The reaction wasn’t just limited to her skin and mouth.
New Zealand woman Charlotte Gilmore is raising awareness after experiencing a rare and severe reaction to medication prescribed for depression. Ms Gilmore, 23, described her ordeal as “horrifying” and claimed her medication had “burned her from the inside out”.
local news outlets thing Gilmore reported that she developed Steven Johnson Syndrome (SJS), a rare condition that causes painful blisters on the skin, mouth and esophagus. According to the Mayo Clinic cited, SJS typically begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by a blistering rash, and can be fatal in 10% of cases. new york post.
Doctors believe Gilmore’s reaction was caused by lamotrigine, an antiepileptic drug also used for depression, which is known to have SJS as a rare side effect. Gilmore reported that he had been suffering from a chest infection for several weeks until he woke up with a painful rash. It is unknown whether SJS causes chest infections.
“When I looked in the mirror, I burst into tears. I think subconsciously I knew this was something quite serious,” she told staff. She was rushed to the hospital, where a Filipino nurse recognized her condition, but her medical staff were very unsure of it. “I think she was probably scared to hear… ‘OK, no one really knows much about this,'” she added.
“The most frightening thing is that I was burned from the inside out. So all the burns on the outside were because the inside was burned so much that it started showing on the outside of the skin.”
The reaction was not limited to her skin or mouth. She also developed painful blisters all over her digestive system. This left her unable to eat normally and her doctor inserted her feeding tube to provide her with essential nutrients. Unfortunately, her symptoms did not improve even though she received steroid treatment.
“So they stopped them… and then the symptoms got worse and worse and one night it got so bad that I almost lost my vision,” she shared.
The 23-year-old ended up using steroids again, which she said “definitely helped in the end.”
After a month of hospitalization, she has made great progress, but some aftereffects remain.
“I still get blisters in my eyes and the rash spreads further, but it’s always in the same spot where the worst burns were,” she says.
