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Archive through February 06, 2008

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Jan. 2008 ~ Mar. 2008: The Entertainment Place: Celebrity Buzz: Archive through February 06, 2008 users admin

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Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 11:09 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kitt a private message Print Post    
I think people are trying to be respectful, yes, but I don't think we can make any judgement on whether he abused prescription drugs habitually, or just this time, or just this illness.

Ophiliasgrandma
Member

09-04-2001

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 11:09 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ophiliasgrandma a private message Print Post    
Oxycontin is prescribed for excessive pain. My DH has spinal fusion surgery in November. He got Oxycontin and has used one 30 day script and part of another one. He is treating that drug with kid gloves.

Does anyone know what Heath's pain problem was that he needed both of those narcotics?

Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 11:15 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kitt a private message Print Post    
I've been doing a little research and it seems Vicodin is the weaker drug, and if it doesn't work people are often prescribed Oxycontin, and a lot are saying they are told to take it as needed to relieve the pain. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, particularly as both are addictive. And apparently oxycontin can cause sleeping problems so that wouldn't have helped his insomnia.

I haven't heard he had any injury, only that he had a respiratory illness while filming in England, that his co-workers desrcibed as "walking pneumonia".

Ophiliasgrandma
Member

09-04-2001

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 11:19 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ophiliasgrandma a private message Print Post    
Was there a sign of pneumonia at the autopsy?

Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 11:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kitt a private message Print Post    
Various sites "confirm" that he had penumonia (People magazine, TMZ, US Mag, and his family) but that pneumonia wasn't the cause of death. Hard to say whether their confirmation means anything, but he was certainly very ill, and had been for a week, according to people around him in his last days.

Ginger1218
Member

08-31-2001

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:07 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ginger1218 a private message Print Post    
First of all if he was taking Valium AND Xanax, there is an issue. If you take both, either you are trying to get very very high, or kill yourself, especially if you take them with oxycontin and vicodin

Ginger1218
Member

08-31-2001

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:10 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ginger1218 a private message Print Post    
They may prescribe Valium OR Xanax with antidepressants, but not together, they are tranquilizers, not anti depressants.

Rissa
Member

03-20-2006

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Rissa a private message Print Post    
Never underestimate the laziness of a doc or doctors. My dad was on three different anti-dep plus an anxiety medication and at least two different types of sleeping pills. This was all from the same doctor who felt adding more drugs was easier then stopping one and trying another at a higher dose. I can't even imagine when you have multiple doctors in different countries. Not saying one way or another, just that I have personal experience with doctors not giving any thought to their prescriptions and their repercussions.

Hukdonreality
Member

09-29-2003

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Hukdonreality a private message Print Post    
I have never gone to a new doctor without them having me fill out paperwork regarding my concerns, history, and medications used. Even if they didn't have a patient fill something like this out, where is Heath's responsibility here to have told his doctors that he was already taking one med or another?

I don't know anything at all about Heath Ledger, never saw a single movie he was in, so I have no prejudice for or against him. All I know is that we have to be accountable for what we put in our mouths. He was a big boy and I'm sure he could have read the info sheet that comes with medications. It was a tragedy for sure, but I'm not convinced that it was completely accidental.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:30 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Yep we do have to be accountable but most people don't question their doctors like they 'should'. Maybe this was the case. He tells the docs I have blah blah blah and they give him a pill each for blah blah blah. <shrug>

Nyheat
Member

08-09-2006

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:32 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Nyheat a private message Print Post    
I think, also, you can't discount the extremely addictive nature of something like Valium. I got Valium over the counter in India and used them for long bus rides--trust me, I felt no pain. My travel partner started to worry when I took four at a time.

Also, insomnia could be a symptom of painkiller or tranquilizer addiction, as it takes more and more pills to get you down as your body gets more addicted to the drug associated with that activity.

Again, I'm not disrespecting him, and I don't really know what happened just like everyone else. That's just what it looks like to me.

Brenda1966
Member

07-03-2002

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:37 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Brenda1966 a private message Print Post    
I feel the same way Hukdon and I adore Heath.

