Stevens-Johnson syndrome

[brissygal, BSN, RN]

Has anyone nursed someone with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome?

Thanks

brissygal

[ErraticThinker]

my understanding is that it's very rare, and can be caused or aggravated by some reactions to medications. i think my hospital treats with IGG and supportive therapy like it would for a burn patient.

[KyPinkRN]

Has anyone nursed someone with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome?

Thanks

brissygal

We recently had a woman on our unit with it. Her total body was covered in painful lesions, including the inside of her mouth and throat. Nearly killed her, and caused many problems because she had to stop all of the medications she had been taking to find out which one caused the reaction. For a patient with diabetes, ca, and a heart condition that can be deadly. Nothing helped with the pain either, because of the lesions in her mouth and throat she was on TPN. I remember her staying for quite a while. Thank goodness this is so rare, I would hate to see patients suffering like she did on a regular basis.

[bsrn0523]

i actually developed this as a reaction to sulfa as a child. fine one day, fingers peeling the next. thank goodness for my mum's keen eye. i thought my ped was going to keel over when he saw it.

jenn

[brissygal, BSN, RN]

Thanks Kypinkrn for your comments. Correct me if I am wrong - is it not an allergy to bactrim? I have recently nursed this lovely man with it, he is not well and certainly not out of the woods yet. His whole body looks raw - like an extremely sun burnt skin and his skin is peeling. I wish I could do something more for this guy.

[brissygal, BSN, RN]

Hey erraticthinker what is IGG? Your abbreviations can be different downunder.

Thanks

[ErraticThinker]

sorry 'bout that brissy. IgG is immunoglobulin. it's given intravenously and my guess is that it helps with cut down the inflammatory response. it's used for autoimmune and inflammatory disease as well as a bunch of other conditions.

[brissygal, BSN, RN]

Thanks Erraticthinker - we aren't backward we just live downunder.....lol!

[glimpses]

I cared for a patient, a young woman, a few years ago with Stevens-Johnson, a reaction to some medication. Don't remember her primary diagnosis, but she was quite ill. Skin raw and peeling off her entire body, all her hair falling out in clumps. Also many mouth sores, and so was on TPN too. She was with us for weeks and weeks.

[ErraticThinker]

haha brissy- I definitely don't think you guys are backward. I'm just used to throwing around abbreviations rather than typing the whole word... i'm lazy :wink2:

[RNperdiem, RN]

I take care of them from time to time in the burn center. Severe cases are treated as burn patients.

[chare]

e-medicine.com has several articles discussing various aspects of stevens johnson syndrome. if you have never visited e-medicine.com there is a free online registration which provides you access to many articles covering a wide range of topics.

• http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic727.htm
  
• http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic555.htm
  
• http://www.emedicine.com/oph/topic268.htm
  
• http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic405.htm

i hope this information helps.