Anna Nicole Smith's Son's Death From Serotonin Syndrome?

[Guest guest]

atracyphd2

Mon, 2 Oct 2006 03:38:12 EDT

[drugawareness] Anna Nicole Smith's Son's Death From

Serotonin Syndrome?

 

 

 

 

The following quote is from an Associated Press article on the death

of Anna

Nicole Smith that according to Google hit over 1,200 news reports

worldwide

this past weekend. I had written to this reporter over two weeks ago

to tell

him what they would find caused Daniel's death, which was exactly what

they

did find this past week - the combination of two antidepressants and a

pain

killer:

 

____________ _________ ________

Smith wants others to learn from her son's death, Munroe told The

Associated

Press.

" She wants to see exactly what happened in a final report because she

wants

to make sure it doesn't happen to someone else's son, " he said.

Daniel Smith, who reportedly was hospitalized for depression and back pain

before he traveled to Nassau, had been prescribed the antidepressant

Lexapro,

Wecht said. He said he had not determined whether Smith had also been

prescribed Zoloft, the other antidepressant found in his system.

The two drugs can be lethal when taken together or in sequence,

according to

Ann Blake Tracy, the Des Moines, Iowa-based director of the International

Coalition for Drug Awareness.

" The residue can stay there for some time, and if they're prescribed one

after they've taken another, they can end up in trouble, " she said.

____________ _________ _________ __

Now those of you who have followed my research, heard me speak, or read

articles I have written over the years are aware of how concerned I am

about

deaths like Daniel Smith's. I go absolutely ballistic when I hear of a

doctor

giving two of these drugs together or giving them back to back or weaning

someone off one while starting them on another one. And I cannot

believe how little

warning there is given to patients if they take over the counter cough or

cold meds with dextromethorphan in them or even dramamine for motion

sickness

that the combination with their antidepressant could cause Serotonin

Syndrome

which can prove fatal in a 24 hour period.

What is Serotonin Syndrome? It is a condition in which serotonin levels

become much too high. It is generally caused by mixing two serotonergic

medications together. Daniel did not have a chance with three -

Zoloft, Lexapro, and

Methadone! Since the main function of serotonin is constriction of smooth

muscle tissue (which all the organs, veins and arteries are) when one

dies of

Serotonin Syndrome it is generally caused by multiple organ failure as the

organs clamp up and shut down. Tragically for many years a Google

search for

Serotonin Syndrome would produce our web site where it discusses my book

explaining how deadly and dangerous this is and little to nothing else

on the subject.

Most of my information came from Dr. Kirk Mills who I consider a leading

expert on this condition. Thankfully there is now a little more on the

net about

this deadly and generally fatal condition. The following quote from a

study

lists the symptoms:

" Mental status changes are the most frequently reported symptoms

[confusion

(51%), agitation (34%), hypomania (21%), anxiety (15%) and coma (29%)]

associated with serotonin syndrome. Other commonly reported features

include motor

abnormalities, cardiovascular changes, gastrointestinal problems and

miscellaneous changes such as diaphoresis [sweating] and fever. "

Now, those of you who have been on these drugs know all too well just how

very often these drugs produce those side effects! So how often are

patients

going into high levels of serotonin that could become dangerous? I

believe it

is far more often than most realize. All the drug companies have ever

wanted

to discuss is low levels of serotonin, not what happens when the serotonin

levels become too high. Do they really think the drug is going to put

the brakes

on when it reaches the " normal " level of serotonin?

For those of you whose loved ones have suffered the mental status changes

leading to tragedies that resulted in more than one life lost you

understand

firsthand that for Daniel and his family this tragedy could have been even

worse. Spinning the wheel of toxic reactions generated by high

serotonin is like

playing Russian Roulette - you do not know which you are going to get.

That

is one reason why it is so difficult for people to understand all the many

toxic reactions these drugs can produce whether they manifest as

mental/behavioral or physical it is the same toxic reaction.

Our prayers go out to Anna Nicole, Howard Stern and all those who loved

Daniel as yet another family suffers yet another senseless loss to

these very

deadly drugs. This should make it all too obvious that the black box

warnings we

got on antidepressants in the last couple of years are not nearly enough!!

As a society we continue to use these drugs with absolutely no

education about

how they work and the cautions that need to be taken - the same mistake we

have made with drug after drug after drug until we finally know enough

about

them to pull them from the market. In the meantime too many innocent

victims,

literally used as guinea pigs, are left in the wake.

