A Lesson in Not Reading Medical Journals

I'll set this up for you.. on Thursday I went to the doctor with a urinary tract infection (again) and was perscribed a sulfa drug to treat it.. that night I started to notice my mouth was a bit tender and the next day I noticed little spots starting and thought, great I'm getting thrush again.. over the weekend the sores got worse and all under my tongue was beet red.. hmmm I thought that's not good.. also I had a couple of red rash like spots on my body and I was feeling nauseous and headachy.. and my eyes were burning slightly.. also right hip is aching like crazy..

I phoned my doctor's office yesterday and she's not in on Tuesdays but the receptionist gave me an appointment for today.. (which is a coincidence because the receptionist is for the other doctor in the office and she said she usually doesn't answer my doctor's phone).. anyway I went into the doctor's office and when I described my symptoms she excused herself from the office to go check her medical journal (my first clue that something was amiss) and she told me that she didn't think I had thrush but that I had a rare condition called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome... having not heard of this condition before I didn't know if I should panic or what but when she told me she wanted to see me again on Monday I knew that it wasn't all sunshine and roses.. she also told me if the rash spots spread or get like blisters or if I get a fever to get to the hospital right away.. hmmm that doesn't sound too good.. she also told me that if I do have Stevens-Johnson Syndrome it was a rare reaction to the sulfa drugs and to tell my pharmacist to put a note on my file not to perscribe that to me ever again.. also if that's what I have I would be the first patient she has ever seen with it..

She also scheduled me to go in and have my hip xrayed.. but as luck would have it the power went out just as I was changing into the lovely gown and after sitting for half an hour and being told the power outage was Island wide (they were running on auxillary power and didn't run all their xray machines and nonessential equipment until they got full power) well I decided to take my paper work and go home to come back maybe tomorrow to get the xray done..

So I toddle on home feeling like shite and our power is out so I couldn't get onto the net to check out this condition to see what it might be.. it would have been better if the power had not come on because when I did read up on it it scared the bejesus out of me ... this condition can be fatal or can cause blindness .. both which are states of being that I would rather not consider.. especially the death part.. but hopefully if that is what it is then it was caught in time and I can carry on with life as normal.. whatever normal means at any particular time .. lol..

Come to think of it the last time I took this particular medication I had the mouth sores too and passed it off as thrush mouth and even went to the walk in clinic and that's what the doctor there contributed it to.. but that time I didn't have the rash or other symptoms... and I survived that time so maybe I haven't developed a full fledged allergic reaction .. I'll keep you posted on how the appointment goes on Monday.. keep your fingers crossed that now that I've stopped taking the drug that the symptoms will clear up in a few days..