"Allergic reaction to medicine"

My daughter was prescribed a medication for suspected vertigo by her GP. Two days later her neck was swelling and cramping and she was finding it difficult to swallow and breathe. We took her straight to Crosshouse Hospital. In the paediatric ED her jaw kept locking out and she was screaming in pain.

The doctor came in and announced she had dislocated her jaw and wanted an x ray. I said she hasn't as this is happening now and she's having some sort of reaction and told them about the tablets she had recently been prescribed. This wasn't acknowledged. My daughter got two syringes up her nose of medicine and was sent for x-ray. On return it was discovered she hadn't dislocated her jaw, but she was in lots of pain. They had given her ibuprofen on arrival. Now they were administering two syringes through a cannula of morphine.  This then calmed her. ENT doc arrived and said she had vertigo and an ear infection and to continue with medication even when I said I wasn't sure.  They assured me it would be fine. They said there was nothing with her neck now as the morphine had worked. We got sent home.

By the next night the same happened again except her full right side was going into spasms to the point her arm was stuck up in the air with her hand in a claw position. She was screaming in pain. I phoned a&e for advice and they said phone 101 which I said she can't wait and I'm bringing her up now!

On arrival to the hospital she was seen by a nurse and we were put into a room. I said when she was due ibuprofen and paracetamol. We arrived around 7pm.  No one came to see us. At 8pm we got told the paediatric ED was closing and we needed to go into main waiting area. My daughter was terrified and in pain and asked if she could stay where she was. To which they said no. It won't be a long wait.  While waiting her eyes were rolling back in her head and she was chewing on a blanket because her jaw kept locking. I had to get her grandparents to bring us pain killers at 9.30pm cause we still hadn't been seen. She was in pain and her arm was in the air and wouldn't stay down. Her body was shaking and trembling. It was horrifying.

We still hadn't been seen by 11pm. I had to go to the desk to ask how much longer, I said my daughter looks like she's having a seizure and is getting worse with her eyes rolling back in her head.  She looked at her computer and said she would go and ask. She came back and said 30 to 45mins. I assumed they'd forgotten about us.  30mins later we got called through.  The doctor said to carry on taking medication, there wasn't anything they could do. It was an emergency issue even though I had asked again about a reaction to the medicine to which they said no. They told us to manage it and we got sent away. 

That night was awful. She didn't get any better and eventually fell asleep around 3am and it wasn't a peaceful sleep. On the Sunday we decided to stop all medication.  She had no more spasms or eye rolls. Her right side was weak and her right eye was sore along with her head.  I called her own GP on the Monday, to which they said she's definitely had a reaction to the medicine and we did right to stop it.  They wanted to see her the next day once the morphine etc had worn off as that was making her sleepy. We had to visit the dentist as her jaws were sore and gums were bleeding and her teeth were sensitive. Dentist assured us no permanent damage was done.

At the doctor's the GP discovered she had a blind spot in her right eye. She sent us to the paediatric ward straight away.  They confirmed she had definitely taken a reaction to this medicine, and she cannot get it again. They said her right side was weak but hopefully as the days go on and the medicine leaves her system then the right side will regain strength. They spoke to the eye clinic at Ayr Hospital who wanted to see us.  At Ayr they surmised she had suffered a migraine from the tablets. He hoped it would calm down and her right eye vision would return. 

Today her headache has finally lifted and vision has returned fully. We attended an optician, who said her right eye needs a stronger prescription and is weaker than her left. It also does have some blind spots that they spotted in her field test. They want to see her again to check this. She has a follow up appointment at eye clinic to check out her eye.  They are unsure if this could be the start of migraines or if it's a one off.

This has been absolutely terrifying and my daughter has been worried sick about her eyesight. We aren't out of the woods yet and I'm absolutely appalled at how we have been treated. Myself as an untrained professional could see this was a reaction but no one was listening to me. What if I continued to give her this drug? Why was a teenager even prescribed this drug in the first place?  The side effects were horrifying.