let me touch her. She is really scared and signed power of attorney over to me earlier today.. She had an abnormal ekg yesterday and tonite and her heart rate is around 130 which is high... now she is coughing up blood and they said she has pneumonia both sides..

I'm really sorry to hear about your sister.

Here's paragraph from Merck explaining the acid factor in the blood:

"Often, the first indications of septic shock are confusion and reduced mental alertness; these symptoms may be evident 24 or more hours before blood pressure drops. Other early symptoms may include a shaking chill; a rapid rise in temperature; warm, flushed skin; a rapid, pounding pulse; excessively rapid breathing; and blood pressure that rises and falls. Urinary output decreases. Tissues with poor blood flow release excess lactic acid into the bloodstream, causing the blood to become more acidic, which results in malfunction of many different organs. In later stages, the body temperature often falls below normal."

It basically says that the acid in her blood can cause various organs to malfunction. It's good that she's in the hospital. That's the best place she could be right now.

I'm praying for her, and for you, that you can somehow be an encouragement to her.

You should go to be with her. (If you can get there.) Sepsis is pretty bad stuff. If they are giving her large doses of antibiotics, and it has been caught early enough, she can survive. Here is a website to look at. My thoughts are with you.

Keep your spirits up. My brother was in ICU, and his doctor wanted to "pull the plug" a few years ago. We wouldn't hear of it. It was a long recovery, but he's doing really good now. Just stay positive!

Medicine is so advance these days so trust in her Doctors but trust in God more. We are all praying for Missy. Sweety, keep your faith. Whatever happens is in God's hands. Just keep praying along with us. God bless. Tina

Sepsis can cause lactic acidosis, which makes the blood acid. Also, they can go into kidney failure, which can cause acidosis. She may need to have dialysis temporarily if her kidneys are shutting down. She could come out of this. You know her situation is very grave. There is a limit to what antibiotics can do, especially when the germs are resistant. The body has to mount a defense, and she sounds very weakened. If anything can be done to discover some underlying cause, and if anything can be done to improve such a cause, this would help. Hang in there. It's not over til its over. People have recovered from death's doorstep many times. Try to seek out God Almighty and ask him whats going on.

We just had a young patient admitted to ICU this A.M. with septic shock and he has a metabolic acidosis. Many of the body's organs are affected by the septicemia and the shock resulting in low blood pressure, high temps, organ failure. In the case of this young person, there is kidney failure ...hence the metabolic acidosis. The body works hard to keep a balanced PH under traumatic circumstances, till it can't do so anymore. In the case of this young person in my ICU, dialysis may be needed till the young person heals from the septicemia. Your sister is very sick and is fighting several infections. The infection....the shock from the infection, the pneumonia and the poor kidney function add to the metabolic acidosis. If/when the kidneys function adequately, she'll naturally resolve the acidosis problem. You said she has been septic three times....Does your sister have an underlying chronic problem other then MRSA? MRSA is all around us and very contangious, however it seems to hit the chronically ill the quickest and the hardest