Bactrim DS Septra DS TMP/SMX TMP/SMZ side effects
Page 8 of mail to investigative reporter Brian Deer recounting sometimes serious side effects of the antibiotic often known as Bactrim, Septra, TMP/SMX or Sulfatrim
SULFATRIM: 6 March
Dear Brian,
My 4 year old daughter has been taking sulfatrim for 1 year now. We just found out that she can not hear out of her right ear. We think this has something to do with her taking sulfatrim. After reading all the info you have and the e-mails you received we have decided to stop the antibiotic. She was using it to prevent UTI’s. We spoke to her pediatrician about his thoughts but that was before we read your sight. We will speak to him again and see what we should do now that she’s not taking it. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you for doing this research. I hope my daughter’s hearing comes back now.
Kim, New Jersey
SEPTRA: 10 March
Thank you so much for your website. I am appalled by the common use of this drug. My Mother is allergic to sulfa drugs and, as I learned over the course of the past 2 weeks, so am I. Was prescribed Septra for UTI. After successfully taking it for several days, I became horribly ill 2 weeks ago. My symptoms were a painful headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, earache, eye burning, and red, itchy skin. After becoming dehydrated from the vomiting, I visited my M.D. who said I had a virus. I resumed the antibiotics when I believed the “virus” had left. Immediately upon resumption of the drug, I became ill with the same symptoms but amplified the second time. I went back to the doctor, was unable to walk, was told I may be allergic to the Septra antibiotic, was given IV fluids and sent home. In total, I have lost 6 days of my life due to this allergy. I realize that this is a small price to pay in comparison to many of the terrifying accounts I’ve read on your website from other people who’ve suffered from allergic reactions to this drug. I am so angry. In speaking with a doctor (not my own) about this issue, he warned me that I should never take a drug in the sulfa family which includes the arthritis medication Celebrex. I wanted to share this with the others on this website to, hopefully, prevent further episodes from use of a non-antibiotic medication.
Thank you for giving us a forum to express our fears, concerns, and anger.
Sincerely,
Tracey, CA
SEPTRA DS: 10 March
Brian
I am a 41 year old professional and mother of 3 in the U.S.
In late 1986 I was treated for chronic urinary tract infections. Each infection the doctor tried a different antibiotic hoping to find the one that would eradicate the ‘bug’. I think it was about the third or fourth bout with UTIs when he prescribed Septra DS (Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim double strength) – a 10 day regimen.
At about day 8 I was admitted to the hospital with bruising, petechiae, and a low grade temperature. A blood draw found my platelets to be frighteningly low at 1,000. I was treated with IV steroids over the next few hours and after the laboratory mistakenly reported my new count to be 100,000 I was almost discharged. However, the doctor was suspicious and had the lab check their work. It was still at 1,000 – such a low count the lab had never seen it.
I received platelet transfusions and continued IV steroids over the following several days. My platelet count slowly crept up until it was back to normal. This was attributed to an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. It frightens me to this day what the outcome could have been, and probably should have been had I not been so lucky. I don’t know if there have been any lasting effects. I’ve had occasional heart arythmia problems and lost 6 pregnancies, but who is to say this has anything to do with my experience.
Sharon
BACTRIM: 12 March
Dear Mr. Deer,
I was reading your articles with regards to the antibiotics and it scares me. I have a father, 76-yr-old, living in Newark, CA. who is very ill at this moment and i do believe that by him using the antibiotic (Bactrim) that led him in this kind of situation.
Melba E.
SEPTRA: 17 March
Brian:
I came across your site, one, I can honestly say, it gave me flashbacks…..I had my first urinary track infection when I was 9 years old and was told it would just go away, just drink a lot of water. I was given Septra at age 13 for a urinary track infection. For the next 5 years I continued to have reoccurring bouts of infection with an increase of dosage of Septra each time, progressing until I was ingesting 16 pills a day double strength at times, no warnings given to stay out of the sun, drink lots of fluids and have regular blood/urine tests. I was very healthy and athletic so fatigue/weakness, sunburn, skin peeling, loss of weight and so on… was chocked up to “being an active kid” until the fatigue became “not normal” and a blood test revealed extremely low white count, followed by a bone marrow test, followed by urinary track/bladder dilation/scrapping once with results ordering me to continue taking Septra or I’d be on a Kidney machine by the time I was 20, then a couple of years later following another cystoscopy that I was to cease taking Septra immediately with no explanation, then blood tests galore followed, ultrasounds, MRIs, x-rays,dental problems, joints problems, skin biopsies, eye/nose problems, memory impairment, countless trips to the chiropractor/physiotherapist’s office, removal of the gall bladder and finally a very serious blood clot in the arm and a bout of fluid around the heart occurred and then an oncologist thought to check out my history and low and behold found (bone marrow test some 13 years prior) which confirmed positive test results for Lupus (SLE).
That’s my story in a nut-shell……my question is…..Is there any literature out there that indicates whether long term use of Sulfa drugs, even though I don’t touch the stuff now, has it caused permanent damage and does it continue to break down the body well after you stop taking it?
