Stevens Johnson Syndrome Lawyers
What is Stevens-Johnson Syndrome?
Stevens Johnson Syndrome and its variants have the power to forever alter the lives of both survivors and families left behind who had no choice but to watch helplessly as someone they loved died a horrible, often painful and sometimes frighteningly lingering death. In Stevens Johnson Syndrome, what is happening on the outside of the body is also happening on the inside of the body because the herpes virus is thought to be involved. The entire process happens from the inside out so what you see happening on the outside of the body, has already happened on the inside.
Dogs, cats, whales and humans, all mammals can be afflicted with Stevens Johnson Syndrome and its variants. Many times physicians don’t readily identify this condition and such; misdiagnose what could very well be one of the more important calls in their career - and in your life. For survivors, this is often compounded by the fact that family medical practitioners and internal medicine physicians have not had formal training or experience in treating what can be extensive damage to the eyes and multiple internal organs in which symptoms tend to appear some years later. So what exactly is Stevens Johnson Syndrome?
Stevens Johnson Syndrome is really the middle variant of a specific grouping of medical anomalies in which the body itself thinks that the skin, internal organs, eyes and mucus membranes are foreign invaders. When the body detects something that shouldn’t be present, it naturally tries to rid itself of the causative agent. That is why this condition can be so dangerous so quickly. Prompt and correct identification and diagnosis are absolutely paramount and is decisive in determining whether the patient will be a survivor, or causality. For those who survive Stevens Johnson Syndrome, the prompt and correct diagnosis and treatment often dictates what the rest of their lives will be like.
Imagine a line on a piece of paper. Let’s name that little line a lateral diagnosis line. On that line there are three large dots, each dot signifying a variance of intensity of a condition or illness. The variants that make up Stevens Johnson Syndrome are three-fold: Erythema Multiforme, Stevens Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis.
Erythema Multiforme, also known as EM, is that first little dot. Interestingly enough many times that’s exactly how EM starts out too, as a little red dot or “splotch”. EM, which can be brought on by almost anything, can be accompanied by a mild fever, itching, warmness to the touch and sometimes irritation. The little splotches of EM can be either individualized or grouped together to form a rash, sometimes spreading along the thread-lines of clothing. EM can be a one-time event, but is more generally recurrent and chronic. Erythema Multiforme is usually self-limiting and will go away on its own time. While EM usually covers three percent or less of the body and can be a single-entity event, EM can and sometimes does lead to Stevens Johnson Syndrome depending on body surface involvement. Treatment for true EM is relatively simple. Because EM is self-limiting most of the time it simply goes away on its own. Anti-viral medications are effective in keeping it away because all variants of Stevens Johnson Syndrome are believed to be herpes virus related.
Stevens Johnson Syndrome or SJS is like EM on steroids. Stevens Johnson Syndrome is exactly that, a syndrome. Stevens Johnson Syndrome is characterized by a group of signs and symptoms which are all interrelated inside a downhill medical cascade-like affect. SJS can be brought on by drugs, sickness, bacterial infections or the cause simply not identified – called idiopathic SJS. Stevens Johnson Syndrome is many times brought on or triggered by the use of prescription antibiotic drugs, with sulfa drugs and anti-seizure medications having been identified as the main culprits.
SJS can literally be brought on by ingested food as well. Animals used for food are many times force-fed antibiotics to stave away illness. Sometimes those antibiotics remain in the animal’s system at the time of slaughter. We in turn, then ingest those animals as foods, as well as the antibiotics the animals were given. This causes the SJS in other animals and humans.
Stevens Johnson Syndrome starts out like EM, but looks like more of a rash than individual splotches. In SJS the EM rash splotches meld together into one large rash which can cover up to nine percent of the body. The rash areas may or may not blister. Stevens Johnson Syndrome constitutes a life-threatening emergency and has a mortality rate of between five and ten percent with death usually occurring from systemic shock, multi-system organ failure and / or infection.
The last little dot on the lateral diagnosis line is called Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis. That’s medical gobbledygook poison skin death. Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis or TEN is a very true acute life threatening emergency and happens when SJS rash covers ten percent or more of the body. TEN is characterized by flu-like symptoms, a high and unrelenting fever and fluid filled blisters rising from the rash affected areas of the body. TEN literally sucks the fluids out of the lining of the internal organs to the surface of the skin thereby causing multi-system organ failure and chemical imbalances that accompany failure of those organs. The blisters then break open and compromise the only real defense the body has to keep out germs and infection – the skin itself. Making matters worse is the fluid within the blisters which then provides a prime breeding ground for bacteria growth. Mortality rates among TEN victims can reach forty percent. More often than not, TEN survivors have a multitude of lifelong health problems as a result.
Treatment for Stevens Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis are almost identical. Hospitalization in a burn unit is usually required to cut down on the chances of infection due to the skin being compromised. The victim should have the causative agent identified and withdrawn, and an IV started to help replenish fluids which have come to the surface of the skin. In TEN, a PICC line may be inserted in lieu of an IV. Sterile sheets and bedding should be used. IVIG or intravenous immunoglobulin administered intravenously should be considered within the first twenty four hours as this has been shown to actually reverse the syndrome reaction in its tracks in many cases.