I could smell the rot… I didn’t realize it was my dead flesh: Gruesome effects of ‘killing painkiller’ are revealed by victims – including amputations and life-changing wounds – as Spanish doctors continue to use drugs against tourists
Expats have revealed the horrific side effects and life-changing injuries they suffered after being given a drug called the ‘deadly painkiller’ widely used by Spanish doctors.
A British woman living in Spain has told how part of her feet and fingers had to be amputated after she went into septic shock and her skin started to ‘rot’ – with doctors linking her symptoms to Nolotil.
Another victim in her 60s has also told how she suffered ‘terrible’ side effects that made her life ‘terrible’ after being given Nolotil to ease the pain of shoulder surgery.
Nolotil, a brand name for metamizole, is banned in Britain and in more than 40 countries around the world, but is popular with doctors in Spain – many of whom work with the phrase ‘Nolotil as pain’.
It can cause a condition known as agranulocytosis, which destroys white blood cells, increasing the risk of sepsis and even causing organ failure and other horrific complications.
An Irish expat living in Spain shared photos of her wounds after contracting Necrotizing Fasciitis
A 62-year-old British woman living in Spain has told how her fingers had to be amputated after she suffered septic shock
A British expat, who has since returned to Britain, had to have part of her feet amputated after her skin started to ‘rot’
Dozens of British tourists and expats in Spain have suffered horrific side effects in recent years, and campaigners have said the drug could be fatal.
Anti-Nolotil campaigner Cristina Garcia del Campo said she knows of almost 40 Britons who have died after receiving the drug since 2016, adding that the real number could be much higher.
Attention was drawn to the drug’s dangers last month with the death of British father Mark Brooks, who died just four days after being prescribed Nolotil for shoulder pain.
Other expats have almost died after being given the prescription-only painkiller.
An Irish woman living in Malaga described how she almost lost her life after taking Nolotil ‘as prescribed by doctors’ for shoulder pain.
The 69-year-old was diagnosed with agranulocytosis due to metamizole, a jaw infection due to neutropenia – a lack of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell – and necrotizing fasciitis, known as the ‘flesh-eating disease’.
She had to undergo four operations on her neck to remove the necrotic tissue, as well as some glands and muscles, and said she was “disfigured with a huge ugly scar on my neck.”
The expat said she had to undergo four operations on her neck to remove necrotic tissue
Irish patient said she was ‘disfigured with a huge ugly scar on my neck’
“I look and feel like a wreck now and it will take a very long time to recover, but I will never be the same,” she said.
‘I have a long list of medical and emotional problems after this terrible experience, which is not over yet.
‘My life is terrible now, no quality and constant pain, I don’t recognize myself in the mirror anymore!’
The woman, who remains in Spain, said the experience left her with PTSD and continues to suffer health problems years later.
A British woman, now in her 70s who did not want to be named, said she was given the drug after going to a health clinic in Spain for kidney stones.
She said she took just three tablets before she became seriously ill, had difficulty speaking and suffered from delirium, and was rushed to hospital.
Del Campo says she has presented the dozens of cases she has collected to health authorities
Father-of-one Mark Brooks from Derbyshire is believed to be the drug’s latest victim. Pictured here with his four-year-old daughter Aurora
The woman was initially diagnosed with leukemia until doctors realized she was suffering from septic shock “due to agranulocytosis induced by metamizole, with serious complications,” as stated in her medical reports.
The patient was placed in intensive care with sepsis and developed gangrene, with her hands, arms, feet, nose and ears all turning black.
She thought the clothes in the hospital were dirty, before realizing it was her skin giving off an unpleasant odor as it ‘rotted’.
She had to have part of her feet and a few fingers amputated and left hospital unable to walk and weighing just 43kg.
Since her horrific ordeal began in 2013, she has had to move back to Britain from Spain.
Ms Del Campo says there has been little change since the recommendations were made in 2018
She never returned to work and is now disabled, with the nightmarish side effects continuing to affect her to this day.
She said doctors described her condition as a “catastrophic side effect of Nolotil.”
Spanish medics were told by the country’s regulators not to prescribe the drug to British tourists since 2018, but Ms Del Campo says there has been little change since these recommendations were made.
The guidance emerged after an unpublished study found that Britons have an ’80 to 120 times higher’ risk of agranulocytosis compared to Spanish patients.
A spokesperson for Boehringer Ingelheim, the manufacturer that makes Nolotil, said in a statement: ‘We take patient safety and public health seriously and work closely with regulators on product safety-related issues.
‘We believe that the current approved prescribing information adequately reflects current knowledge of identified risks.’