Our Meds

[tazzer]

I don't mean to sound cold hearted...and I am truly sorry about Heath Ledger's demise.....but did you see what the autopsy report said....
he had 6 diff drugs in his system #1 mentioned oxycontin (oxycodone) Vicodine (hydrocodone) Valium (diazepam), Restoril (temazepam), Xanax (alprazolam, Unisom sleep aid antihistimine (doxylamine)

Ok I don't know his health and if he had a condition to warrant ALL of these pills, and yes they were prescriptions I am certainly not one to judge, but dammit take as prescribed, don't whack yourself by ODing....just makes the rest of us look bad everytime we get our prescriptions filled.....

I know this post makes me sound like a heartless b*tch but we have enough trouble getting meds to help us....and publicity like this sure doesn't help....we are already accused of imagining our pain...and we are having a delusional disease.. and we are all drug seekers.....I am so tired of "THE LOOK" at the pharmacy.....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

don't yell at me too much

dee

[Aiken]

Yeah, we do look bad enough as it is. The "Oh, hydrocodone this time," remark I got last time was a bit of a kick in the teeth. I didn't know they had started seeing me that way.

I saw the Heath Ledger list earlier today and sort of wondered if he had RLS or something like it. Half of his meds are our meds. Almost all of his meds are meds that help you sleep if you have a problem that keeps you from sleeping. I know he also did drugs recreationally, but come on, if you're Heath Ledger, you can do way better than half of the items on the list. I mean, come on... unisom? If you want to be on the nod for recreational purposes, just cut to the chase and get some heroin.

I wonder if he had something that kept him from sleeping, but because he also did drugs recreationally, he built up a tolerance and got to the point that he took so much to get to sleep that he simply stopped breathing.

It's too bad. I liked his work.

[tazzer]

i was thinking maybe rls but the antihistimine aggrivates RLS.....been down that road.

with these movie stars who knows.....maybe he hurt himself on the batman set or something...like i said who knows

dee

[Neco]

Sadly his death doesn't phase me... but he was a pretty decent actor..

I think I made the snide comment somewhere that "I'd kill myself if I was in brokeback mountain, too" but... meh

[ViewsAskew]

I read that he did have sleeping problems - no more than 2 hours a night. He was desperately trying to get sleep...we all know how hard that is.

I also read that he did not take TOO much of any of those. They were all the correct dosage. That was a sobering realization...many of us have multiple prescriptions in our homes. Maybe he got these at different times, like we did, over the course of months. And one night, so tired of it, he tried one and took a hydrocodone for some pain. Then he took something else. A few hours later, something else. Still not sleeping...so a little more.

Maybe this can turn in to a positive outcome for the millions of us who can't sleep...see what happens when you can't get sleep? People will do anything, even if it means inadvertently making poor decisions. I have been sooooo exhausted that I have made dumb decisions. This guy was probably in a similar place.

Maybe this will place some prominence on sleep disorders and how difficult it is to get the right help...and how desperate we are for it. Then, in turn, maybe we'll be taken more seriously.

[Neco]

Even if they were all correct dose... he had to know it was a bad idea.. its perfectly feasible to think he knew taking them all, even in low quantities would end it for him, and maybe he even wanted that?

I hope to hell they did not all come from the same doctor.. ..cause.. I want his name if so

[SquirmingSusan]

I read that he did have sleeping problems - no more than 2 hours a night. He was desperately trying to get sleep...we all know how hard that is.

I wondered if he had RLS or some other major source of insomnia. When they read the list of meds, my dh said to me, "Hey, sounds like what you're taking." And I replied that yes, he was probably just trying to get some sleep. Geez, I even took half a Unisom last night because, even though it makes my legs kick crazy, it does help me get good quality sleep. I doubt that was what killed him, though. More likely the combo of opioids and benzos. It's scary. We definitely live closer to the edge than most people. And we all know that desperation all too well, that says oh, just take one more pill...

My guess is that the publicity over this is NOT going to help us with anything. I'm guessing his doctors will take some flak and that will send repercussions through the medical community and doctors might even be more spooked about prescribing controlled substances.

[becat]

It's a thought I have more than often. Started after Anna Nicole died.

I thought about just what Ann said, your so thoughtless and just want the sleep. It's a final thought to take any addition, and it happens.....sometimes it was the wrong thing to take. It would be a mistake, consider if we were all "older, really older", people would write it off as an honest mistake or the age.

With the younger of the people, they almost always think, self harm.

Sadly, yes we do happen to take much of the same things, these over publizied poor people, and I know it could happen to me.

