[kathrnclark]

I thought I would chime into this thread to share my experience with Bactrim. In my case, my Aplastic Anemia was definitely caused by the drug. Beginning December 14th, 2010 I took a course of Bactrim to combat a standard urinary tract infection. I had never had a UTI before, nor had I taken a sulfa-based drug before. Within the first few days, I noticed I had itchy dry patches on the back of my neck and under my arms on my torso. It didn’t look like a rash to me, and I just thought I had dry skin. I should have stopped taking the drug immediately, but never having had an allergic reaction to a medication before, I completed the full ten-day course. Two days later, I began my period – early. The period was unusually painful and lasted over eight days – a major shift from my normal 5. I was diagnosed less than three weeks later with SAA. Conveniently, I had a blood test two weeks prior to my taking the Bactrim and all counts were normal, so my doctors at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles and I have concluded together that the sulfa antibiotic caused my disease.