You Be the Doctor: What Caused This Life-Threatening Rash?

At the hospital the ER doctor examined Kaplan, who explained that the medications weren't getting rid of her symptoms.

Debbie Kaplan could not figure out what was causing her life-threatening rash.

(ABC News)

"He asked me if I had chicken pox as a child," she said. And I said 'I think so.'"

"She called me and asked me if I was absolutely sure she had chicken pox," Gallagher said. "And I said, 'Yes.' But of course, I started questioning my own memory."

Kaplan said the doctor told her he thought she had chicken pox and that the medication she was taking could worsen her infection.

But even after stopping the prednisone and the antihistamines, Kaplan still wasn't feeling better.

"The skin was starting to turn splotchy at this point," she said. "The little itchy bumps were becoming red lesions. My lips were kind of blistery."

Another Doctor, Another Try

Wanting a second opinion, Kaplan took the recommendation of a family friend and visited Dr. Wayne Meyer.

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Meyer said the rash was now everywhere on Kaplan's body and there was redness in most of her mucous membranes and on her tongue, the roof of her mouth, the sides of her mouth, her lips and the lining of her eyes.

"You would automatically think of an infection because of the fever. Either a virus such as chicken pox or a staph or strep," Meyer said. "I excused myself, went back to my office, looked at the few books that I had, tried to figure out where this fit in the overall scheme of things."

"I just remember looking up at him," Kaplan said, "tearfully and asking, pleading with him, 'Please, please give me something to help with this itching.'"

Kaplan's condition only worsened.

"She couldn't swallow," Gallagher said. "She had canker sores throughout her mouth and on her tongue on down into her throat. So, I took her temperature. It was 104.4. I was really scared."

Finally, An Answer

Meyer sent Kaplan to the hospital where doctors noticed that the lesions on her skin were becoming more pronounced.

"They just seemed to be breaking out from head to toe," Kaplan said.

But then Meyer found something in a medical journal-- a rare condition sparked by a drug reaction.