Rolling Stone: "Chris Cornell's Wife Blames Anxiety Medicine for Suicide"

[[La...]]

But the benzo often DOES have an effect, in that it is a CNS depressant (including depression of respiration), and when combined with other CNS depressants, such as alcohol or opioids, the result may be death. I've come across quite a few recent studies that tabulate the numbers of deaths from combined benzo-opioid use.

 

Benzos are unlikely to cause death on their own, although a significant benzo-induced fall, which then results in immobility, followed by pneumonia and then, finally, death could be pinned on the benzo. It would probably get lost in translation, though.

[[be...]]

BMJ Study-Association between concurrent use of prescription opioids and benzodiazepines and overdose: retrospective analysis:

http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/march/opioids.pdf

 

Nearly 30% of  fatal  “opioid”  overdoses [in the US] also  involve  benzodiazepines,  which  are  often  used  concurrently  with opioids,  raising the possibility that some of the increase  in  opioid  related  deaths  could  be  caused  by  increases in concurrent benzodiazepine/opioid use over time. Although benzodiazepines have received less public safety attention than opioids, the combination of the two drugs is dangerous because benzodiazepines potentiate  the  respiratory  depressant  effects  of  opioids.

 

Above study in this CBC article:

www.cbc.ca/news/business/opioid-benzodiazepine-combination-study-1.4024904

 

Canadian Inst. of Health Research- Strategies to Address BC's Opioid Crisis:

http://www.cfenet.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/news/releases/opioid-safety-news_release_nov-19-2015.pdf

 

Furthermore,  among  the  pharmaceutical  opioid-related deaths in BC, 93% involved  at  least  one  other  high-risk medication (e.g., benzodiazepines).

 

[[La...]]

Thanks, benzohno. Exactly. I've read such information numerous times now, and it's mind-boggling that it's not being discussed in the news very much. The info is out there. People are dying.

[[be...]]

Welcome Lapis!  Seems like the news is protecting (themselves? and) everyone responsible for the opioid (/benzodiazepine) crisis - doctors, the medical community, governing bodies, the pharmaceutical industry.  All the info is out there and yeah, they don't discuss it much at all or when they do they tell the story in bits and pieces, without putting it together.  I just don't get it.  They can't be that stupid. It's a crisis everywhere, people are dying daily.  What more needs to happen?  Is all of TV is controlled by the pharmaceutical industry? I'm thinking the only solution is to get rid of the TV. 

[[La...]]

Well, I think the opioid issue is definitely front and centre right now. Dr. David Juurlink just posted info about it on his Twitter account today, and I believe he's part of the federal steering committee that's looking at the issue here in Canada. Here's the link to his account:

 

 

He posted about the Chris Cornell death, which is where I found the Rolling Stone article. However, the issue of benzodiazepine over-prescription doesn't seem to be newsworthy. Obviously, we need to wait for the toxicology report to find out a bit more, but we don't know if he was taking benzos for a long time, or if they were prescribed more  recently. I understand that he's got a history of drug use, so that's likely a major part of the picture.

 

 

[[be...]]

He's a good man.  I read the tweets about Chris Cornell but good to read again today and see him talking about the opioid recommendations out of McGill.  I was just wondering what happened to that.  It certainly disappeared from the news.  I didn't realize that things were still going on behind the scenes, so good to see there is a "federal steering committee", which I guess means something more is going to happen with those guidelines beyond just mailing them out to all concerned and implicated and hoping for the best.  I thought it was done.

 

I want benzos to be mentioned every time the opioid crisis is discussed, even just to say the combination is involved in 30%-93% of the deaths.  I, we all want benzodiazepines to be publicly given the bad rap they deserve, ad nauseum.  The opioid crisis seems like another opportunity for this, as would be Chris Cornell's and all the other celebrities sad deaths.  Glad to see his story in the many news sources and the actual use of the word "Ativan" in titles.  That is progress.  I did hope for some follow-up on TV yesterday with info like we read here online, but there wasn't. 

 

BTW, the tweet thread makes a lot more sense when you read it bottom to top than top to bottom I just discovered. 

[[La...]]

Yes, he numbered his tweets because he was trying to get a whole paragraph in there on the opioid guidelines. I don't follow Twitter much, but I do check out Dr. Juurlink's account regularly. Because of his position (pharmacologist, toxicologist, U.of Toronto prof) and the fact that he regularly appears in the media (print, TV, radio), I'm interested in what he has to say.

[[Th...]]

I do not believe it was suicide, I believe his wife. What a tragedy. The statistics are scary. Here is another article. I hope her conviction the Ativan played a role will bring more awareness. So many talented people are on anti anxiety drugs. Who can blame any performer. They portray all of them like addicts or partyers.

 

http://theantimedia.org/chris-cornell-anxiety-meds-death/

[[Th...]]

But the benzo often DOES have an effect, in that it is a CNS depressant (including depression of respiration), and when combined with other CNS depressants, such as alcohol or opioids, the result may be death. I've come across quite a few recent studies that tabulate the numbers of deaths from combined benzo-opioid use.

 

Benzos are unlikely to cause death on their own, although a significant benzo-induced fall, which then results in immobility, followed by pneumonia and then, finally, death could be pinned on the benzo. It would probably get lost in translation, though.

 

This happened to my brother. He was prescribed Klonopin and a few months later he fell down a flight of stairs.

 

Last conversation we had he said he felt better because he was on a new drug called Klonopin. My heart sank. I never warned him, he seemed happy and I didn't want to be the Debbie Downer. I never thought something like that would happen. I know it was the Klonopin, he was pretty capable of walking down stairs.

[[be...]]

And now there's this:

 

Fans Call Out Doctors and Drug Companies After Chris Cornell's Wife Says Suicide May Have Been Caused by Prescription Ativan:

http://perezhilton.com/2017-05-19-chris-cornell-suicide-ativan-prescription-drugs-wife-vicky-statement#.WSDdbNy1u1s

 

Lapis, Dr. David Juurlink is on this tweet thread!

 

Google "Chris Cornell and Ativan" and there are now pages and pages of articles, even in other languages.