Warning: This article contains photos that may be disturbing to some readers.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A 23-year-old is in the hospital after a severe reaction to a mental health prescription caused burn-like reactions and blisters on the outside and inside of her body.
In what her mom calls a “horrific” experience, Kayla Nelson is approaching two weeks in the University of Utah Burn Center for a reaction onset by Lamotrigine, a drug meant to help treat her depression and anxiety.
She was on the medication for three weeks when she started experiencing what felt like an allergic reaction with swelling on her face and body, according to her mom Lindsey Ewing.
Kayla Nelson went to the ER on May 4 and was later diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, described by the National Library of Medicine as “a rare, acute, serious, and potentially fatal skin reaction” in which the skin detaches from the body in painful blisters and rashes on the inside and surface of the body.
In addition to extreme pain that has kept her from eating, walking, and now after a preemptive eye surgery, even seeing, she is suffering from panic attacks from the anxiety of facing what her life might look like moving forward, Ewing said.
Not only is she in extreme pain now, but she is facing a long recovery process and possible scarring in the future.
“It’s a lot on a 23-year-old because she’s just getting going with her life,” Ewing said. “She has her life in front of her but now we have to deal with this, just because she wanted to get her mental health stabilized.”
Ewing said she knows Lamotrigine is used a lot and is grateful that it has helped a lot of people, however, she said her “whole purpose is to get the awareness out.” She said experts say it is rare, but people have been reaching out to her since saying they have had a similar experience.
“I’m not saying anything bad about Lamotrigine for people who like it, but at this moment, Lamotrigine is a very dangerous drug for my daughter,” Ewing said
While Ewing says her daughter is a very private person and feels anxious when they discuss a GoFundMe on her behalf, the fundraiser is meant to help with the hundreds of thousands of dollars her mom says Nelson is already accruing. Nelson faces at least five more weeks of hospital care as well as physical and mental therapy after that before she is able to work again.
“We couldn’t have foreseen this,” Ewing said. “Going forward, I’m going to sit with her and we’re going to do our research on these drugs.”
Ewing said she hopes this story encourages others to do their research as well to make sure the drugs they are prescribed are a good fit for them.
The GoFundMe account says less than .1% of people on Lamotrigine experience SJS. The NLM says medications are the cause of 80% of SJS cases.
To see the GoFundMe, click here.
