Allergic rash reaction to Tegretol (Carbamazepine)

Hi all,

I've been trying to search these forums for information about allergic reactions, but so far I haven't been able to find any.

My Dad broke out in a full body rash about 4 months after starting Tegretol. It started with facial swelling and then progressed to a rash starting on his lower legs and moving upwards, it's now everywhere. They don't think it is SJS as he does not have fever. It is such a shame because it was working great for his pain.

They are pretty sure it is the Tegretol, even though he is also on Warfarin from a DVT that occurred 3 months ago. They have taken him off the Tegretol after confirmation that the rash was allergic (and not venous dermatitis from the warfarin).

Just wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences they could share with me?

We are not sure what to expect with how long the rash is likely to hang around and also which TN drug we should try next - my thoughts were Gabapentin (Neurotonin), but I would love some recommendations as Lyrica did not help (tried prior to Tegretol).

Thanks all,

Piny.

Ask pharmacist about rash questions! I just posted a link on this page with mannnny meds people found good on here.

i got the rash after about a week on tegretol. had chills and sweating the night before, woke up to go to work and was covered head to to toe in a rash!

gaba[eten and lyrica worked for me, till this last week. hope it is nothing serious

I have a rash that started a week after I went on carbamazepine. The original pharmacy-CVS-did not put a sun warning on the bottle as did Wal-Mart when I switched to them. I think it was being in the sun that started the rash. However, since at the time the carbamazepine was working really well (now, not so much) I decided not to tell the neurologist about my rash. Not too bright I know. I take a lot of salt water baths, which helps in drying the rash.

Piny, you have to be really careful about the rash. I got a rash which turned into blisters and then into S-J. Luckily I have had problems from two drugs in the same family and so I was going really, really slow when I was titrating up on it and took Benadryl and was very very careful and it did not progress as far as it could have. The other thing was that the doctors didn’t believe the severity of my rash and I had to say (over the phone) “Look, I’m watching this stuff crawl up my arm” and then later when big old hunks of tissue was coming off the inside of my mouth they just said, “Oh, you must just have thrush again.” Just please be careful, it is a lot like TN, just because the docs don’t know a lot about it or have a lot of personal experience w ith it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I also learned that it can present itself in many different ways. Take car e.

Hi everyone, thanks for your responses - I really appreciate it.

TL - I am really worried about his rash, it looks very red and is all over his body now. The dermatologist said it looked like his skin had good blood flow so they really thought it was not SJS. However, I am concerned about what you said - that it can still turn into it.

How long did it take to turn from the rash into the SJS?

What should we look for? What are the warning signs?

He has had the rash for a few weeks while they have been trying to work out what’s been causing it. His mouth and throat are also sore now but when the dermatologist looked yesterday they didn’t think it looked too bad. But his temperature has been a bit up over the last two days (about 100F, 38C) so I am very worried.