A Dangerous Disease: Steven Johnson Syndrome

A friend of mine, who I had just recently met within the last year, has had a horrifying nightmare regarding this disease. Her mother was struck with it. This painful, scary, and sometimes deadly disease strikes without warning and can make the rest of your life severely painful.

This article is designed to raise awareness as to the risks we take when we use prescription drugs, specifically, Steven Johnson Syndrome. Foreign chemicals that are introduced into our bodies are not always tolerated; in fact we never really know just what a poisonous dose is for our own body even when it is something that we have been taking for sometime.

Steven Johnson Syndrome: Causes

To give you an idea behind the common prescriptions that have been known to cause these types of serious allergic outbreaks I have listed some medications below. It completely depends on your body and the tolerance it has. Please remember, NO person knows what their tolerance level is, it is simply an invisible threshold that no one can detect.

NSAIDS (non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs)

Allopurinol

Phenytoin

Carbamazepine

Barbituates

Anticonvulsants (An example is phenytoin)

Sulfa antibiotics (An example is penicillin)

Steven Johnson Syndrome: The Symptoms

Both Steven Johnson Syndrome, and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) can start out with general symptoms. This should act as a warning sign or a red flag. If you begin to experience these problems then it is better to get checked out as soon as possible to increase your chances of successful treatment.

Cough - Aching - Headaches - Fever

The second stage includes:

Red rashes and Blisters

My friend had this to say on the subject: "For blisters, the mucous membranes can become inflamed, and with TEN the layers of the skin can also come away in some cases, and sufferers can become cold and feverish

Keratitis

Uveitis

Perforation of the globe of the eye

The above are severe signs that affect the eyes, which may result of permanent visual impairment."

Other causes may include:

· Arthritis

· Arthralgia

· Severe muscle pain

Steven Johnson Syndrome: Conclusion

It is important to always give natural remedies and diet a chance to heal what is wrong with your body. Turning to prescriptions is not always the smart thing to do. My friend's mother had been on certain medications for 20 years and never had a problem with it. Suddenly, this nightmare came upon her and the agony started. This is rarely ever mentioned and it was a shock to see how many people have actually experienced this. God bless your mother Jessicca and thank you for trying to get the word out about this excruciating and deadly disease.