And once again I ask how many must die before we wake up to the nightmare

produced by this group of drugs? How many Daniel's, Matt's, Candace's,

Julie's,

Mark's, Aaron's, Jacob's, Conrad's, John's, Tracy's, Andrea's, etc., etc.,

etc., who could have made this world such a much brighter place, must

we lose

before we stop this wholesale slaughter?

Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.,

Executive Director, International Coalition For Drug Awareness

Website: _www.drugawareness. org_ (http://www.drugawar eness.org/)

Author: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare

& CD or audio tape on safe withdrawal: " Help! I Can't Get

Off My Antidepressant! "

Order Number: 800-280-0730

_http://www.boston. com/ae/tv/ articles/ 2006/09/28/ pathologist_

drug_combo_ killed

_smith_son/_

(http://www.boston. com/ae/tv/ articles/ 2006/09/28/ pathologist_

drug_combo_ killed_smith_ son/)

 

 

Smith accepts explanation of son's death

 

 

Anna Nicole Smith, right, leaves the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington with

her son Daniel Smith in this Feb. 28, 2006 photo. Smith's 20-year-old

son died

from a lethal combination of methadone and two antidepressant drugs, the

U.S.-based pathologist who conducted a private autopsy said Wednesday,

Sept. 27,

2006. Toxicology tests showed Daniel Smith had methadone, Zoloft and

Lexapro

in his system when he died Sept. 10 in a hospital room in the Bahamas

where

his mother was recuperating from giving birth to a daughter, according to

Cyril Wecht. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

 

By Jessica Robertson, Associated Press Writer | September 28, 2006

 

 

NASSAU, Bahamas --Anna Nicole Smith believes a pathologist' s

conclusion that

her son died from an accidental lethal combination of drugs shows he

didn't

commit suicide and hopes that others will learn from the tragedy, a lawyer

said Thursday.

 

 

An American examiner hired by the family, Cyril Wecht, said 20-year-old

Daniel Smith had methadone and two antidepressants in his system when

he died

Sept. 10 in his mother's hospital room in the Bahamas. Low levels of

the three

drugs interacted to cause an accidental death, Wecht said.

 

" At least she knows the attacks on her son's reputation can be put to rest

because it's clear he didn't intentionally take his life, " said Wayne

Munroe, a

Bahamian attorney for the 38-year-old reality TV star and former Playboy

Playmate.

Smith, who gave birth to a daughter three days before her son died at her

bedside, is awaiting the conclusions of Wecht and the Bahamas

pathologist who

performed a separate official autopsy, Munroe said.

Wecht is waiting for test results on tissue samples before he

completes his

final report.

Smith wants others to learn from her son's death, Munroe told The

Associated

Press.

" She wants to see exactly what happened in a final report because she

wants

to make sure it doesn't happen to someone else's son, " he said.

Daniel Smith, who reportedly was hospitalized for depression and back pain

before he traveled to Nassau, had been prescribed the antidepressant

Lexapro,

Wecht said. He said he had not determined whether Smith had also been

prescribed Zoloft, the other antidepressant found in his system.

The two drugs can be lethal when taken together or in sequence,

according to

Ann Blake Tracy, the Des Moines, Iowa-based director of the International

Coalition for Drug Awareness.

" The residue can stay there for some time, and if they're prescribed one

after they've taken another, they can end up in trouble, " she said.

Wecht said he did not know why Smith was taking methadone, a pain-reliever

that is also used to ease heroin cravings for recovering addicts.

The combination of the three drugs, even in low doses, could easily have

killed Smith, said Lisa Johnson, a pharmacist at Cedars-Sinai Medical

Center in

Los Angeles.

" The methadone will slow you down, but the other ones make your system

speed

up, so it's an odd combination, " she said.

Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez said he has not received official toxicology

results or a police report, which can determine whether a jury inquest is

necessary. Wecht, a Pittsburgh-based forensic pathologist, plans to

discuss his

findings with Bahamas officials. Gomez said Wecht's toxicology results

will not

affect the Bahamian investigation.

Daniel Smith, who appeared several times on the E! reality series " The

Anna

Nicole Show, " was the son of Anna Nicole and Bill Smith, who married

in 1985

and divorced two years later.

Smith married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994, when she

was 26

and he was 89. He died the following year. She has since been involved in

legal disputes over the estate.

------

Associated Press writer Michael Melia in San Juan, Puerto Rico,

contributed

to this report.