That's What She Said: March 2009

Last week I found out that I'm allergic to sulfa drugs. I have had rosacea for 7 years and my dermatologist thought it was time to try out a new antibiotic - Septra. He told me a few of the side effects, but I only half listened. I'd never had an allergy and didn't expect to have any problems.

On Tuesday, approximately 10 days after I started the medication, I developed a light red rash to the front of my thighs. I thought it was a heat rash at first because I had been exercising. I took a dose of Septra that night and about an hour later I realized that the rash was probably related to the new antibiotic.

The next morning the rash had spread to my stomach. I called in at work and started taking benadryl. I then called my doctor and left a message that I was having a reaction to the medicine he had prescribed. The receptionist told me they were very busy and she would have the office nurse call me back. In the meantime I started researching sulfa drugs and what type of reactions other people had experienced. There were lots of nasty rash pictures that didn't look like mine so I wasn't worried. I figured it would take some time for my body to get the drug out of my system.

At 1pm I still had not heard from the doctors office so I called again to follow up. The receptionist told me they were still very busy, and the nurse would call me soon. I wasn't too worried. I kept taking the benadryl and trying not to scratch. The rash was starting to become a darker red and reminded me of measles. This is what my leg looked like:

The office nurse called back at 6:15pm. I didn't get to the phone in time to answer and it switched to voice mail. I called her back immediately, but I got the office answering system. I left a message asking her to call me back and then listened to her message. On my voicemail she said to call back the next day (Thursday) after 3pm if I was still having problems. I noticed that the rash had spread to my arms at this point. I kept thinking my body just needed more time. It wasn't 24 hours since I last took the medication, and I anticipated feeling better in the morning.

I had a terribly bad night. I couldn't get comfortable, and the rash was starting to become very painful. I took some Tylenol but only managed to get 4 hours of sleep.

Thursday morning the rash had spread up to my neck and down to my ankles. I was starting to get worried that I might have Stevens Johnson Syndrome. I called in again to work and called my doctor as soon as his office opened. My worry was starting to turn into fear that this might not get better. The receptionist I had spoken with the previous day told me that the doctor had left town that morning and wouldn't be back until next Wednesday. WHAT!!!!! I was starting to get angry. I told her that I was worse today and I was very frustrated that I wasn't able to see my doctor. She then became snippy with me that their nurse was busy and I didn't understand what it was like in their office. At this point I was on the verge of crying and told her that I was a nurse too and that I wouldn't have called unless it was serious. I told her that I was going to the ER and that I was very disappointed with my doctor and his staff.

So, at this point I felt horrible, I looked horrible, and I was crying. To top it all off I had to go to my hospitals ER where I would most likely see people I work with, and I was going to have to be bra-less. I've never been one of those free spirit, bra burner gals. This was easily one of the worst days of my life. Damon came home from work to drive me and we fortunately hit the ER during a lull. We were one of 5 people in the ER and only waited an hour before they called us to the back. The nurse practitioner that saw me was a guy I had worked with on 4Central. He didn't recognise me at first, but he eventually realized who I was. By this time the rash covered me from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. The worst part was my itchy ears. It almost seemed like I could hear the itchiness. The NP told me that he didn't think it was SJS but stressed the warning signs to look for, ordered me steroid shot as well as a benadryl one and sent me home with a prescription for a medrol dose pack.

During my time in the ER, the dermatologists office nurse called to check on me. I thought it was nice that they finally wanted to know how I was and what the ER was doing to take care of me. She asked me to call her back and let her know what medicines they gave me. Since I don't plan on continuing with that doctor anymore I haven't gotten around to making that phone call.

I missed work again on Friday. The medrol helped with the itchy part of my reaction but it made me feel jumpy and restless. I spent the weekend resting in bed and by Monday the rash had faded enough I was able to go to work. I felt weak for the first few days. On Wednesday I was finally back to myself. Overall it took me 8 days to get over my allergic reaction, and I missed 3 days of work. To do it over again I would have had Damon take me to the doctors office at the onset and intimidate the office staff to take care of me. I definitely wish I had skipped all the wasted phone calls. Fortunately it's just a bad memory now. Sulfa drugs are not my friend. I can promise you that I won't be taking them again.

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