She was feeling feverish September 2005. Just as anybody will get anti-malaria drug, she want and bought Amalar (her first time anyway). The malaria subsided but it was the beginning of troubles for her. There was this rash that continuously appeared on her body and when its dried, its gives her black batches. The mum was in various hospitals and all was said was that she is reacting to a drug she used. Amalar was the only drug she used before the TROUBLES. Her situation deteriorated till she died two months ago.
Any reaction from nairaland!!!

Yes,it is possible.It is likely to be Steven-Johnson syndrome(a hypersensitivity reaction that occurs in response to medications eg sulfonamides,infections or illnesses ).The person develops blisters all over the body and sores around the eyes ,nostrils and lips.

PLS THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS ISSUE,I WONDER WHY IT HAS NOT BEEN REVIEWED ALOT

POSTER

PLS I DONT KNOW ALOT,BUT I KNOW ITS POSSIBLE,THOUGH MAYB A MISTAKE FROM D COMPANY

HAVE U CONSULTED MORE DOCTORS?UR LAWYERS?D COMPANY 2 REPORT?OR MAYB NAFDAC MOST IMPORTANTLY IF U HAVE SOME PROOF SOMEHOW??

PLS DO SOMETHING TO AVOID IT HAPPENING TO OTHERS.
MAY GOD BLESS U,N MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE

[b]GOD [/b]NO GO LET ME USE AMALAR AGAIN OOOH , I pity the girl sha

Oga take am easy with oyibo ooh

wiltord:

Yes,it is possible.It is likely to be Steven-Johnson syndrome(a hypersensitivity reaction that occurs in response to medications eg sulfonamides,infections or illnesses ).The person develops blisters all over the body and sores around the eyes ,nostrils and lips.

tommyex:

PLS THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS ISSUE,I WONDER WHY IT HAS NOT BEEN REVIEWED ALOT

POSTER

PLS I DONT KNOW ALOT,BUT I KNOW ITS POSSIBLE,THOUGH MAYB A MISTAKE FROM D COMPANY

HAVE You CONSULTED MORE DOCTORS?UR LAWYERS?D COMPANY 2 REPORT?OR MAYB NAFDAC MOST IMPORTANTLY IF You HAVE SOME PROOF SOMEHOW??

PLS DO SOMETHING TO AVOID IT HAPPENING TO OTHERS.
MAY GOD BLESS You,N MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE

Thanks for your concern. The pain we all went through during the period of her agony was too much to even remember that NAFDAC or someone could help take it up. We were busy looking for ways she would survive which she didnt. Her mum is a widow anyway and all investment was used to take care of her.
I just wish someone close to the company or NAFDAC might be here sha. Besides that is why i opened this thread to warn others.

Still saw a couple of peeps reacting to this drug, since the death of my sister-in-law. I always recognize it when i see it, black patches all over their faces. Same old AMALAR

As Wiltword said, Sulfonamides and Sulfamethoxypyridazine - a group which Amalar belongs to, are well known to cause adverse reactions in some people. Some of these reactions would be a skin rash, though these have not been known to be fatal.
The drug could also have caused another reaction which was then fatal, or the malaria itself could have caused the fatality.
Furthermore, a counterfeit batch of Amalar was seized sometimes in 2009. This batch had already gotten into the market, and could have been purchased by this person.

All in all, a tragic story indeed. Condolences for your loss.

It is possible though not very likely based on the information you provided, the black patches she had may have been some form of fixed drug eruptions, nothing here sounds like a stephen-johnsons syndrome which is a more rapidly fatal and scary condition, and death 2months after the drug calls to question the cause of death which could be anything.
While saying this it is also important to know whether that was the first time she was using a sulphonamide preparation.
Amalar could be the cause that initiated the chain of events, but it will help if we know exactly how she was in the intervening 2months.
Lastly,Nigeria is a country awash with fake and adulterated medications.So in the end, the death could have been caused by anything,you owe it to yourself to find out and be sure if it was due to the amalar so you can report to the apropriate authorities to prevent someone else dying from the same cause.
Sorry about your loss, may her soul rest in peace.

The Moral of the story here is DO NOT SELF-TREAT. Meaning that you should avoid going to pharmacy and buying drugs without first going to the clinic. You may be allergic to those drugs you buy.

