A woman suffered a real ordeal after ingesting an ordinary painkiller.
She just hoped to relieve her pain. “The doctors told me it was a miracle that I survived”says Jaqueline Gmack.
Suffering from severe menstrual pain, this 31-year-old Brazilian woman took an Ibuprofen tablet. An over-the-counter analgesic of which she claims to be a habitual user without this having, until now, posed the slightest problem.
But after two days, Jaqueline began to feel a slight itchy eye. Then, the next day, she wakes up with burn blisters inside her mouth. The young resident of Papanduva (southern Brazil) then went to the emergency room. Where his condition continues to deteriorate rapidly.
Her entire face is soon covered in blisters, so much so that she can barely see. “I felt like I was burning from the inside.”says the young woman quoted by the British newspaper The Sun.
The medical team then quickly deduced that the young Brazilian was suffering from what is called Stevens-Johnson syndrome. A very rare disease caused by an overreaction of the body to certain medications, particularly anti-epilepsy medications, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory painkillers that occurs in all age groups and mostly affects people who are already suffering other illnesses, such as lupus, or who are infected with HIV. In this condition, the body then attacks its own skin cells, causing blisters and burning symptoms.
“I noticed that my whole body was bandaged”
The first symptoms are often flu-like, such as a high temperature, sore throat, cough and joint pain. A rash usually appears a few days after taking the medication and spreads from the upper body to the face, arms, legs, and genitals. Blisters and sores may also appear on the lips, mouth and eyes.
Jaqueline Gmack remained in an artificial coma for 17 days in which the medical team had placed her. “I noticed that my whole body was bandaged and my vision was very blurry. I was on a ventilator, but I was in no pain”she testifies.
If her ordeal dates back to 2011, the young woman decided to speak out today on her social networks and publicize her misadventure to alert people to the existence of this syndrome.
As she told The Sun, since her first operation 13 years ago, and despite 24 subsequent operations, including cornea and stem cell transplants, she has only been able to recover 40% of her initial vision.
“The hardest thing is knowing that I will never again have the same vision as before”, deplores the Brazilian who will have to undergo ophthalmological treatments all her life. And to conclude: “I wish there was a cure so I could see again.”