Woman falls into coma after taking colic medication

A 31-year-old woman was in a coma for 17 days after taking ibuprofen to relieve period pain. Jaqueline Gmack had to be hospitalized with blisters and peeling skin all over her body. Gmack was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a condition that occurs when the body overreacts to a medication, especially anti-epilepsy drugs, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory painkillers.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Sun, the woman reported that she took the medication without a prescription, as she always did, but at the time, she began to feel a slight itch in her eyes 48 hours later. Jaqueline sought medical help after waking up with blood blisters in her mouth. She went to a health center, but her condition continued to worsen.

According to the interview, the woman’s face was covered in blisters and she could barely see. Jaqueline had to be placed in an induced coma for 17 days.

“When I woke up, I didn’t know what had happened to me. I realized that my entire body was bandaged, my vision was completely blurred and I had a tube in my throat, but I didn’t feel any pain. Only then did the penny start to drop. I realized that I was very weak and that something very serious had happened to me. It was as if I had been burned from the inside out”, she tells the British newspaper.

The case occurred in 2011 and to this day Jaqueline struggles to regain her vision after her reaction to the medication. “The doctors told me it was a miracle that I survived. My family didn’t let me see myself in the mirror for a few days. When I finally looked at myself, I saw someone I didn’t recognize,” she recalls.

The woman began ophthalmological treatment in an attempt to save her vision, and will have to continue monitoring for the rest of her life. “The doctor said I needed to have surgery as soon as possible, otherwise I would lose my eye. I left the office crying,” she recalls.

After the reaction, Jaqueline had to undergo more than 24 procedures, including cornea, amniotic membrane and stem cell transplants. Currently, she only has 40% vision and continues to have biweekly check-ups to monitor her eyes. Without adequate and immediate treatment, the allergic reaction could have been fatal for the English woman.