Thanks Romeo, i think i agree with the issue of some fake batch finding their way into the country, and maybe she just became a victim of circumstance (at least its what i thot then, 2007), but now ave seen two of my colleagues with the black patches and when i became inquisitive, they both told me it was Amalar they used at different times. Anyways i immediately became an awareness officer on the danger of using Amalar. Thanks for the sympathy, she actually died in 2007, so sad a fresh graduate awaiting her service year.

reindeer:


Amalar could be the cause that initiated the chain of events, but it will help if we know exactly how she was in the intervening 2months.

As i said, she died 2007 but she suffered so much for two good years, at times she will be very lean and at times so fat you think she wants to burst, moving from one hospital to the other. All the while the black patches were there as a sign of a reaction to the drug which initiated the chain of the events that led to her death. 

Lastly,Nigeria is a country awash with fake and adulterated medications.So in the end, the death could have been caused by anything,you owe it to yourself to find out and be sure if it was due to the amalar so you can report to the apropriate authorities to prevent someone else dying from the same cause.
Sorry about your loss, may her soul rest in peace.

I cant agree less with you, its so sad. When she was going through her ordeal way back, all we could do was pray and warn as many who were close to us, i know we need help in this country. I don't blame akunyili for being wild then, she actually experienced this same trauma when fake drugs was administered to her sister (in the hospital) and she died in the process. May God guide our drug usages.

Cute500:

The Moral of the story here is DO NOT SELF-TREAT. Meaning that you should avoid going to pharmacy and buying drugs without first going to the clinic. You may be allergic to those drugs you buy.

My brother, its so easy to say and preach, but many of us forget about it and still go ahead and get our paracetamol and tetracycline whenever we are not feeling good. But do i blame us, when the act saving lives had become a real deal business and nobody cares about who dies or who lives anymore, even the health workers are not helping matters, many of them don't even know what they are doing, the ones that know are the most careless and they care less. Others that know ask for a consultation fee that only the rich can afford, the affordable ones (teaching hospitals) are filled with personnels who care more about their pockets and condition of service. Look bruv we can go on and on. But as i said earlier may God help our usages.

@OP,
May God save us o!
Is this what I might have experienced too?
I actually had the black patch thingy on my thigh after a treatment of malaria some years back.
I noticed i had it each time i had malaria for three consecutive bouts and on the same spot.
it spread out and became a big blister each time and later dried up when i recovered. I had to zero in on the culprit when after a yr i had same after taking amalar.
i rushed to the chemist and the pharmacist actually told me how lucky it was in a covered area, that pple developed such on face etc!!! she said it was a reaction to sulphur.
From that day till now, i AVOID sulphur containing drugs like amalar, fansidar, maloxine like a plague!
i am so sorry to hear about your friend but it could have been anyone.
this is also not an issue of self medication, these drugs are even prescribed by doctors.
my 2 cents, any drug prescribed to you should be checked for effects online so u can have a vague idea at least of what to expect.
Amalar?! God forbid!

Snowwy:

@OP,
May God save us o!
Is this what I might have experienced too?
i actually had the black patch thingy on my thigh after when i treated malaria. i noticed i had it each time i had malaria for three consecutive bouts and on the same spot.
it spread out and became a big blister each time and later dried up when i recovered. i had to zero in on the culprit when after a yr i had same after taking amalar.
i rushed to the chemist and the pharmacist actually told me how lucky it was in a covered area, that pple developed such on face etc!!! she said it was a reaction to sulphur.
From that day till now, i AVOID sulphur containing drugs like amalar, fansidar, maloxine like a plague!
i am so sorry to hear about your friend but it could have been anyone.
this is also not an issue of self medication, these drugs are even prescribed by doctors.
my 2 cents, any drug prescribed to you should be checked for effects online so u can have a vague idea at least of what to expect.
Amalar?! God forbid!

My brother, you are really lucky and thats it. I never knew about the sulphur part anyway, but all i know is prayer and more carefulness is what we all need, the system is so decayed that one does not know where to run to any longer. As you rightly said, some of these medications are administered by doctors, yet they are "poisons in doses". And with the online stuff you advised, how may people are literate enough to do this. But to be on the safe side too, we can still check into the nearest clinics for any drug administrations as some of the doctors are still awake to their responsibilities.

