Kathy, DAMN. Stevens-Johnson Syndrome KILLS people. Your mom is unbelievably lucky. To have survived, that is. Not to have gotten it.

(My job has made me familiar with all the ways that drugs can kill you DEAD, and losing all my skin seems to be one of the more horrific ways. That's why I'm always uber-paranoid when I start a new drug and then get itchy, or, god forbid, a rash.)

My best lunch this week so far: tagine, masoor dahl, and couscous.

Yeah. And if it gets that bad and doesn't kill you, it usually blinds you, so she's lucky to have escaped with both her life and her sight.

Am now feeling bad for making fun of my mom and her sister for doing web searches about any new drug they get. my aunt is refusing to take some meds currently because of possible side-effects she read about online.

I take a drug that has one of the scariest side effect notes I've ever seen. It can cause cardiac arrest both as an effect of taking it and as an effect of missing a dosage.

my aunt is refusing to take some meds currently because of possible side-effects she read about online.

Well, here's the thing. Statistically speaking, most people -- and I mean 97-99% of people -- are never going to get the side effects that kill you or cause massive problems.

Some drugs are riskier, but the doctor generally (1) prescribes them as a last resort, and (2) tells the patient about the risks. Thalidomide is an example, as is tretinoin (for acne). With riskier drugs, you just have to weigh the potential benefits of treatment versus the potential side effects.

Your mom and aunt are wise to keep an eye on how they react to new drugs -- so it's good to look stuff up -- but generally, they're going to be fine. Even if they *do* have one of the Holy Crap! Bad! reactions, if you get to the doctor right away -- and get properly diagnosed right away (which was the issue with Kathy's mom) -- you'll be okay.

t /soapbox

One of the side effects of Lamictal is a fatal rash. Which, is serious in the small number of people who have the reaction (which, I believe is caused by sudden cesation of the pills), but to me, who did not, it is funny.

Also, I believe one of the side effects of Effexor (or Depakote, one of those) was spontaneous orgasm.

I remember when they put Hubby on Coumadin and listed all the side effects and what he couldn't do while on it. Then I saw the other name for the stuff: Warfarin. I'm afraid I rather made an unscheduled fuss. "You're putting my husband on rat poison?!" They explained how it would work to the good and all that, but I could tell they were wishing for a slightly less well-informed consumer at that moment.

My mom steers clear of anything remotely in the NSAID category. When I go to a new doctor and they ask if I'm allergic to any meds, I tell them not that I know of, but my mom got sick from Clinoril, so I'd rather not find out I'm allergic the way she did. They usually mark down to steer clear of NSAIDs just in case.

Oh, and the big reason her Joliet doctor didn't think that her illness was a drug reaction was because NSAIDs were, as a whole, a relatively new thing in pharmaceuticals in 1979, and the side effects were being added to the list as they occurred. My mom's case (and the other eleven deaths) was the reason Clinoril added SJS to the list.