Its embarrassing Dee, I know that look. I've always prayed that someday the foundation puts out a letter or card that can go onto our files that explains the nature of the medications we take and the chance that they can change, and often.
I'm not a stoner. I'm not a junkie. I am in good standing within my community. No legal trouble.
And yet, because I suffer with a genetic disorder, I am known to the state, the feds, and the "looks"!

This is a change we might could make happen for ourselves and may have to, just to survive.

Lynne

[sardsy75]

I know from news posts here in Australia that it was reported that not only was Heath suffering from insomnia, but anxiety as well.

That's two of the most torturous, incurable ailments ... and to try and treat both at the same time ... is pretty damn hard ... and i'm speaking from experience.

I suffer from anxiety. I've not mentioned it really, because I find it rather embarrassing. That's why I'm on the Lexapro. I had a major anxiety attack a few years ago that was so bad my ex-hubby rang the Ambulance and I was taken to hospital in the middle of the night. I felt like the whole world was falling down around me and I had no control over what I could do or say and even thought I was going to die. It's a frightening experience the first time. I got it under control when my then-Neuro added Amitriptyline to my daily list.

That attack happened somewhere around the time this board came into existence, so, early 2004.

The lexapro was added to my daily list late last year when my anxiety levels went through the roof and on a number of occassions I was so distressed I literally had the phone in my hand, ready to ring the Ambulance again. Right now, it's a daily battle; particularly with the problems with my hand; no job; not a cent to my name in the bank; sorting out a bull-at-gate threat from the people who bought the block of land next to mine about a fence that i had nothing to do with; trying to be the best step-mom i can be; and being strong for my friends. It's literally very hard NOT to open the drawer and take an extra something to settle me down or help me get to sleep.

I nearly OD'd on a mix of Neurontin and Sinemet. I had been prescribed such high doses of both at the same time straight from the word go. It was only because I managed to get myself to my GP that I'm still here. That Neuro was subsequently fired.

The news reports are saying that Heath abused his prescribed drugs. C'mon! Why is the "a" word automatically applied to the deaths of young people, celebrity or not? A high profile actor; applauded for his work by people from around the world, then so harshly criticized for his role in Brokeback Mountain; a young daughter and a failed relationship with his daughter's mother. In this country we call it Tall Poppy Syndrome. Lets put it into a bit of perspective ...

You've had little or even no sleep for so many days you've lost count; your workload is piling up both at your workplace and at home; you dont have a good support network around you ... you do what your brain and body are screaming at you to do ... SLEEP!!!! So, you take the correct dose of each prescribed medication, then decide to have one more of only one particular medication, say a sedative, you lie down on the bed and close your eyes.

All Heath wanted was ... SLEEP! It's a simple thing. Unfortunately it took his life. Who knows if it was RLS? Who knows if it was good old Insomnia? We'll never know ... all we do know from his last interview days before his death, is that he was tired, anxious and desperate for sleep. Think back to all the times y'all have felt the same way.

Yup, i too have suffered "those looks". I've been called a drug addict to my face by my GP (who subsequently had to apologised when I accounted for every single tablet he'd prescribed in date order and for what reason they were taken). I CANNOT get a script for pure codeine as my GP (yup, the same one) doesnt want to go onto "the list" so I hope to hell that my liver and kidneys dont particularly want to keep on livin too long since I have to put up with an extra, unnecessary drug, just to get the codeine into my system. I CANNOT get a script for Tramadol (yet my mother walks in to the same GP with a list including Tramadol and gets all her scripts without a comment ... GO FIGURE!!) ... my GP simply changes the subject and ignores me.

Its unfortunate that we are automatically booted into "that" class of society. I wouldn't wish any of my ailments on my worst enemy, let alone the list of drugs I have to keep track of and all those wonderful side-effects that make our lives that lil bit more entertaining, but it's at times like these that i'd like to let them walk in my shoes for a few days.

The fact that Heath was an Aussie, is not important to me. What is important to me is that there are doctors out there who listen for 30 seconds, write a script and sent you on your way without actually diagnosing the root cause of the problem. Insomnia and Anxiety ... not that hard to diagnose. Unfortunately for Heath it proved to be a lethal combination.

R.I.P. Mate

[sardsy75]

I know he also did drugs recreationally, but come on, if you're Heath Ledger, you can do way better than half of the items on the list. I mean, come on... unisom? If you want to be on the nod for recreational purposes, just cut to the chase and get some heroin.

