BY A TOOTH INFECTION!
CAITLIN ALSOP SHARES HER SHOCKING BRUSH WITH DEATH
Home alone one evening, last August, Caitlin Alsop thought she was having a stroke. “I was lying in my bed when I realised my tongue had swollen up on one side and I couldn’t talk,” the 24-year-old from the Gold Coast tells New Idea.
Within minutes she couldn’t close her mouth. Then to her horror she began to dribble.
“It came on so quickly,” Caitlin, who had been battling a cold, reveals. “It was terrifying.”
Caitlin’s aunt rushed her to
their local hospital but by then, she couldn’t swallow and her breathing was shallow.
Doctors initially thought it was anaphylaxis – an allergic reaction – but despite giving her two shots of adrenaline and a steroid, Caitlin continued to deteriorate.
“I was gasping for air, my blood pressure completely dropped and I kept passing out.”
Caitlin was transferred to Gold Coast University Hospital for specialist care, but the doctors were flummoxed about what was wrong with her.
“I was burning from the inside out,” she recalls, with a shudder. “My skin peeled, my tongue turned black and everything was all puffy.”
Caitlin’s tongue and throat were so swollen she couldn’t breathe. In a bid to prevent brain damage, doctors had to place her in an induced coma and put her on a ventilator.
Caitlin’s mum, Sharon Bird, was frantic with worry.
“I said, ‘What’s wrong with my daughter?’ and one of the doctors explained it wasn’t looking good,” she says.
“I WAS GASPING FOR AIR, MY BLOOD PRESSURE COMPLETELY DROPPED AND I KEPT PASSING OUT”
Sharon recalls around 60 specialists buzzing around her gravely ill daughter’s bed in a desperate bid to save her.
Test after test came back negative but eventually, a CT scan revealed Caitlin had an infected wisdom tooth.
It was only then doctors realised Caitlin had Ludwig’s angina – an extremely rare, yet deadly, type of cellulitis that can occur after a tooth infection.
The word ‘angina’ derives from the Latin term ‘angere’ which means ‘to strangle’. It was named Ludwig’s angina after the German physician who described it because of the strangling effect the swelling causes.
The infected wisdom tooth – which had previously given Caitlin no pain or problems whatsoever – was surgically removed and doctors treated the infection with IV antibiotics.
“There was concern the infection was pushing on my jugular vein and if the infection cut my jugular vein, then it was pretty much lights out,” Caitlin explains. “That’s why they inserted drains. That’s what my scars are from.”
Caitlin was in a coma for nine days. It was a long road to recovery, but she is extremely thankful she survived and has learnt to love her scars.
“I don’t think anyone should be ashamed of their scars because it means that something tried to beat you, but you were stronger than it.”
Since her brush with death last August, many people have questioned why Caitlin didn’t get her infected wisdom tooth seen to earlier. However, a couple of months before she fell ill, Caitlin says an orthodontist said her teeth were in great condition.
“I didn’t even know
I had any problem with my wisdom teeth but inside my skull was this tooth that was causing infection after infection in my body.”
The only other symptoms Caitlin suffered was a rash that came and went, and a feeling of being run-down.
“I went to about six different doctors. No-one really knew what it was,” she says.
Incredibly, this isn’t the first time Caitlin has been strangled – Sharon tells us when her daughter was born the cord was wrapped round her neck three times. “She’s a fighter,” the proud mum smiles.
Caitlin is now determined for something positive to come from her experience, and to help others. “I see it as a blessing in a way. It’s my wake-up call. I’m so lucky to be here,” she says.
Caitlin, who was once terrified of hospitals, is sharing her story to inspire others and publicly thank all the doctors and nurses who saved her life.
“Without being rushed to this hospital, and people making the right decisions to keep testing me, I could have died that night,” she says.