Woman's Terrifying Reaction To A Bipolar Drug

Bipolar Disorder Drug Lamotrigine's Side Effects Cause Rare Steven Johnson Syndrome In Atlanta Woman 

It’s well known that taking a prescription drug will put a person at risk of side effects. Most of the time, these are pretty mild, ranging from fever to vomiting and stomach problems. Unfortunately, those weren’t the side effects one Atlanta woman experienced after taking her own prescription pills.

When 24-year-old Khaliah Shaw was given three sets of pills to treat her bipolar disorder in December 2013, she didn’t expect one of them to cause severe rashes. About a month after she began the drug regimen, her skin developed a rash, and the skin on her lips started to come off, she told Fox Atlanta. She said a visit to the emergency room only led to a flu diagnosis, but two days later, she woke up with blisters and severe pain. “By the time I left my house, my skin was on fire,” she said. “I was crawling out of my house, I couldn’t walk. It got really bad, really fast.”

The drug that caused the reaction is an anti-seizure medication known as lamotrigine — the generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Lamictal. Its purpose for Shaw would have been to prevent the recurrent depressive episodes that characterize bipolar disorder. But it backfired instead.

She was diagnosed with Steven Johnson syndrome, a rare disorder that begins with flu-like symptoms and progresses into rashes and blisters. Essentially, the top layer of skin dies and sheds. The condition has damaged her skin — permanently causing white and pink splotches — taken away some of her hair, and made it difficult to see in bright or dark light.



http://www.medicaldaily.com/pulse/bipolar-disorder-drug-lamotrigines-side-effects-cause-rare-steven-johnson-syndrome-326892