Sorry Aiken, I have to disagree with your statement that you "know" he did recreational drugs. The ONLY thing that has come to light is that "video" of him supposedly taking illicit drugs in a hotel room. This has since been proven as a set-up, organised by the paparazzi ... yup they can take some credit for a famous death ... again. There is also no proof on this video that he is taking drugs. He is not seen injecting, or inhaling or smoking. For all we know, all they were doing was wolfing down a giant box of doughnuts!!

Like you said, if he was taking something so easy to get, why not get the good stuff ... probably because he didn't want the good stuff. Not all celebrity's are illicit drug takers.

It'd be like me kicking the bucket after a really big night out binge drinking. I know I can't have alcohol. I know it's a very dangerous thing for me to have with the medications I'm on. Give Heath some credit. Just because he was an actor doesnt mean he didnt have brains or common sense.

If anything, Heath was a very private person. He never headlined the gossip pages unless it was about a movie release. I've noticed over the week or so that he has been compared in life to that of Johnny Depp ... who deliberately left the U.S. because he could not stand all the hype and rot that came with his job.

Sorry, but I just cant see Heath doing that. Not with such an "ordinary" line up of prescribed medications.

As Ann said, she's made some dumb decisions when she's been so exhausted. I have too. I'm sure just about everyone on this board has at some stage.

I'll shuddup now before one of the Mod's kicks my caboose.

[jbuck]

As most of you have already commented, I too, am taking pretty much the same medications that Heath was taking. I'm taking Marinol, Hydrocodone, Xanax, Klonopin, and Adderall. I have prescriptions for Lunesta, Nazonex, Astellin too. So I'm used to the 'looks' from the pharmacist and the occasional remarks from my doctor. However, ALL my doctors know what I'm taking as I make sure that they all know. I suffer from RLS, Anxiety Disorder, ADD, and Insomnia....so yes, it is a life of hell. Every day I dread having to get up cause I know I'm going thru the day half asleep and then dreading going to bed at night because I know that I will have problems sleeping... I think we all know this feeling.

However, I truly believe that 1/2 of these medications probably wouldn't be needed if pot was legal. Of course, this is a whole other topic, but the Marinol does help with RLS, but it's about 60-70% as affective as smoking pot. So I take the Marinol at night and the hydrocodone during the day. It's a daily battle I fight. I think that if I could smoke pot and it was legal, then I wouldn't need the hydrocodone, xanax and adderall.....but unfortunately, it just ain't going to happen anytime soon..so I'm stuck with these meds that work for me.

I think the most important thing to recognize here is that Heath did have pneumonia! Therefore, the small amount of these drugs could very well have been too much, add on to that that he was found laying face down...so his lungs would be compressed and it would be difficult to breath. I doubt very much that he was a drug addict. I think the media has stopped reporting about his pneumonia so that they can run up this big prescription drug abuse story and cause all our doctors to get nervous and afraid to prescribe the medications we need.

It's just very sad...I can't tell you how many phone calls I got from my family saying "SEE we told you you were taking too many drugs, look what happens!".... i have since just turned my phone off.. I know the medications I am taking and I have educated myself on each of them so that I KNOW not to take them ALL AT ONCE! I also know to be extra careful when I am suffering from a cold or flu and watch what over the counter medications I'm taking.

I really feel bad for his family as they will have to listen to the media drive this story of his drug abuse and now I heard they (tabloids) are offering 300,000.00 for a picture of his dead body! Out society needs to get their priorities straight!

[tazzer]

the truth is that no matter what he was suffering from the press is gonna blow it out of proportion. why because no one thinks sleep deprivation is a big deal...doctors especially and all they see is prescription drugs, alot of different ones...and that is what they are going to zero in on.

they are like vultures. it's very true that sleep deprivation will drive you to do anything to get to sleep....and it's a shame that doctors don't realize this. i have been there....so sleepy you are not sure where the hell you are. it sucks....and your family expects you to keep on keepin on. anyway you cut this it sucks!

i like what you said nadia!

dee

[sardsy75]

the truth is that no matter what he was suffering from the press is gonna blow it out of proportion.

i like what you said nadia!

When DOESN'T the press blow things outta proportion? It's their job ... I dont think the majority would know the truth if it hit 'em square upside the head with a frozen trout! (Apologies to any media/journo's in our midst) There's still crappola bein said about Michael Hutchence and Princess Diana ... 10 Years Later ... Nuff Said

... and Dee ... thanks

[tazzer]

is it any wonder why britney is in the nut house?!!!

[Neco]

Heh sorry, but that girl did it to herself.. I'll grant her the preassure is tough, but many have done it before her.. She's obviously given up to some degree