Elle Black initially thought a sore throat and flu-like symptoms were the effects of a night out. The 21-year-old was later treated in hospital for sepsis after developing quinsy, a pus-filled abscess near the tonsils.
Black, who was in her first year at Cardiff University at the time, said she woke up after a night out in February 2024 feeling exhausted and feverish. She had initially taken ibuprofen and dismissed her symptoms as a hangover.
After her tonsils became swollen and she was unable to eat, she attended a private GP appointment. She was diagnosed with laryngitis and prescribed antibiotics.
Black said she later became drowsy, confused and almost delirious. She was taken to hospital after telling her mother that she could not feel her legs.
At the University Hospital of Wales, she was triaged within 15 minutes and treated with intravenous antibiotics. She spent two days in hospital and went on to make a full recovery.
Doctors told her that waiting another day could have led to a very different outcome. Black said she was exhausted for several weeks afterwards and continued to feel unusually tired for a couple of months.
She is now urging people not to dismiss severe or worsening symptoms as a hangover. Sepsis Research said symptoms such as drowsiness, nausea and exhaustion can easily be mistaken for the effects of alcohol, lack of sleep or illness.
Common symptoms of sepsis include a high fever, difficulty keeping food or fluids down, extreme drowsiness, intense or unusual muscle pain, and a sore throat or tonsillitis that suddenly worsens.
Black plans to run the London Marathon for Sepsis Research next year. She said her experience showed how quickly sepsis can develop and that feeling worse than expected after a night out should not always be assumed to be a hangover.