P.
SULFAMETH: 1 April
Mr Deer
I am hopeful to get some questions answered after visiting your website. Thank you for any information that could help me.
I have a very long story, but I will make this short. I am 35 and have have had multiple pregnancy losses. After adopting and deciding to not get pregnant again, I became pregnant anyway. We went thru extra care at a High Risk clinic and during this pregnancy I had my normal UTI’s that never seem to go away. In the past I have been given Macrobid which never seemed to help so after that didn’t work this time they gave me Sulfameth and a daily dose of Macrobid. I had a hard time keeping them down due to my nausea, but it did make the UTI disappear. A couple of weeks later I started having some dizziness. Not long after that I went into labor at 23 weeks and lost the baby(again). A week after I was home from the hospital, I became very dizzy and noticed I was starting to turn yellow. After some confusion as to what was going on I ended up in the hospital for a week and was given a blood transfusion to rebuild my blood count.
It was all very scary and potentially I could have had my spleen removed. But thankfully things worked out and the counts got back to normal after taking steroids. I was told I had a delayed rare reaction to the sulfa meds and to not take them again and I could have a blood disorder that makes my blood cells fight against each other.
That was from Sept-Dec 2003. It is now April 2004 and I am having some additional concerns. I was still having problems with light headedness and shortness of breath and anxiety and some gastrointestinal problems. The hematologist could find nothing wrong on his part so I went back to my physician and he diagnosed me with Dysautonomia and gave me Flurocortisone which has helped. My question is have you ever heard of a reaction like mine and are there any long term effects? I keep having some discomfort on my right side and occasional lightheadedness, also my feet are starting to have what feels like hot flashes- they get warm then it goes away. Can this reaction cause Dysautonomia? Can there be side effects or damage to my liver or something else that could show up later? (all my tests-blood tests and cardiac tests look fine).
Sarah
BACTRIM/SEPTRA: 2 April
Brian,
I had a very severe reaction after taking Bactrim or Septra (I cannot recall which exact drug, I m only sure it was one of these two names) back in 1989. I was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection (essentially the common cold) while in a college infirmary. I was given the drug even though I wasn t terribly sick. For the remainder of the 11 days that I was in the infirmary, each time I got out of bed to go to the bedroom or answer the phone, I would get tunnel vision and feel as though I was about to pass out. I was extremely weak and fatigued, coughing, sore throat, and difficulty breathing. After 10 days of this medication, my mom came to visit.
(She was an intensive care nurse clinician/educator at the time who had served on various advisory committees) She listened to my lungs and said she could hear crackles . Her assumption was that I was recovering from a severe virus that had attacked my lungs. A day later, she left and my doctor came by to see me. He kicked me out of the infirmary, claiming that I was atrophying from lack of activity. So I went. The next morning, I woke up with quite a shock. I had a bright, red, raised rash over my entire body.
The area around my eyes was white and blotchy. My face was a slight purplish tint. I told people it felt like I had a horrific sunburn and then rolled in poison ivy followed by rolling in pine needles. I could barely eat, and all of this was accompanied by a horrible bronchial-sounding cough. Fortunately, on the eleventh day of the medicine, (before the rash started) my mom advised me to go ahead and get off the medicine, just as a precaution.
I believe due to her instincts, this advice probably saved my life. After three days of agony, trying to survive with OTC Benadryl, barely able to wear clothes and unable to sleep, I went back to a different doctor. (typical college student to wait three days) She took lung x-rays and told me that I had had a severe sulfa drug reaction. She advised that I should make sure that I never take it again or it would kill me. A week later, as I continued my recovery at home, my mom noticed that my hair was short as though someone had cut it right around my face. It was only then that we realized that I had actually lost some of my hair, and it was now growing in again. (I had extremely long, thick hair at the time, so we didn t realize this until later.)
Now, I am 33 years old. I now have mild asthma, heart palpitations, and insomnia. (Also, a seemingly unrelated rare, severe, neurologic disorder called paroxysmal dyskinesia .) All of these health problems (except the paroxysmal dyskinesia) seem to trace back to this drug reaction. Is it possible that the side effects have lingered for 15 years? I have struggled since that two week time period with these nagging health problems. Before that, I was otherwise healthy. I feel fairly certain that the asthma and dysrhythmias and insomnia are linked to the reaction. I m sorry this is so wordy, but if you have any answers, I would be so grateful! Thank you!
Rebecca H, Littleton, CO
BACTRIM: 5 April
I was told I had a bladder and vaginal infection about 10 days ago. was put on Bactrim DS. Am still on it. I have chills in the morning and am nauseated. Twice I had the sensation that I fell of the bed ( but I did fall, just felt like I did. Now I feel itchy all over and the infection is still there . I am a 78 year old woman.
