Lamotrigine and Stevens Johnson syndrome

“I never lost anybody close to me, but that’s what it feels like.”

When 26-year-old Khaliah Shaw looks at pictures of herself from three years ago, she doesn’t recognize that person from before. Before her skin burned from the inside out. Before her sweat glands melted. Before the medically-induced coma.

Before the mistake.

“I didn’t have to have people staring at me or wondering why I look different,” she said. “Three years ago, my life changed forever.”

In 2014, Shaw went to a doctor’s office because she felt depressed.  She received a prescription for lamotrigine. A pending lawsuit claims Shaw received the wrong dosage, and her pharmacy didn’t catch it.

For the first two weeks, “everything was ok.”

And then it wasn’t.

Blisters broke out all over her body. “I was in excruciating pain. It felt like I was on fire,” she said.

She was diagnosed with Stevens Johnson Syndrome a rare serious skin disorder. It's usually caused by reaction to a medication or an incorrect dosage.

“It essentially causes your body to burn from the inside out and you pretty much just melt,” said Shaw.

The syndrome has left Shaw’s previously flawless skin burned and scarred. She is slowing losing her vision. Her sweat glands are gone, and her finger nails will never grow back.

“This did not have to happen. This was not just some sort of fluke in my opinion. This happened as a directly result of somebody’s error,” said Shaw. 

Shaw spent five weeks in medically induced coma while her skin slowly peeled off. There is no cure for Stevens Johnson Syndrome, and she could relapse.

“They’re telling me this could happen again, and they’re telling me if it did happen again, that it would be worse,” said Shaw.

According to the lawsuit filed on her behalf, medical bills have already reached more than $3.45 million. Extensive and prolonged medical care are expected to continue to add to those bills.

Shaw is represented by two attorneys, Trent Speckhals and Robert Roll, both specialize in medication error litigation.

“We continue to see the same errors over and over. [They’re] typically the result of pharmacists being too rushed, too busy, filling too many prescriptions and the use of [pharmacy] techs that really don’t have the training and the ability that a pharmacist would," Speckhals said. "That’s one of the sad things, shocking things about it. It continues to happen at an alarming rate."

"I never heard of Steven Johnson Syndrome until I was in the hospital with my skin melting off of my body. That’s when I learned what it was," Shaw said. It's a lesson she says no one should have to learn. "It's important to know what's in your body."

http://www.kare11.com/news/local/womans-skin-melts-off-after-medication-error/438128911
Pictures:  http://palmbeachhealthbeat.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2017/05/09/medication-error-melts-womans-face/

Courtesy of a colleague