Heath Ledger's Accidental Overdose - Discussion Thread (Was: Breaking News)

[chefjudy]

umm, can we move on now and just agree that some people do abuse prescriptions out of
ignorance, stupidity or both - we do not know what was going on with Heath that last night
and talking or suppositions now are pointless

[souxi]

Come on people. We are ALL very upset here. Lets not start arguing about who did what, or what or who is to blame. Lets support each other, I think we all need it after the past 2 weeks. 

[SFEnnisSF]

This is a pretty outrageous list of drugs to be found in one's system.
 
We have a problem in this country where doctors treat mental stress and conditions associated with depression and anxiety by literally throwing drugs at the problem, when study after study shows that talk therapy can be just as effective, or even more so, than prescription drugs.  It takes a bigger commitment to talk through issues in your life with a therapist, and the insurance industry considers it more expensive, but it's far less dangerous that just handing over a stack of prescriptions to fill at the local CVS or Walgreens.

This is another shocking shame.  This country needs to take action to help inform people about and prevent prescription drug abuse.

I haven't read the rest of this thread yet, as I just signed on and have only made it to post #3!  But Phillip hits the nail on the head right here!

My sister is currently going through some probelms with anti-depression meds the doctors gave her.  She's a walking zombie, worse off than before.

When they tried to give my high blood pressure meds, and my body reacted to them, I had a panic attack about it.  I thought the meds were screwing my heart and cardiovascular system up.  I went to the ER, and the EKG was fine.  Heart soundind and working fine.  Jes' had a panic attack about it is all.  (I don't like meds!)

But then, the doctor who I had just talked to for about 45 seconds, said I should be perscribed autovan(sp?) or prozac to help with panic attacks.  I said WHAT?  WTF?  I then asked the doctor if I was ok physically, and he said yes.  I then told him he was excused!

This really pissed me off beyond belief.  I'm still angry about it.  The pharm companies are giving these doctors free rounds of golf on Saturdays to perscribe this shit.  The doctor didn't even know me.  Spoke to me for 45 seconds.  How in the hell does he know physicatrically that I need Prozac?  Fortunately, I'm good enough to know what's best for me, but some folks will believe anything doctors tell them.  Some folks have know idea what they're taking.  Yes, as Phillip said, this country needs to wake up!

If your depressed or have anxiety, talk to someone about it.  Get down to the root of the problem and solve it.  That is what helped me when I had a bout of anxiety and depression.  Throwing prozac and all these other drugs at it just sweeps it all under the carpet, doesn't help the situation, and turns folks into unfeeling zombies!

[Verona]

Come on people. We are ALL very upset here. Lets not start arguing about who did what, or what or who is to blame. Lets support each other, I think we all need it after the past 2 weeks. 

'Tis true. Sometimes one's judgment is clouded by pain, exhaustion, illness... life happens. There is no blame here. "Accidental" means just that. It was a tragic accident.

 

[Phillip Dampier]

Come on people. We are ALL very upset here. Lets not start arguing about who did what, or what or who is to blame. Lets support each other, I think we all need it after the past 2 weeks. 

To everyone, actually...

I think it would be a tragedy not to use this to try and prevent someone else from becoming the next victim, however I agree that sniping at each other comes perilously close to the personal attack, which is always forbidden here.  If someone is slighting someone else in our community, stop it.  If you are being slighted, just breeze on past that reply and ignore it, because there will be a lot of messages to read here.  I would prefer not to have us moderate this forum to remove stuff that people know doesn't belong here, so let's keep it civil.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Lets not feel this outcome is good. He still died as a drug abuser. It makes no difference that they were perscribed meds folks.

He died apparently as a result of accidentlaly or unintentionally taking too many prescription medications in combination. I don't care what the Law or Medicine calls it. In common parlance, "drug abuser" has connotations that simply do not apply to Heath Ledger's tragic death.

[Ellemeno]

I may regret continuing here, because I know we all are hurting, and I don't want my words to cause anyone to feel worse (and I hate having people mad at me), but I am resistant to the word "accidental" here.  I DON'T think it was deliberate, but it WAS as a result of his own extreme actions.  Not quite completely accidental.  

That's just such a heck of a combo to have in one's system at once.  I may be really naive, but I am stunned that anyone would take that many serious drugs in a short time span.  Most of them I have heard enough about that I would recoil from taking even one of them.  To have mixed that many is beyond imagining for me, I would be so paranoid of what they would do.

[nakymaton]

I read this on another forum, Kim Ledger's statement:

...<snip>We treasure our beautiful granddaughter Matilda (to our dear Michelle) as well as an unbelievably wonderful network of close friends, forever, around the world. Families rarely experience the uplifting, warm and massive outpouring of grief and support as have we, from every corner of the planet. This has deeply and profoundly touched our hearts and lives. We are eternally grateful....</snip>

 

(I agree that there's a lesson to be learned about respecting the dangers of prescription medications. But mostly I'm just sad. And Kim Ledger's statement is very moving.)

[souxi]

I may regret continuing here, because I know we all are hurting, and I don't want my words to cause anyone to feel worse (and I hate having people mad at me), but I am resistant to the word "accidental" here.  I DON'T think it was deliberate, but it WAS as a result of his own extreme actions.  Not quite completely accidental.  

That's just such a heck of a combo to have in one's system at once.  I may be really naive, but I am stunned that anyone would take that many serious drugs in a short time span.  Most of them I have heard enough about that I would recoil from taking even one of them.  To have mixed that many is beyond imagining for me, I would be so paranoid of what they would do.

Well Clairissa at the end of the day, the only person who REALLY knows what happened is Heath, and he isn,t here any more to tell us. We,ll never really know will we. He,s gone and there really aint no way to fix it. God knows I wish there was.  

[SFEnnisSF]

I'm still too baffled to even think straight. I can't understand why I feel relieved. I guess I'm relieved because, as I thought, it wasn't hard drugs that killed him and he didn't kill himself. On the other hand, his death could have been prevented. That makes me so angry. I don't know at whom.

Same here.  I'm blaming the pharm companies.  IMO, the pharm companies killed Heath Ledger!  

And I'm mad as hell about it.