R.I.P. Heath Ledger

[lostinemotion]

don't forget medicines can build up in your system and become toxic. in the same way people are toxic to fruit with pits in it. you could not know you are allergic, until 20 years later when it all builds up and causes a reaction.

 

[lostinemotion]

and in the US, the pharmacy only knows what other medication your on to prevent things, if you are getting from the same chain of pharmacies. if he is getting it from all over, that explains it.
or in my case my doctor gave me a box of zoloft sample packs because i couldnt afford insurance, so my other doctor would have no clue unless i told him.

 

[Bluestar07]

well with all those pills...I mean that's not surprising. They probably all shouldn't have been taken at once, but it sounds like he really wanted to sleep so perhaps he was thinking irrationally.

That is very true. Depression and insomnia can be killers, in an indirect way. They can drive you to the brink of desperation so much so that you might do stupid things just to have one single brief moment of respite.

This whole thing just won't stop. If anything, the report just brought on a fresh slew of speculation, scrutiny down to the most minute details and judgment of someone else according to one's own standards.

R.I.P. Heath

 

[lostinemotion]

Your right Bluestar.
It is what it seems.
I know when I took anxiety and xanax/ buspar/ clonazepam, i'd actually forget if I took it or not! (it can make you forget)
I had to put myself on a schedule to make sure I took same time each day,just so I wouldn't have another accidental high dose.

 

[MoMoPoW]

i hate to sound naive but as far as i understand oxycodone is not given out so lightly. usually only with sever pain or for cancer patients. i wonder if all his prescriptions were legitimate.

 

[christina126]

i hate to sound naive but as far as i understand oxycodone is not given out so lightly. usually only with sever pain or for cancer patients. i wonder if all his prescriptions were legitimate.

Some states don't regulate it as much as others, fyi.

 

[Zen]

i also believe they are covering him up

it looks better to say he died "accidentaly" of prescription drugs than saying he snorted enough coke to choke a moose

What is so hard about believing that a person died from too much of mixed prescription/over the counter med's in their body? Why must it be that someone is "trying" or "covering" something up? If you want to talk about covering something up to make it seem "accidental" then how come hollywood didn't do that with River Phoenix, or even the one other actor that just recently passed away? (forgot his name) My uncle passed away few years back from similar situation like Heath's. He had too much of med's mixed with multiple other med's in his system that caused his death. This happens to hundreds and hundreds of people each year. Like someone said earlier...when a doctor asks if you are taking any other drugs, you need to be honest and tell them, so that they know what to give you or what not to give you. Doctors don't want to be responsible for your death. Doctors want to help you get well...not kill you.

 

[iluvjeisa]

i hate to sound naive but as far as i understand oxycodone is not given out so lightly. usually only with sever pain or for cancer patients. i wonder if all his prescriptions were legitimate.

They are not given out lightly. I would read that list as a list of the most important culprit first. OxyContin...

Zen, what do you mean? River Phoenix also died of an accidental drug overdose.

Mind you, people die from prescription meds - and it's most often because they don't take them as prescribed. They mix and they take 2/3 times the prescribed amount. This is called drug abuse. Taking 2/3 times the prescribed amount is usually not lethal, but taking 2/3 times the amount of 2-5 similar medications is another story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxycontin

 

[lazypadawan]

When I saw that the active ingredients for OxyContin and Vicodin were in his system, I thought, "Uh oh."

There are many people who are initially prescribed painkillers for legitimate reasons: frequent pains, recovering from surgery, etc.. But there are scores of Dr. Feelgoods who will prescribe anything you want, no questions asked. Addicts shop around for them and it's been a prized secret in Hollywood for decades who the Dr. Feelgoods are. I read an article about them a few years ago.

 

[smartarse]

Mind you, people die from prescription meds - and it's most often because they don't take them as prescribed. They mix and they take 2/3 times the prescribed amount. This is called drug abuse. Taking 2/3 times the prescribed amount is usually not lethal, but taking 2/3 times the amount of 2-5 similar medications is another story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxycontin

that's true. this problem has been raised before Heath's death. whereas, teenagers death rate was associated to prescription drugs found in their homes as the alternative drug of choice. cheap. legit. hassle free. but it was all shoved aside until Heath's death.

