Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver opened up about her life-threatening battle with sepsis in 2019, which she first mistook for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Coronation Street’s Sue Cleaver is reportedly set to join the new series of BBC reality show Pilgrimage four years after she came close to death with her sepsis battle.
The TV star, who has played Eileen Grimshaw on the cobbles since 2000, opened up about how she first mistook the deadly condition for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Speaking on This Morning in 2019, the soap icon explained how she began experiencing troubling symptoms while on set of Corrie. She said: “I suffer, like many people, with IBS and I thought I was having a flare-up while I was working. I went in on the Tuesday and, late in the afternoon, I said, ‘Do you need me in this scene? I’m really not feeling great. I need to go home and sleep.'”
Despite having a “sore side”, she returned to work on the hottest day of the year. She explained: “I had a hot water bottle and was shaking… my feet were blue and purple and I had goosebumps on my arms.” After leaving the set early, Sue wrapped up in socks, leggings and a dressing gown before climbing into bed to battle the chill. Sue said: “My husband, who also works on Corrie was on a night shift. He rang me and said he couldn’t hear what I was saying because my teeth were chattering so much.
“He rang our daughter in law who’s a paramedic and she said, get her to hospital. I didn’t know I had sepsis until the next day in the ward. I was immediately on fluids and antibiotics.” The TV star admitted to feeling like a “fraud” because she mistook sepsis for a combination of bad flu and IBS, but it was a kidney infection which had caused the condition. She confessed: “I still felt like a fraud but then I found out my temperature was 39.5 degrees.”
Following her diagnosis, doctors administered treatment within the hour of opportunity. According to the NHS, sepsis requires urgent treatment because it can get worse quickly and turn into life-threatening septic shock, causing your organs to fail.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states: “Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.” The NHS explains that the deadly condition is a reaction to an infection and kills around 50,000 Brits every year. It strikes when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs.
Symptoms of sepsis
Sue mistook her sepsis symptoms for IBS and flu as early warning signs can be easily mistaken for another condition. NHS Inform urges people to phone 999 or go to A&E immediately if they have the following symptoms:
- Loss of consciousness
- Severe breathlessness
- High temperature (fever) or low body temperature
- Change in mental state – like confusion or disorientation
- Slurred speech
- Cold, clammy and pale or mottled skin
- Fast heartbeat
- Fast breathing
- Chills and shivering
- Severe muscle pain
- Feeling dizzy or faint
- Nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhoea
The Mayo Clinic warns that progression to septic shock can raise the risk of death. If you or someone you know is experiencing these symptoms, you should seek medical attention immediately. It’s important to “trust your instincts”, this is especially crucial for babies or young children. Below are the symptoms you should look for:
- Blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- A rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it, the same as meningitis
- Difficulty breathing (you may notice grunting noises or their stomach sucking under their ribcage), breathlessness or breathing very fast
- A weak, high-pitched cry that’s not like their normal cry
- Not responding like they normally do, or not interested in feeding or normal activities
- Being sleepier than normal or difficult to wake
