WHEN Bryan Pearson began recovering from sepsis last year he felt he was on his way back to health.

However, three weeks after first recovering from the life-threatening condition, he became extremely tired, felt dizzy and suffered some memory loss. A visit to his GP revealed a diagnosis of Post Sepsis Syndrome – suffered by a significant percentage of all sepsis survivors.

Bryan is a 63-year-old sports therapist who lives in Lostock, Bolton.

He is a former England international squash player and, prior to becoming ill in October last year, swam every morning at Horwich Leisure Centre and took lengthy walks around the West Pennine Moors.

Unusually, during 2017, he had three operations – one for a hernia and two involving micro surgery on his hips. He had, though, recovered well. It was not until a couple of months after the last surgery that he woke one morning shaking and feeling very shivery. His heart rate was high so his wife, Janet, took Bryan to A & E at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

“They did all the tests and were very thorough but nothing showed and they felt it was probably a virus,” he said. “I was to come back if I felt worse.”

The next day, the family had a birthday celebration meal booked in Manchester. Bryan, however, had woken to a very sharp pain in his left ankle which forced him to use his crutches once more. “I still wanted to go, though,” he said.

Unfortunately, during the day the ankle began to swell and became increasingly painful, and Bryan became increasingly unwell, eventually struggling to breathe. His family took him to A & E at Salford Royal where they drew off some ankle fluid and sent it for tests.

This showed he had arthritic sepsis. His body was responding to a blood bacterial infection which had initially attacked the synovial joint in his ankle. After micro surgery to wash out infected tissue, Bryan was treated with specific antibiotics and spent nine days in hospital.

Recovery involved “gruelling” exercises but, relying on his sports therapy training, Bryan gradually improved and after three weeks he was optimistic about making a full recovery.

However, he began to suddenly feel very tired – “I was absolutely shattered. I couldn’t even walk upstairs”. He was dizzy and suffered some memory loss so he returned to his GP. A blood test ruled out other problems but he told Bryan he was probably suffering from Post Sepsis Syndrome.

“I’d never heard of it but, at least with a diagnosis, I felt I could work through it,” he added.

Bryan still has days when he gets very tired but has found that doing some exercise really helps. “I think you have to listen to your body,” he stated. “If I do too much then I soon pay for it, but I don’t let that stop me from doing exercise altogether.”

In fact, he’s back swimming twice a week and has built up his walking to two miles. “But, if I get that feeling of extreme tiredness, I pace myself,” he said. “I’m self-employed so I see some patients and at other times I rest.”

He believes it would be helpful for more awareness of PSS. However, he acknowledges that some people might not then work on their own recovery –“ and PSS is part of the recovery process”, he said.

There are around 123,000 cases of sepsis a year in England and about 37,000 people die as a result. Sepsis arises when the body’s response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs.

“Once it starts off, it cascades,” explained Dr Dan Nethercott, Clinical Lead for Critical Care at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. He sees many cases in Intensive Care and, he added, “it’s very difficult to identify because the symptoms are so general.”

A large number of survivors may suffer from various problems. “But,” he added, “we have a whole range of services to help them.”

Dr Ron Daniels, BEM, who is CEO of the UK Sepsis Trust stated: “Post Sepsis Syndrome can affect people of any age. It commonly takes six to 18 months to recover, with some survivors taking considerably longer and some never resuming their pre-sepsis state of health.”

For more information visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sepsis/ and sepsistrust.org

Caption: PACING HIMSELF – Post Sepsis Syndrome sufferer sports therapist Bryan Pearson treats patients when he feels well