TW: Woman suffers scary skin reaction, coma after taking depression pills

A woman almost died who suffered a rare skin-related reaction to the anti-depressant pills she had been taking which landed her in a three-week coma state and caused her skin to burn off.

Texas-based designer Christan Bennett is a 29-year-old woman who suffers major depressive disorder since she was 24 and was prescribed the antidepressant Lamictal in March 2016.

The previous month, however, as she consumed her medication, the designer woke up one morning with adverse side effects including a high temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, severe nerve pain in her legs, and a painful headache.

She became even more concerned when the skin on her lip began falling off while she brushed her teeth. Assuming it was an allergic reaction, she went to the hospital where she was immediately isolated and examined by multiple doctors.

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Christan was then rushed to a specialist burns unit, where she was placed in a medically induced coma to reduce strain on her organs. She was diagnosed with toxic epidermal necrosis – a severe skin reaction to medication that blisters the skin and can even cause blindness.

After three weeks she was taken out of the coma and placed on a ventilator for a further three weeks, spending nearly a year in the hospital while she recovered. She also underwent 14 procedures to save her skin and her organs.

Christan still suffers from daily pain – but feels lucky to be alive.

‘I still feel angry some days that I had to live with so much pain daily due to medication that was meant to make me feel better, and I feel so alone with my illness, as I don’t know one person who shares my experience,’ she admitted.

Christan said she’s now ‘very cautious’ about what medications she is prescribed, and won’t take anything new that she hasn’t tried before.

‘It’s a miracle that I’m alive,’ she added.