A Canadian woman nearly lost her legs to a blocked circulatory system after passing out at home after a night out with drunken girls.
Julia Anderson (36) collapsed on her bed and knelt on all fours after having 20 drinks with friends at an Ontario bar in 2020.
When she woke up to find her legs had doubled in size and she could no longer move on her own, she needed help from her 70-year-old mother, Sandra.
Ms Anderson, who is a mother herself, was afraid she had broken them while going out. She was diagnosed with compartment syndrome, a rare but fatal condition that occurs when blood does not reach some of the body’s muscles and nerves.
The lack of blood flow to their legs deprived their limbs of oxygen and other nutrition. Doctors said if they hadn’t acted earlier, she might have lost her limb.
Ms. Anderson said she normally weighs about 100 pounds, but her swollen legs added another 40 to 50 pounds to her petite frame
Julia said she has 40 to 50 pounds of excess fluid in her legs. She was in hospital for a whopping five weeks, undergoing dialysis, a blood transfusion and a skin graft on her leg.
“They weren’t hurt, but they were twice their normal size, so I called my mom, who called an ambulance,” Ms. Anderson said.
“When I got to the hospital, my whole body was very swollen. I’m short, I only weigh 100 pounds, to them I looked like a 140 pound girl. I told them ‘Guys, I don’t look like that, something’s wrong.’
Acute compartment syndrome occurs when pressure is placed on the lining of the body’s nerves and muscle tissue — called fascia — from bruising, bleeding, or other injury.
Fascia is not elastic and cannot stretch to allow moisture to pass through. As a result, fluid begins to build up.
Ms Anderson’s case broke out early one morning in 2020 after she went to sleep after a night in the prostate position.
The woman went out with friends with whom she “drank vodka all night” and “had a lot of booze.”
Ms Anderson said: “I was in constant pain. Imagine your leg falling asleep, but this tingling is a thousand times stronger, like a sharp electric shock in my leg.’ The pain from the nerve damage was so bad that she “cried out in pain in the middle of the night”.
Doctors had to perform a demanding procedure in a short time as her muscles deteriorated and toxins were released into her bloodstream, causing her body to swell and her kidneys to stop.
She said: “We didn’t eat anything. Pre drinks and bar drinks combined equaled 20 drinks so quite a lot.
“I was drunker than usual. When I got home I just thought, ‘Go to sleep Julia’ and walked out on my legs face down.”
The pressure on her legs while she slept stopped her circulation and it was only hours before her body developed compartment syndrome.
An ambulance took mrs. Anderson was taken to Toronto’s Michael Garron Hospital, where doctors ran a flurry of tests and diagnosed her.
Ms Anderson said: “I had surgery immediately because my muscles were deteriorating and toxins were being released into my bloodstream, causing my body to swell and my kidneys to stop.”
The 21-year-old will have both legs amputated a few days before his birthday
He suffered from flu and pneumonia which progressed to sepsis.
Surgeons performed a grueling procedure that involved cutting open Juliet’s left leg and cutting muscles to reduce swelling and reduce the toxins released into her bloodstream.
She was in intensive care for two weeks, strapped to a machine to drain excess fluid.
Ms Anderson also had to be put on a kidney dialysis machine to harvest a skin graft from her thigh and receive several blood transfusions.
That’s because her levels of hemoglobin, proteins in red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body, have dropped dangerously low.
She said: “The nerve damage was so bad that I cried out in pain in the middle of the night.
“I was in constant pain. Imagine your leg falling asleep, but this tingling is a thousand times stronger, like a sharp electric shock in my leg.’
Her hospital stay lasted five weeks. She was bedridden at home for three weeks and dependent on strong painkillers for a year.
After three years of being ashamed of her disturbing experience, Ms. Anderson shared her story in hopes of saving someone else a similar experience.
She said: “I was embarrassed at the time because who says, ‘I walked out like an idiot’.” The shame kind of disappeared because it’s been years since that could happen to anyone.”
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
