Heath Ledger, 28, found dead in New York apartment...

[fondybrewfan]

I dont understand who you can have an accidental overdose. I dont know how you can accidentally take 20 pills or whatever. Do they just fly into your mouth? I wouldnt have a clue how many pills you would actually have to take to die, but I can imagine its a lot more than any normal person would think to take.

 

EDIT: And come one any rational person would know better than to take all the different drugs he took, I mean seriously, this just doesnt pass the smell test if you ask me. Maybe he was in one screwed up state of mind or whatever but his doctor had to have said not to mix all that crap together

[Brian the Automator]

"The six drugs found in his system were oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine, the medical examiner's office said." Holy crapola. Did he chase it all down with a fifth of vodka as well? Honestly, I do know someone who NEEDED at least 3 of those drugs. But yeah, I don't think any Dr in their right mind would allow all 6 of those to be combined. I doubt the painkillers had anything to do with it, though. The number of sleep/anxiety drugs there is enough to put anyone down in the right quantity.

 

However, since the Vikes have an activating effect (as can the oxycodone if taken improperly), he might have used all the sleep meds fight all that.

[Point Beer Is Best]

"The six drugs found in his system were oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine, the medical examiner's office said." Holy crapola. Did he chase it all down with a fifth of vodka as well? Honestly, I do know someone who NEEDED at least 3 of those drugs. But yeah, I don't think any Dr in their right mind would allow all 6 of those to be combined. I doubt the painkillers had anything to do with it, though. The number of sleep/anxiety drugs there is enough to put anyone down in the right quantity.

 

However, since the Vikes have an activating effect (as can the oxycodone if taken improperly), he might have used all the sleep meds fight all that.

Man, either he was getting those directly from a doctor with a shady reputation, or he was going to different doctors and definitely getting them filled at different pharmacies. Where I work (Walgreens), I'm pretty sure all the "drug interaction" red flags would pop up if he tried to get that cocktail refilled at one time.

As far as the "accidental overdose," someone had an excellent post earlier in this thread about how that happened to them. In this case, I think given his predisposition to addictions (heroin), once your body develops a tolerance, you need more to do the trick. If he was self-dosing, the whole thing would have been a guess on his part, so I can easily see how this could be accidental. He obviously should have sought help before it got to this point.

[Katuluu]

Hedger had homes on both coasts and in Australia. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a residence in England or somewhere else as well. It's pretty typical for "stars" to have doctors on both coasts and anywhere else they might reside, that way they can hop between them and fill whatever prescriptions they need. It's how come someone like Ledger can have so many prescriptions that shouldn't be mixed and, most likely, why no doctor/pharmacist ever thought to warn him of the potential danger he was in. Shame he died, but I hope it might scare a few people in Hollywood to not take such risks with medications.

[dadofandrew]

Drugs are only effective in moderation, legal or not. That's quite a cocktail, and needless to say, cost him his life.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I dont understand who you can have an accidental overdose. I dont know how you can accidentally take 20 pills or whatever. Do they just fly into your mouth? I wouldnt have a clue how many pills you would actually have to take to die, but I can imagine its a lot more than any normal person would think to take.

 

I posted earlier in the thread, but it bears repeating. When you're taking prescription meds as strong as he was and taking them regularly, your ability to reason and use sound judgement takes a serious hit. Secondly, he was suffering from severe sleep deprivation (insomnia if you like) for several weeks. This also causes impaired judgement, and at it's worst, can really cause a person to simply lose control to make sound and rational decisions at all.

When you're taking pills and they're not doing what they are supposed to be doing (as your body builds tolerance), and you're also suffering from impaired judgement, the almost universal reaction is to take more of the pills. As stated, if he was taking Vicodin, they act as a booster for some of the other prescription meds that were in his system, which can worsen the problem even still.

 

It's easy to say "how can this possibly happen?!?!", but there is a logic behind the explanation.

 

That being said, I'm not saying for fact that he didn't kill himself. I'm only offering an explanation that backs up what we've been told.

[Schlitz001]

He was abusing these drugs. The "accidental" comes from the fact that he wasn't trying to overdose. These were all drugs that are commonly abused recreationally. I might be wrong, but I see no mention that any of these drugs, aside from the sleeping pills, that were prescribed to him. On top of that according to Yahoo.com the police found a rolled up $20 bill next to his night stand. The man snorted a potent mixture prescription drugs and it killed him.

[Glennron]

The man snorted a potent mixture prescription drugs and it killed him.

You saw him do it? You probably should've told the police.

[Point Beer Is Best]

He was abusing these drugs. The "accidental" comes from the fact that he wasn't trying to overdose. These were all drugs that are commonly abused recreationally. I might be wrong, but I see no mention that any of these drugs, aside from the sleeping pills, that were prescribed to him. On top of that according to Yahoo.com the police found a rolled up $20 bill next to his night stand. The man snorted a potent mixture prescription drugs and it killed him.

I thought the report of the "rolled up $20 bill" was dismissed soon after it was first reported? That was the first I've seen or heard of it since then.

 

[Schlitz001]

Glennron, obviously I'm making an assumption. I just don't picture Heath Ledger (a known drug abuser according to several friends, his ex-wife and a video tape) sitting on his bed with his pajamas, holding a glass of water and accidentally taking three instead of two Ambien. I'm not trying to take anything away from the guy personally, but he had 6 different prescription drugs in his system and as others have stated I don't think any right minded doctor would have allowed that to happen.

[RobertR]

It probably didn't help that apparently there was noone else in his life at the time. It seems like he really was in need of an intervention or someone who wasn't taking heavy medications to supervise his use. For all we know, Deanna Favre saved Brett's life by staging the kind of intervention that Heath Ledger apparently never got.

 

Robert

[Paul77]

I thought the report of the "rolled up $20 bill" was dismissed soon after it was first reported?

 

It was. A $20 bill was found near his bed. It was tested for drug residue and came back clean.

[Glennron]

Glennron, obviously I'm making an assumption. I just don't picture Heath Ledger (a known drug abuser according to several friends, his ex-wife and a video tape) sitting on his bed with his pajamas, holding a glass of water and accidentally taking three instead of two Ambien. I'm not trying to take anything away from the guy personally, but he had 6 different prescription drugs in his system and as others have stated I don't think any right minded doctor would have allowed that to happen.

I realize that fact that he had all the prescription drugs is really shady, but I still think it's pretty unfair to just assume that he snorted them altogether, or purposely did it in some other way. I'm obviously not a coroner or anything, which is why I'll believe whatever the reports have to say.

[LouisEly]

I don't have time to read the whole thread, but there was a quote from him several months ago while he was on the set of Batman and he said something to the effect of, "I took an Ambien the night before and only got one hour of sleep, so last night I took two and I still only got one or two hours of sleep." Ding-ding-ding! The problem is that prescription drugs don't work for everyone; the mechanism of action works for most people but not for all, and when that happens people need to switch to a different drug/molecule/mechanism of action/delivery system and not take more. Unfortunately that's how a lot of people thing about prescription drugs - if it doesn't work, that means I'm not taking enough of them, so they take more and more until... this happens.

 

And like someone else said, just because they had a prescription does not make it legal. You'd be surprised how much prescription drug usage is out there with people going to multiple doctors to get multiple prescriptions. And that is illegal.