Sepsis survivor’s story by his son
Age 80 years.
Patient history
- Constipated for last 50 years.
- Epilepsy since last 25 years – On tagritol 400 mg daily for last 20-25 years. Any attempt to give up Tagritol used to cause seizure in 2-3 days.
- Urine incontinency since last 10 years or more.
- Both Hip Replacement surgery 7-8 years back.
- Prostate problems for last 5 years or so.
- High blood pressure medicine for last 20 or more years
- Blood sugar never a problem. But sugar consumption on a very low side since long time.
- Used to drink alcohol about 30 years back on regular basis. After that very casual once in 10-20 days.
Just before May 2014
For last 6-7 months severe constipation with increased pulse rate of 130-140 and high blood pressure. 3 Hospitalisations in 12 months prior to May 2014.
My father was hospitalized on 20.5.2014. Was ok in few hours after hospitalization. But fell from hospital bed on 22.5.2014 and broke his arm from near shoulder.
Was operated upon on 27.5.2014. But had signs of altered sensorium. He stopped responding to any stimulus. He was not able to talk or respond to any verbal commands. He was discharged from hospital saying that he is under sedatives which has caused this problem and will be ok in 12 hours or so after reaching home.
He was again hospitalized on 1.6.2014. He had severe lung congestion. He underwent dialysis since his kidneys also stopped working. He was unconscious for more than 3-4 days. He was discharged from hospital on 10.6.2014 with food pipe. He was not able to speak since his lungs were still blocked. At home the food pipe came out while sleeping. He had problems in ingesting food and liquids. He had developed gangrene as well. He had black nails in his feet.
Again my father was hospitalized on 14.6.2014. The attempts at inserting the food pipe and urine failed. He became semi unconscious by 15.6.2014. He was shifted to ICU and remained there for next 8 days. In the same condition. He had stopped responding to any stimulus.
Then he was shifted to HDU around 24.6.2014. On 26.6.2014 he responded to verbal commands and was shifted to a room.
During the course of my father’s ICU stay, I was told that his brain CT scan has shown black in a place which is supposed to be gray. That his brain had damaged and there is no way it can recover. I was told that chances of his survival are zero. That whatever time is left will be spent in making visits to the hospitals. That his death was supposed to be due to asphyxiation. He was suggested to undergo a procedure wherein asphyxiation can be avoided.
We did not opt for that since it was supposed to delay the death and was of no curative value.
After shifting to the room I stayed with my father for next 48 hours. For the first 12 hours I gave him 100 ml water thru his food pile (ryles tube) every 45 to 60 minutes. He was also given milk and egg white inspite of my protests to start him on rice. Every 2 hours. In 10 hours my father complained of stomach pain and hence I stopped the water.
Every 2 hours efforts were made to clear cough from his throat by using vacuum pump. But nothing seemed to move to his throat.
Next 40 hours I dehydrated my father. I gave him no water except milk and egg whites.
After 40 hours his mouth was filled with heavy cough which had to be cleared using cotton bands since he was not able to spit the cough. Next 10 – 15 days we repeated the procedure of hydration dehydration. At the end this chest was absolutely clear. There was no sign of any congestion in his chest. Though he had a history of chest congestion. During his first 48 hours hydration / dehydration cycle he lost 9 litre of fluid thru urine. The total intake was about 2.5 litres after considering his milk and egg white intake. The fluid loss thru breathing was in excess of 3 litres in view of sepsis and breathing rate of 24 per minute. Next fluid loss was 9 litres or more.
After this initial 48 hours my father was discharged from hospital.
During his stay at home there was complete confusion which medicine is to be given and which not. The medicines were random. After about 45 days we stopped epilepsy / schizophrenia medicines completely. During this 45 days period also his medicines were on and off without any reasons.
His congestion did come back after he started consuming milk. The swelling in feet was visible after he started tea intake.
His swelling was reduced after he was given salt water and hydration/ dehydration cycles.
During this period of 45 days he used to get up every 2 hours during night to pass urine.
He still repeat these hydration/ dehydration cycles once in 7 days. His night time passing of urine has stopped completely.
He has stopped wetting his clothes.
My father does not have any pains. He sleeps at least 14-16 hours a day. Though he complains that his sleep is not very sound. He was used to pain killers earlier. But he does get enough sound sleep for 6 to 8 hours or more. His gangrene is gone. His foot nails have become white. He is on his own. He can climb down the stairs on his own. His breathing is better in the sense that he does not get tired easily. He does not take any medicine any more except blood pressure once in 7 days or so when his blood pressure shoots up. The changes in blood pressure is due to poor fluid control on most of days now.
Main Points of Treatment
- Hydration/ dehydration cycles
- Daily sugar intake spread thru out the day
- Rice diet in intial 45 days. Wheat excluded
- 5-6 meals every day.
What was the logic
- Since childhood I had sinus. Since I was a sportsperson with very good pain tolerance, I never saw a doctor for 2 reasons. First I or my parents did not know what is sinus and what are symptoms. Second it used to get easily cured in 3-4 days may be due to my sports. As I aged the problems of sinus became sever. Frequent Sore throat, body ache, fever etc for more than 10 days. It used to be severe and I had to be on bed for 7 to 10 days. During those days I started experimenting with dehydration.
- When I had my last sinus episode, I decided to give up all fluids for 48 hours. After 24 hours I found there was no fever and pain or discomfort associated with sinus. After 24 hours the cough started flowing freely. It took about 7 days and my chest was as clean as glass.
- Over the next 3-4 years I was not getting sinus very frequently. When there was little problem I used to repeat the same dehydration cycle. For last 3-4 years I did not get any fever or running nose. Not even a single day lost due to any health issues. I did not take any precautions. I could be in the company of people who had severe allergies and cold and cough, seasonal flu but i was completely immune.
- So I knew that it works on all respiratory problems.
- I am so confident about respiratory systems, that I assured my friend who started snoring recently that with 4 hours he will get complete relief from snoring.
- In fact I am quite confused why no one thought of this simple logic earlier. Sinus has symptoms like – inflammation, infection, congestion and swelling. Dehydration relieves congestion. Dehydration heats up the body killing all bacteria. Dehydration removes swelling. With these things gone – inflammation is also cured.
Now since my father had very severe cough and his lungs were all chocked I could think of nothing but easing the respiratory pathways. And it worked. Why do we need the medicines any way.