Stevens Johnson Syndrome or SJS is a medical anomaly in which the body itself thinks that the skin, internal organs, eyes and mucus membranes are foreign invaders. When the body detects something that shouldn’t be present, it naturally tries to rid itself of the causative agent. We know both prescription drugs have been shown to cause this horrible, many times life changing condition, but that’s really just the beginning of the story. Let’s take a look at some other factors which may cause Stevens Johnson Syndrome.

The food you eat can bring on one or even all variants of Stevens Johnson Syndrome, especially if you’re prone to Erythema Multiforme or EM – or worse are living with EM and don’t realize it. Food stock, slaughter cattle, chickens, turkeys – all animals which are raised as stock food for human consumption have been fed antibiotics at some point in their lives to either stave off illness or cure minor infection. When we throw that steak or chicken breast on the grill, we run the risk of ingesting those latent antibiotics when we consume the meat. If you happen to have EM and don’t realize it, the reaction caused by those latent antibiotics can easily exacerbate EM into SJS or Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis.

Okay, so the little light bulb just went on, but what about vegetables? It is believed that vegetables grown in the manure fertilizer of those animals can contain traces of latent antibiotics. When we ingest those vegetables we can in turn, ingest trace amounts of fertilizers. So what’s a person to do?

Choose meats from local suppliers who can assure you their livestock is antibiotic free. This may actually take a little research, but those suppliers are out there. Choose vegetables from the gardens of local suppliers who again, can assure you that the vegetables are grown pesticide and fertilizer free. This shouldn’t be a problem if the grower rotates their crop yearly.

Remember that milk and eggs can contain trace amounts of antibiotic as well. Depending on the area of the country you live in, many times these same antibiotic-free suppliers can and do provide safe dairy products as well, you just have to do the leg-work.