Goldie
SEPTRA: 8 April
I have a comment you can put on your site&My Wife got pneumonia a few months ago and ended up in the hospital because of it. She was given Septra and instead of getting better, she got worse&She started having circulation problems in her legs, hair loss and her left lung collapsed!!! All because of that drug. She was later told that she was allergic to some of the specific ingredients inside that medication. I nearly lost my wife because of wrongful medication diagnosis. I don’t want anyone to ever have to go through what myself, her family and my family had to go through. I can relate to all the comments that are on your website. We need to better educate the rest of the world on this seriously dangerous medication.
Thank you
Philippe
BACTRIM: 14 April
Three weeks ago I was put on Bactrim for a sinus infections. Four days into the antibiotic, I woke up with a horrible taste in my mouth and abdominal pain. It has not gone away yet. I have had various tests…as the doctor does not believe it was the Bactrim causing it. I am also tired all the time and have not felt good since the first day I took the medicine. I am going crazy trying to figure out how to get rid of this taste and constant nausea. Prilosec and other acid reducers are not doing a thing for this.
BACTRIM: 26 April
Dear Mr. Deer:
I am a legal investigator in Miami Florida, USA. First and foremost, I want to thank you for all the research material on this drug. Your website has been a great help.
We are investigating a case in which the patient was on Bactrim and developed a high fever. When she told her doctor about the fever, he told her to continue the drug for another week or so to give the drug time to work. She went on to develop a severe skin rash and was subsequently hospitalized for almost a month. She was near death on several occasions, this was attributed to, “Stevens-Johnson Syndrome”. Although she has functionally recovered somewhat, she now has severe scarring and discomfort. We are now in the process of filing a claim against the doctor for negligence. Our theory is that the doctor should have discontinued the drug therapy immediately upon hearing of the high fever, (according to “PDR). Also, most of my research bears this out as well. My problem is thus; It seems, from my research, that the US has not had , or has not reported, the severe consequences to the degree I have read about in your website, therefore, there is less authoritative information on the subject here. It would be greatly appreciated if you could point me to an expert (in the US) on this subject.
Thanks, and keep up the good fight.
John D.W, Miami, FL
SMZ/TMP DS: 30 April
i have been prescribed smz/tmp ds, after taking for a week i am starting to itch and my skin feels hot and i shake all the time , is the medication doing this, is it dangerous to continue this medication.
B.L
BACTRIM DS: 2 May
I was prescribed the subject drug about a year ago in an attempt to treat an odd persistent ‘stuffiness’ in my left ear. It had no effect on that but I experienced a weird positive side effect which subsided within two days of discontinuing the drug. In short, I was really struck by the increased energy and alertness I experienced while taking this stuff, so much so that I was tempted to ask to stay on it. Ever heard of such a thing? Basically, for years I have fought through a low-level type of ‘malaise’ or fatigue that no physician has been able to diagnose or treat. Not severe, mind you, and I’ve pretty much given up on mentioning to MDs anymore but this was the first thing that seemed to dissipate it entirely.
Paul H.
SMZ-TMP:10 May
I got prescribed SMZ-TMP and Percoset when I was diagnosed with a kidney stone on April 28 of this year. After spending one night in the hospital, I came home and started taking the antibiotic and Percoset. After one pill of the SMZ-TMP, I felt as if I had a blazing fever. Then I was so cold I couldn’t get warm no matter what I did. I would sweat uncontrollably, have what I can only describe as anxiety attacks, shortness of breath, and my lungs felt as though they were filling with fluid causing me to cough incessantly. And this went on for five days keeping me out of work all of last week.
Since I have never had a kidney stone before, I didn’t know if these symptoms were caused by my stopping the Percoset I was prescribed or if they were a side-effect of the kidney stone, or both. Since I was no longer in any real pain, I stopped taking the Percoset. I was still taking the SMZ-TMP and I began to think that what I was feeling might have been withdrawal from the Percoset. Though when I thought about it, the withdrawal didn’t make sense since I was only on the Percoset for two days. So I stopped taking the SMZ-TMP pills a week ago and have felt much better but I have not felt completely right since. I still feel hazy, my joints (mainly my knees) are sore, and even this morning I was experiencing the hot/cold effects and my equilibrium was very off.
I’m actually rather worried after reading all of these submissions from other people having outrageous side-effects from this drug. I hope there has been no serious, permanent damage done to me because of this. Normally I have no problems with medication but this one caused what I feel was a really bad reaction.
Stephen W, Baltimore, MD
SEPTRA: 20 May
Hello Brian. Thank you for the information on your site. I have just returned from an ER visit after an allergic reaction to Septra.
The vicious headache, and I do mean VICIOUS, dizziness, stiff achy neck, fatigue, itching and sky high fever sums up the symptoms I had. I wondered if I was coming down with the flu or worse. I never thought it was an allergic reaction to the drug I was taking.
This has been a huge learning experience for me. As a result, Ill be very vigilant about any medicine I take in the future
RELATED:
Bactrim-Septra: a secret epidemic
Chronology of a newspaper campaign
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