A woman is urging everyone to take seriously the possibility of cellulitis after experiencing a shorts-caused setback during which she “could’ve easily died.”
The North Carolina resident in question, 25-year-old Sam, spoke with BuzzFeed about the experience after going viral with her TikTok-shared breakdown.
“So what happened is I was wearing boy-short underwear and the material kept clumping up and I kept picking my wedgie,” Sam, who wore high-cut denim shorts on a day-long date a few years back, said in a video recalling the harrowing experience. The original TikTok upload has since been set to private.
In the BuzzFeed interview, Sam noted that she picked at the wedgie on multiple occasions throughout the day but eventually decided to “ignore it and just enjoy my time.” Later that evening, however, she noticed a “large bump” on her body where chafing had occurred. The bump eventually became painful, inspiring a visit to the doctor and an antibiotic treatment.
The following morning, Sam discovered she was in septic shock and was taken to the emergency room by her mother. Sam said she was “shivering, very breathless, could not walk, and had extreme body aches” and was eventually placed in ICU.
During the four-day ICU stay, doctors considered surgery, though it thankfully never came to that. About a month after leaving the hospital, the cellulitis returned and Sam had to again visit the ER and undergo an antibiotic treatment.
Cellulitis, per the CDC, is “a common bacterial skin infection that causes redness, swelling, and pain in the infected area of the skin.” If left untreated, the infection can spread and cause additional health issues. More specifically, cellulitis marks an infection of the skin’s deeper layers, and can be caused by different types of bacteria.
Here’s more, straight from the CDC:
“In general, cellulitis appears as a red, swollen, and painful area of skin that is warm and tender to the touch. The skin may look pitted, like the peel of an orange, or blisters may appear on the affected skin. Some people may also develop fever and chills. Cellulitis can appear anywhere on the body, but it is most common on the feet and legs.”
Elsewhere in the interview, available in full here, Sam said she was “happy” to be able to share this story so that others who have also experienced this can know there’s “nothing to be ashamed of.”
