A hairstylist has shared how overworking and skipping loo breaks led to a life-threatening bout of sepsis while on holiday with her husband.
A salon owner claims being a ‘girl boss’ nearly killed her – as simply skipping loo breaks during punishing 12-hour shifts triggered sepsis.
Justine McLellan started to feel unwell while sunbathing by the pool of her holiday home in Didim, Turkey, in July and initially thought it might be sunstroke so went inside to lie down. When the mum-of-two started shivering in 40-degree heat, experiencing stomach pain and convulsing her business owner husband Fraser McLellan, 39, realised it was more serious and called for help.
At hospital the 38-year-old was diagnosed with a kidney infection and sepsis and was hooked up to IV drips and given antibiotics. Striking footage shows a tanned Justine curled up under the hospital sheets with her teeth visibly chattering.
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After a four-day stay the stepmum-of-three was sent home with a week’s worth of antibiotics and credits the hospital staff for saving her life.
Justine believes her jam-packed schedule of back-to-back clients, which left her unable to take regular loo breaks, took its toll and triggered the kidney infection and sepsis.
Six months on from her ordeal, Justine has dropped the number of hours she works at her salon Be Pretty to have a healthier work-life balance and is focusing on clients’ hair-loss solutions.
Justine, from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, said: “I ended up ill because I was working and not going to the toilet and peeing regularly, that went into my kidneys then it spread into my blood and I got sepsis, it was quite scary. I’ve been a hair stylist since I left school. I love making women feel better and I love doing hair.
“We were taught you need to be fully booked if you’re successful and that taking on nightmare clients, working when clients ask you to at 7pm was the thing to do.
“I would do 12-hour shifts all the time, years of long days behind the chair broke my body down. My back was in bits and I was exhausted but I kept pushing through because that’s what hairdressers do. That ‘girl boss’ mentality of always working can kill you if you don’t listen to your body and slow down.”
She first fell ill while sunbathing and initially dismissed it as sunstroke or constipation but was soon rushed to hospital.
Justine said: “At first I had pain in my stomach while I was sunbathing and I thought maybe I was constipated. Then I started feeling ill and I said to Frasier that I needed to go inside, that’s just not me. I felt so ill and had to lie down.
“I phoned my mum and as soon as I spoke to her I burst out crying, she said ‘I think you’ve got sunstroke’. I was freezing, but I was in the middle of Turkey in 40-degree heat. I started shivering and then convulsing on my bed.
“My husband ran down to the guy who runs the nearby bar to get help and he phoned the hospital.
“My stomach was in agony and I was delirious so I struggled to find my insurance documents, but thankfully found them in the end.”
At the hospital Justine was hooked up to an IV drip and was given antibiotics to tackle the infections.
Justine said: “The next morning I was getting worse, my teeth were chattering and I couldn’t move. My mum and sister booked a flight because they were terrified.
“They [doctors] said I had two infections, I had a kidney infection and the blood infection at the same time. I was in hospital for four nights and when they let me out they sent me home with seven days’ worth of antibiotics. I was grateful for them because they saved my life.”
After her ordeal, Justine decided to scale back her work for the sake of her health and family.
Now Justine works fewer hours, focuses on hair-loss solution HaloBond and has more free time with her loved ones.
Justine said: “I thought I wanted to be this fully booked busy person but then I realised my kids were losing their mum to a salon. I’m kind of grateful it happened because if it didn’t I would still be doing that.
“My advice to anyone in a similar position is to slow down and niche down. Find something you’re good at and just be good at that, don’t try to do everything. If you try to do everything you’re good at nothing.”
WHAT IS SEPSIS? [INFO FROM UK SEPSIS TRUST]
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that happens when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs, sending the immune system into overdrive. The signs of symptoms to look out for in adults include: Slurred speech or confusion, extreme shivering or muscle pain, passing no urine in a day, severe breathlessness, mottled or discoloured skin.
