Does it make you think/change your mind?

[spree8213]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress and model
Anna Nicole Smith's son, Daniel Smith, died of a lethal combination of drugs that caused an irregular heart beat, People Magazine reported on its Web site on Wednesday.
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The report quoted pathologist Cyril Wecht, who was hired by Smith to look into her son's September 10 death, as saying Daniel Smith died from a combination of methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro that led to cardiac dysrhythmia.

People Magazine said Wecht got the results of toxicology tests from National Medical Services in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania

Daniel Smith, 20, died while visiting his mother in a hospital in the Bahamas where she had given birth to a baby girl. His death has been shrouded in mystery since then.

The People magazine report could not be immediately confirmed, and official autopsy and toxicology reports are being withheld until an October 23 inquest.


I was considering going back on an SSRI, but im kind of hesitant now after reading this article.. How was this combination lethal? I mean he didnt swallow a bottle of zoloft and a bottle of lexapro. All articles say he was taking very low dose of lexapro..What you guys think

[korey]

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing it was the methadone that did the most damage. I've taken both Zoloft and Lexapro before (though, not at the same time), and I didn't experience any heart irregularity from them.

[D.B. Cooper]

Why would he be taking zoloft and lexapro at the same time? Thats not a normal combination although its not totally out there like the remeron/effexor cocktail.

[michaelyuan]

i gonna quit paxil,but i don't wanna wait,so i ll quickly take zoloft,can i ?

[spree8213]

He was taking Zoloft, and was switched to Lexapro i believe. So he wasnt taking these two meds at the same time. But i guess traces were still left in toxicology report saying he took them before.. It just weird hearing about such young kid dying from these meds.. I mean if he had a history of irregular heartbeat it probably woud have came beforehand during a doctor exam or something, which im sure he had at some point in life.

I guess Lexapro can be lethal with other medications, who knew

[Noca]

The only med im afraid of is celebrex, afraid it will rot my gut out.

[Caedmon]

Serotonin is present in the heart, and an increase in SE activity can increase heart contractility. This is my understanding. In people with dysrhythmias or other circumstances this can be a risk. This risk is not limited to MAOIs, although people often think it is. It is of course greater with some ADs than others.

TCAs are especially harmful, as they screw with the length of QT intervals and some other stuff. Really, not good drugs for the heart. I am a little uncertain re: SSRIs, but they seem safe in most people. MAOIs have more of an acute risk but, probably, less long-term risk.

[UltraShy]

I can assure you that people have taken a combo of SSRIs & methadone and lived. My brother is still very much alive.

I will be waiting to see just how much of each drug he'd taken, as this certainly isn't a fatal combination under any normal circumstances.

I have personally used all of the drugs mentioned and none of them scare me in the least. I consider Lexapro & Zoloft (and other SSRIs) to be useless drugs that produce nothing but sexual side effects, so I'd avoid them due to that rather than fear. As for methadone, it's an effective pain killer that I certainly don't fear.

[Ricky]

Hi!! first i'm really sorry for this death, and for the mom Anna N.S., she has been through rough times, she did not deserve that.

About the point, I concur with others, the methadone must have been the one that caused the most damage, who say is a pain killer, it is a drug that they give to the illegal-drugs-users when breaking the habit, is not for pain.

But most important the amounts comsumed, could have been a suicide??, murder??

I'm about sure if "normal" to low doses are taken, unless the person has a previous heart condition (even at 20's), ther is a very low probability for this to happen; but high dose of anyone (each) or all 3 can be fatal for anyone.

This event, while tragic, has no meaning for me regarding the use normal use of AD.

People have committed suicide (or tried) consuming large amount (pills) of a lot of things, some with success some w/out.

What we all should be looking at /watching closely, is our youngters kids etc... they are the future of our Nation.

[UltraShy]

Originally Posted by Ricky

the methadone must have been the one that caused the most damage, who say is a pain killer, it is a drug that they give to the illegal-drugs-users when breaking the habit, is not for pain.

Methadone is a very common drug for treatment of chronic pain because:

1) It's effective.
2) It's longer acting than any other opioid (other than extended release versions of other opioids).
3) It's low cost.

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

Methadone is used in treatment of heroin addicts (and other opioid addicts) because it's long-acting, so they only have to go to their methadone clinic once a day to get their methadone in liquid version (the DEA is afraid they'd hoard pills if you gave it to junkies in pill form). Methadone is also the only drug the DEA will allow to be used in treatment of heroin (and other opioid) addiction as methadone fails to provide a high and when used to treat junkies it can only be dispensed by methadone clinics that are specially licensed by the DEA -- other than these clinics, no doctor can prescribe it for addiction.

Any MD can prescribe methadone for treatment of pain.

[D.B. Cooper]

Originally Posted by Ricky

About the point, I concur with others, the methadone must have been the one that caused the most damage, who say is a pain killer, it is a drug that they give to the illegal-drugs-users when breaking the habit, is not for pain.

Theres absolutely no chance an opiod will cause heart problems. The guy clearly had something wrong with his heart and his doctors didnt know and now they're playing "pass the blame". Theres people alive that have been taking dexedrine (dextro-amphetamine) every day for 60 years let alone a CNS depressant that lowers your heart rate like methadone.

Actually there was a guy i met on another board thats been taking desoxyn (MethAmphetamine) for the last 50 years without heart problems.

People do not just drop dead because of meds or even illegal drugs most of the time. Theres always a pre existing heart problem involved.

[UltraShy]

Originally Posted by D.B. Cooper

People do not just drop dead because of meds or even illegal drugs most of the time. Theres always a pre existing heart problem involved.

That was my thought. He woudn't be the first person to die from some pre-existing, but previously undetected, heart problem.

Methadone (like all opioids) can produce fatal ODs, especially when mixed with alcohol and especially in novice users who haven't yet built up a tolerance to the respiratory depression side effect of opioids.

The idea that somebody took a tablet of Lexapro and a tablet of methadone and died from the two pills alone strikes me as about as likely as choking to death on the pills.