But people have to think twice before taking two different types of heavy duty pain killers at the same time, paired with two different anti-anxiety type meds? Come on. Would you take that even if your doctor told you to?! I sure as heck wouldn't.

He must have been very desperate for some kind of relief or just so out of it he didn't realize how many different drugs he was taking at the same time.

And like others have asked, what was he on heavy duty pain meds for? Did he have an accident? Some kind of illness? I've never heard of Valium for walking pneumonia. But I have heard of valium as a recreational drug.

Rissa
Member

03-20-2006

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 12:41 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Rissa a private message Print Post    
It may seem obvious from the outside looking in but I think that is simplistic. I know in our case, dad was having massive insomnia to the point where he was hallucinating. Sleeping pill#1. Didn't work, upped dose. Still didn't work, dad started having generalized anxiety. Anxiety pill#1. Rationale was the if the anxiety level went down then maybe sleeping pill would work, didn't. Dad getting very depressed, Pill #3. Couldn't up sleeping dosage because of other medical conditions so sleeping pill #2. This one worked diff from #1 which was a slow release, this one was stronger but fast acting then left the body. Didn't work. This is over the course of 2-3 yrs. Dad is sleeping perhaps 20 hrs a week combined. Mood swings became more pronounced.. next pill. And so on. I don't know anyone who is more involved in his own care then my dad and I know he spoke intensively to his doc about this. It just snowballed, it happens. I am just a glass half full type person and I tend to jump to the explanation that is more flattering, especially with someone who can't tell us himself and who has a young child who will grow up reading all our theories. LOL

Goddessatlaw
Member

07-19-2002

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Goddessatlaw a private message Print Post    
Rissa, I have an aunt who went through the same thing we wound up having to fire her doctor, ween her off all the medicine and start from scratch.

I've managed to live 45 years without ever having even one of those drugs prescribed to me that they found in Heath's body. How he managed to collect all of them, much less reach the conclusion that he should ingest them all at the same time, is beyond me. Poor guy. He shouldn't be dead.

Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kitt a private message Print Post    
I'm not sure what you can do in a situation like this but give him the benefit of the doubt - that he was suffering and was taking pills to try to make the pain go away. As simple and sad as that.

Rissa
Member

03-20-2006

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:08 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Rissa a private message Print Post    
Gal, me too. I don't have a single prescription in my home right now. Five people and you would have to go back a couple yrs to even find an antibiotic. My main complaint with some of these prescriptions (not the pain ones) is that they should be accompanied by counselling... not just toss a drug script and hope for the best.

Kitt.... that's basically my bottom line too.

Dahli
Member

11-27-2000

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 1:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Dahli a private message Print Post    
Same here GAL, every time I go for any kind of treatment and they ask about drugs or meds, my answer is zero and they look surprised as I'm 54...

It's disgusting how doctors just throw drugs at you and that's it!! Each one has side effects that need another drug to counter them and so on and so on... my grandmother was on so many meds she had fungus growing in her lungs from one and muscle weakness and pain from another to name just a couple of problems, she was hospitalized waiting for the end since if you can't walk or breathe it's tough to get around.. my dad and his brother in desperation took her to a naturopath in another city and taking her off all that and figuring out what was wrong was his first step. She was digging potatoes out of her garden and cleaning her own attic that fall. This 'medicine' goes on all the time and it's perfectly legal.

But let one supplement have a sniff of contamination and it's banned for years.

Ok rant over.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 2:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
I'm 61 and need no prescription or OTC drugs. (I did recently finish five years of Tamoxifen for early breast cancer.) I do have a stash of Ativan from when I was diagnosed. Only took 1.5 tabs out the 40 tab script fill.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 3:00 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mocha a private message Print Post    
Well I'm 38 and take about 5 or 6 different prescriptions...

Hukdonreality
Member

09-29-2003

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 3:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Hukdonreality a private message Print Post    
<<I'm not sure what you can do in a situation like this but give him the benefit of the doubt - that he was suffering and was taking pills to try to make the pain go away. As simple and sad as that.>>

Because he was a nice looking young man with a bright future, he will get the benefit of the doubt from most. If he was a rock star, or Anna Nicole Smith, he wouldn't get that. Given the simple number of similar drugs they apparently found, I think there was more to it, that's all.