But we can still do one thing, WARNING OTHERS

people react to sulfonamides, but that does not mean sulphonamides should not be prescribed, it has side effects, same as all drugs, but the side effects are not normally so adverse. this does nt mean that when doctors prescibes drugs with sulfur they are trying to kill you or they dont know their job

@ chky, are you a doctor? I wish you guys can help ur patients by explaining the meaning of the drugs prescribed. Sorry for any digressions though, its about medications and not doctors.

i am a medical student, and yea sulphonamides and all drugs av side effects, just that people react differently to drugs. fact is in naija, which tym is there for a doc to explain drugs to a patient.

chyk91:

i am a medical student, and yea sulphonamides and all drugs av side effects, just that people react differently to drugs. fact is in naija, which tym is there for a doc to explain drugs to a patient.

erm the same time you are prescribing the medication to the patient, or the time you are even writing it out

heck i pity your future patients in fact may their soul r.i.p with an attitude like yours!

@ dis guy, pls be gentle now, its good that we are relating to a medical student, we patients can always hope for the best.

@ chyk91, pls on a personal note, you can be different, there are good doctors out there and we appreciate them, its only unfortunate that the ones that dont have our time have out-numbered the ones who are passionate about their jobs and their patients. If you decide to explain what you are doing to ur patients, they ll know you for it and appreciate you always. My present doctor is someone like that and he is known for it, infact they call his clinic 'community centre', we pay good money for the services but we are not moved because someone have time to listen and explain things to us when we ask.

@ dis guy, i dont know why u reacted like that and honestly i am going to restrain myself from calling u names, what i am trying to say is that sulphonamides are drugs that are useful in treating malaria, usually there are side effects in all drugs, the fact that ur friend over-reacted to sulphonamides is unfortunate and i am sorry about that, but normally sulphonamides do not kill. the reason i said what tym is dere in 9ja is cos of the stress that docs go thru. i intend and hope this new generation of docs will be better than the last.

Thanks chky for the drug analysis. We are counting on students like you for the long-awaited change.

Nature takes care of itself , it is high time we began to return back to our root, we are natural beings and should use natural means to cure our ailments. Several people have died and are dying of complication arising from fake or expired drugs. These chemicals don't help us let us return to quality food and heal our ailments using herbal food that is prepared for special solutions. We have a very strong antimalaria herbs that kills the malaria parasite, first of its kind. contact us now: doctor@herbalmedicalcentre.com

AMALAR. My dad and our family will never forget what that drug did to him few years ago. Till tomorrow, no mention Amalar near my papa unless you dey talk about amala and ewedu. Lol.

On a serious note though, my dad developed rashes all over his body after taking Amalar. It kept itching him and he kept scratching it. At first we thought it was the usual itchy side-effect of drugs like Chloroquine but we became scared when his skin peeled off as he scratched it. When my dad eventually got better, he swore never to take Amalar again.

Meanwhile, my mom took Amalar and didn't react to it all. Same thing with me. I even took it recently (probably last week) without any rashes and itching so far. So I guess it depends on each person. Just like I heard that the almighty Chloroquine which makes me scratch even my palms and under my feet, doesn't itch some people. Is it really true that Chloroquine doesn't itch some people? Lol.

JohnNgene:
AMALAR. My dad and our family will never forget what that drug did to him few years ago. Till tomorrow, no mention Amalar near my papa unless you dey talk about amala and ewedu. Lol.

On a serious note though, my dad developed rashes all over his body after taking Amalar. It kept itching him and he kept scratching it. At first we thought it was the usual itchy side-effect of drugs like Chloroquine but we became scared when his skin peeled off as he scratched it. When my dad eventually got better, he swore never to take Amalar again.

Meanwhile, my mom took Amalar and didn't react to it all. Same thing with me. I even took it recently (probably last week) without any rashes and itching so far. So I guess it depends on each person. Just like I heard that the almighty Chloroquine which makes me scratch even my palms and under my feet, doesn't itch some people. Is it really true that Chloroquine doesn't itch some people? Lol.

ya,chloroquine doesn't itch me.