Bactrim SJS: From the Epitome of Health to Near-Death

Mobile, ALAfter three days on Bactrim for a mild infection, Myra was so sick that she wound up in the ER with a fever of 104 degrees. And she got worse because the doctor told her to continue taking the sulfa drug. Finally a dermatologist saw her and diagnosed SJS Bactrim: Myra almost died from a severe allergic reaction to Bactrim that caused Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.

"By the time my mamma drove me to ER I was throwing up," says Myra. "The first doctor I saw thought I had a virus and asked if I was on any medications. Mamma showed him the Bactrim bottle with 4 pills left and he told me to finish them." Of course that was the worst thing Myra could have done, but following his orders she took another pill.

"That night I started to get itchy and it got so bad that I wanted to scratch my skin off," Myra explains." The next morning I woke up to a rash covering my entire body. It scared my mamma so we went back to ER. I was so weak I could barely walk. They called in every type of specialist but had no idea what was wrong so they kept running more tests and admitted me. That night I took a turn for the worse—I had just finished all the Bactrim.

I am a black woman but my skin color is light—it turned black and I had welts all over me. By then I was in so much pain they kept me heavily sedated on Demerol. They were terrified I would be given the wrong thing and die because my kidneys started to fail. I had welts in my eyes; my mouth was all blistered and I was also burning up inside.

On the 2nd or 3rd day a dermatologist finally saw me and diagnosed SJS right away, but he didn't know how to treat it so he called another doctor who had already treated a patient with SJS. They told my mama there was a possibility I would pass away that night.

I don't even remember the days going by. Nobody could touch me—I would scream with the slightest touch. The hospital didn't have a burn unit so they wanted to transfer me but my immune system was gone to the point where if they tried, I wouldn't make it through the transfer. They brought in a special bed and treated me like a burn victim: My blisters were the size of golf balls and the nurses tried to keep them covered but when they tried to change the dressing, other people in ICU would hear me screaming. They didn't try to move me but sometimes they had no choice.

And my blood count was checked constantly to monitor my kidneys. The doctor had tried Intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) on another SJS patient and it worked. 'There is a high probability that if we don't start this treatment she won't make it through the night,' the doctor explained to my mum and fiancé. ''Her kidneys already shut down and her major organs will follow.'

I remember signing the consent papers for IVIG treatment; I went through all of it in Mobile and they flew some more in from Birmingham. If it worked the blisters would begin to pop: they started popping a few days later. But it took about 2 weeks before I could be moved. And I was given heparin every day to keep my blood from clotting.

I didn't know that my skin had started to peel off. It started sloughing off my face and upper areas. I didn't want to look into a mirror. When I was finally able to get up and have a shower I still had blisters all over my body and my mouth and eyes were cracked. I felt like a child all over again because I could do nothing for myself. My family had to bathe me, everything. I felt awful because I was a grown woman being treated like a baby… I couldn't talk and I had a catheter for the first 2 weeks. It was horrible--I went from a healthy 22-year-old just finishing college to near death.

I had to start physical therapy because I had been bedridden for so long. I saw my skin coming off, just like a snake. And I had a pic line giving me all my medicines and foods. I cried when they had to change it from one arm to the other. 'We are so sorry but we have to do this,' the nurses said. I don't know how many drugs I was on, but I do remember that the nurses were wonderful.

Eventually I went home but my immune system was still compromised and I had to make frequent trips back to the hospital for check-ups, mainly to check my blood count. It was a shock to be home—I was an emotional wreck and on lots of pain meds. I couldn't take any meds without approval and no drugs with sulfa otherwise I would probably die (I now wear a medical alert bracelet). At that time the skin on my legs and feet sloughed off. I couldn't walk, I couldn't wear shoes.

I would look in the mirror and wonder who it was. I went out and people stared at me. It got to the point that I wouldn't even go to the corner store or church. If it wasn't for my family and praying, I don't think I would have made it.

To this day I don't know why a drug company would allow a drug to be prescribed for a simple medical problem knowing there is a possibility it could harm you. And in my case, kill you. Now I tell people to be careful of what you take.

Sometimes it takes lawyers for people to be aware that a drug such as Bactrim can cause death. I feel blessed because I am still alive; SJS is supposedly rare but I have heard that a lot of people have suffered from this terrible disease.

This happened to me in 2007 at a time when nothing was written on the Bactrim label about SJS. I'm in the habit of reading the information label that comes with a drug before taking anything. And my doctor didn't mention any potential side effects. And the medical bills! Luckily we have insurance but my actual bill was over $100,000. We felt blessed because if it wasn't for insurance, there is no way we could have paid for this. My medication alone was over $60,000. The Bactrim makers should be paying this bill, at the very least."

According to drugs.com, Bactrim and other sulfa drugs are linked with Stevens Johnson Syndrome. Sulfamethoxazole, an ingredient in Bactrim, is one of a group of drugs called sulfonamides, which prevent the growth of bacteria in the body and which can trigger the life-threatening and devastating Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, known as TEN.

In the 1960s, Wellcome, the maker of trimethoprim, and Hoffman-La Roche, the maker of sulphamethoxazole, combined their drugs to make Bactrim. As cases of Bactrim-induced Stevens Johnson Syndrome were reported, it has become one of the top drugs associated with the potentially life-threatening disease.