This page is material from a 1990s investigation and campaign in The Sunday Times of London over the risks of an antibiotic with many names, such as Septra, Septrin, Bactrim, Sulfatrim, and co-trimoxazole

Septra TMP/SMZ Co-trimoxazole Bactrim side effects

Page 39 of mail to investigative reporter Brian Deer recounting sometimes serious side effects of the antibiotic often known as Bactrim DS, Septra or co-trimoxazole

BACTRIM: July 1

Good afternoon Brian,

I was recently diagnosed with a bacterial infection and prescribed 800 mg Bactrim. I took 7 of the 800 mg tablets when I started experiencing visual anomalies. I don’t want to call them hallucinations it was just something that I saw on top of every surface. What appeared was a Day-Glo orange crackled mesh of lines. The more I focused the more vivid it became. I didn’t see any other colors. only the orange. It completely covered my walls, everything around me and my skin. I didn’t see it really against anything dark. As it continued I noticed that it started as tiny orange pin point spots that expanded into the loose line web. Once again the longer I focused the more distinctive became. The webwork was very much the shape of shattered tempered glass in line form. I was not running a high fever but my blood pressure did become elevated. It wasn’t that I was scared or fearful but extraordinarily curious as to what I was seeing. I have had migraine prodrome‘s and had one as recently as that morning but it is a spectral highlight circular in shape that flows through my vision and goes away once I take Excedrin migraine.

I did online research without finding visual anomalies listed as a Bactrim side effect.

I went to my medical doctor the next morning to be checked out. He examined my eyes my blood pressure was elevated my temperature was very low, Around 99° and overall he could not determine a cause for the anomaly. In his office against his tan wall I saw yellow blotches that the orange appeared on top of. It was not as bad and I could tell it was not increasing. I hadn’t taken any of the medication since around 8 o’clock the evening before. Luckily I have a sense of humor and a good attitude. I told him that he could call me crazy but I was a little crazy long before I took the Bactrim. He told me to discontinue the use which I had and now it is almost 2 days since I’ve had any and the symptoms have disappeared. In my opinion what happened to me is a legitimate side effect of this drug. What I have discovered is that no one else has reported anything like this so I wanted to report it to someone. I can only imagine what would have happened had I continued and completed the course of 14 pills.

If you would like to contact me I will give you my phone number. You have my email address so feel free to contact me.

Gina S, Houston, Texas.


RELATED:

Bactrim-Septra: a secret epidemic

Chronology of a newspaper campaign

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