*taking legit drugs as a recreational drug and not as theraputic is the latest craze for the addicts.

 

[smartarse]

oh yeah. and they are the Black Markets...

When I saw that the active ingredients for OxyContin and Vicodin were in his system, I thought, "Uh oh."

There are many people who are initially prescribed painkillers for legitimate reasons: frequent pains, recovering from surgery, etc.. But there are scores of Dr. Feelgoods who will prescribe anything you want, no questions asked. Addicts shop around for them and it's been a prized secret in Hollywood for decades who the Dr. Feelgoods are. I read an article about them a few years ago.

 

[iluvjeisa]

It's sad, hopefully this will raise awareness. But it's not going to help that some media seem to want to pin it on Xanax and Valium. Sure, they were there and contributed, but they were also probably warranted. OxyContin was probably not.

 

[lostinemotion]

ok girl, as a mod squad member, you have the responsibility to be an example to the young readers here. what you are saying is preaching ignorance and negativity.
how can you say that is likely what happened to heath? did you live with him?
why can't you just accept the findings. It's unbelievable! I think it's so rude to say such things about someone who is deceased. It's not like he was Anna Nicole Smith!
Im actually so sick of you that I will not be back in this forum.
It's not promoting anything but stress.

 

[iluvjeisa]

Ignorance, negativity? The autopsy report says abuse of oxycontin, hydrocodone, valium etc. It couldn't be clearer.

 

[tylw]

are we now to assume that drug talk is allowed when it's a toxicology report?

 

[lostinemotion]

it does not say abuse!

 

[iluvjeisa]

Read this:

http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_documents/0206_ledger_wm.pdf

The exact same statement as issued at cnn:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/06/heath.ledger/index.html

 

[lostinemotion]

I think you need to include this statement that was right before:
"Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine," the office said in a short statement.

Abuse is a term not only used for overdoing it. Your making it sound like he is grinding pills up and triple dosing. It can mean many different things.

I just don't appreciate the speculation. People can accidentally overdose, which is what this is saying.
Go back to my grapefruit comment! Anything can take one over the edge if combined wrong.

 

[Anastasia]

What is so hard about believing that a person died from too much of mixed prescription/over the counter med's in their body? Why must it be that someone is "trying" or "covering" something up? If you want to talk about covering something up to make it seem "accidental" then how come hollywood didn't do that with River Phoenix, or even the one other actor that just recently passed away? (forgot his name) My uncle passed away few years back from similar situation like Heath's. He had too much of med's mixed with multiple other med's in his system that caused his death. This happens to hundreds and hundreds of people each year. Like someone said earlier...when a doctor asks if you are taking any other drugs, you need to be honest and tell them, so that they know what to give you or what not to give you. Doctors don't want to be responsible for your death. Doctors want to help you get well...not kill you.

Actually, it happens to tens of thousands of people every year just in the US. The most conservative estimate I could find was 32,000 deaths a year from adverse reactions to legally prescribed medications. And that doesn't include intentional overdose/intentional dangerous mixing.

I've had the same doctor prescribe two things together that would have killed me, had the pharmacist not caught it (doc forgot I was on the first, even though it was in my chart). Glad I went to the same pharmacy. Another time I had a reaction to a pain med mixed with an anti-anxiety med, both small, prescribed doses, I was supposed to take them together - and wound up hallucinating for 4 hours and in the ER.

But yeah, only illegal drugs are dangerous, anyone that says otherwise is part of a conspiracy

 

[iluvjeisa]

I think you need to include this statement that was right before:
"Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine," the office said in a short statement.

Abuse is a term not only used for overdoing it. Your making it sound like he is grinding pills up and triple dosing. It can mean many different things.

I just don't appreciate the speculation. People can accidentally overdose, which is what this is saying.
Go back to my grapefruit comment! Anything can take one over the edge if combined wrong.

It also says this in the next paragraph:

" "We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications.""

We'll just have to agree to disagree I don't want to discuss in what manner or why this happened, really, it's just speculation. We have different scenarios that we feel are more likely.