Landileigh
Member

07-29-2002

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 3:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Landileigh a private message Print Post    
when i initially had the diagnosis of fibromyalgia (which we found out years later was incorrect) i couldn't sleep for more than an hour at a time. this went on for years and years. at the end when i was diagnosed with sleep apnea, i was taking an anti-depressant, vicodin, valium, valerian, a antihistimine, and ambien. i STILL was waking up every hour. i had migraines all the time. all i needed was a CPAP machine. now i sleep 8 hours at a time and all of the medications are gone!

Rissa
Member

03-20-2006

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 3:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Rissa a private message Print Post    
I know its off-topic a bit but I don't think most people really, truly understand how absolutely devastating not sleeping can be. It can literally be fatal and I can so understand how someone would try anything to just fall asleep. So glad to hear you found a solution Landi.

PS As per TMZ.com... Britney Spears is back home.

Stacey718995
Member

07-06-2007

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 3:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Stacey718995 a private message Print Post    
Good point Huk, it is weird what people excuse based on popularity, I guess the high school principles apply for celebrity likes and dislikes as well.

It is like the Britney thing, for the most part we can't stand her so people don't excuse that she could really be sick or not in control of her situation.

Yet, we love Heath so it all has to be an accident and someone elses (dr.) fault. He was in control of what he put in his mouth. The real victims in both cases are their kids.

None of us really knows any of their situations. It is sad that anyone had to die or that anyone is sick.

I am a fan of Heath, reading today's report I raised an eyebrow about the oxycotin more than anything. I just had major back surgery and they offered me oxy and I said no, I wanted something milder. I had a friend that after a back injury was given oxy and had addiction issues. My dr. told me that was a good choice, though with the pain that I was going through he would understand if I needed it as well. So knowing that it is generally given for major pain and we haven't read anything about that it definitely makes me wonder why Heath had it.

I tend to think there was more to it, but if is daughter grows up reading that it was all accidental and small amounts I am ok with that as well.

I was on 5 or so different perscript 6 months ago and I had lapband surgery. As I lost weight I really questioned my dr about getting off some of this stuff. I was able to drop all meds with weight loss, my doctor was tickled that I pushed so hard, she said herself that it wasn't the norm and many people didn't want to let things go. It is all a catch 22, thank God their are the meds that we have out there that help many of us, sad that there are so many abuse issues because of it.

Dolphinschild
Member

06-21-2006

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 5:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Dolphinschild a private message Print Post    
I know when I was getting only 20 hrs sleep a week, my body hurt so bad, plus my mind was in a fog and I had other issues too that crept up on me. I would take my meds and I would forget I took my meds so I would take them again. I was lucky a few times I didn't accidently over dose. Now if I forget, I just don't take it in case I did take it before. Sleep deprivation can cause so many things that could easily cause this situation like with Heath. He was anxious from the Joker role and he was sick from all his travels and work. He traveled to Australia for holidays, then to England, then to New York for a date, then back to England to shoot, then back to Aus, then back to England, then back to NY all in a short period of time. He didn't stop, he was going, going, going and he became sick. I don't think he had a problem with the drugs. I think the doctor or doctors as we all know throw the pills at ya and tell you to take this and this and do that and it is all ok. And I believe he was so sick and out of it from fatique, he could have taken the pills and forgotten, or forgot which ones he took. It can happen to any of us under those circumstances. If someone is a known drug abuser, abusing the drugs will always be in question no matter who it is and whether they were clean or not won't make a difference. Just like if someone was once suicidal, it will always play in the back of someones mind if someone died uner these condiitions too. History bites people in the butt and sometimes shit just happens and has nothing to do with history.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 5:43 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Rissa, so true. Last year I stayed up all night kinda purposely. Never again. Starting about mid morning the next day, I was miserable. Could not function, but there were some things I had to do -- forcing myself to stay awake. I do not like to think what an even more extended time without sleep would be like.