I am in Nursing School (LVN) and this subject came up. We were told by our Instructor to look it up and just know about it. She told us it was caused by Sulpha and said it was bad bad stuff.
Well I did a ton of research on this topic and she was half right. It is bad, bad stuff, but is caused by an allergic reaction to any medication.
It is so rare that Doc's miss it. Get on the net and do some research on this topic, it will break your heart, open your eyes and make you aware of a very severe syndrome that gets missed do to not enough knowledge about the topic.
I have taken care of several people with this disorder. One case was very severe and did not survive, others did recover. They are treated as burn cases due to the open blisters, lesions etc. Almost any med can cause it but I believe lots of the arthritis meds have been identified to be possible culprits. I thought Bextra was pulled from the market due to the link with heart disease being tossed around.
A lot of people thought it was due to the cardiac thing, but that was only true with Vioxx. Celebrex too, but the FDA thinks the benefits outweigh the risks. Trust me, when you're on a med and Fox news tells you its off the market, you find out real quick why... :uhoh21: Turns out that of the millions of people who were on Bextra, only about 20 people got stevens-johnson syndrom. But those aren't odds you want to play with!! We did have some major peeling and looked like burns in some areas. He was only on it for 2 weeks! Ibuprofen also causes it, but there is no taking that med off the market.
My mom was dx with this disease in Sept of 2003, since then she has had 4 outbreaks-each one placing her in the hospital for longer periods every time........she is now on Valtrex and has not had an outbreak since Sept.2004, she gets monthly lab work.......but the last time she had an outbreak......I was called by the hospital that I needed to be there, it was the longest 24 hour journey back home I have ever taken.......I was not prepared on how she would look......lesions all over her lips, inside her mouth, up her nares, palm of her hands, soles of her feet,........this is a very horrible disease, and when she 1st had these symptoms it took her Doctors 4 days to figure out what it was.......to this day, her doctors do not know what started this disease in my mom, (was not taking any rx meds at the time of her 1st outbreak)
I have a German friend who reacted to some type of vaccine he had this was eons ago - he was in Thailand at the time - lost all his skin, almost died- got flown back to Germany and survived - but is blind as a long term result.
My mom was dx with this disease in Sept of 2003, since then she has had 4 outbreaks-each one placing her in the hospital for longer periods every time........she is now on Valtrex and has not had an outbreak since Sept.2004, she gets monthly lab work.......but the last time she had an outbreak......I was called by the hospital that I needed to be there, it was the longest 24 hour journey back home I have ever taken.......I was not prepared on how she would look......lesions all over her lips, inside her mouth, up her nares, palm of her hands, soles of her feet,........this is a very horrible disease, and when she 1st had these symptoms it took her Doctors 4 days to figure out what it was.......to this day, her doctors do not know what started this disease in my mom, (was not taking any rx meds at the time of her 1st outbreak)
I'm confused! I thought that Stevens Johnson Syndrome was an adverse reaction to a medication. I don't understand why Valtrex would be used to treat a drug reaction.
I'm confused! I thought that Stevens Johnson Syndrome was an adverse reaction to a medication. I don't understand why Valtrex would be used to treat a drug reaction.
Stevens-johnson syndrome and erythema multiforme were once believed to be the same disease and erythema multiforme is caused by the herpes simplex virus. They both present similiarly. But they have now found out that they are two different diseases. So valtrex won't actually help SJ syndrome at all. So if Valtrex is working then it probably is HSV infection...
I have a German friend who reacted to some type of vaccine he had this was eons ago - he was in Thailand at the time - lost all his skin, almost died- got flown back to Germany and survived - but is blind as a long term result.
UM Review RN, ASN, RN
1 Article; 5,163 Posts
Ahhh, that explains it! I'll remember to keep SJS in mind when I do my assessments from now on!