A toxic combination of methadone and two antidepressant drugs -- Zoloft and Lexapro -- were responsible for the accidental death of 20-year-old Daniel Smith, son of Anna Nicole Smith, a second autopsy report found. Smith died Sept. 10 in the Bahamian hospital room of his mother three days after she gave birth to a daughter.
His sudden, unexpected death lead to speculation in the media that he may have died from a drug overdose or committed suicide, but famed pathologist Cyril Wecht, hired by the family to conduct a second autopsy, said it was a lethal combination of low level doses of the three drugs that likely caused his death.
Wecht said Daniel Smith was hospitalized for depression and back pain before he traveled to Nassau to see his mother after the birth. At that time Smith was prescribed Lexapro, but Wecht has not been able to determine if he was also prescribed Zoloft or methadone.
Fatal Combination
Methadone is a highly addictive painkiller which is also used to help heroin addicts recover from addiction. Lexapro and Zoloft are both selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a sub-class of antidepressants, that medical experts say should not be taken at the same time.
"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," Ann Blake of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness told the Associated Press.
Wecht is still waiting on further tissue tests before releasing his final report. A spokesperson for Anna Nicole Smith said she wants others to learn from her son's death. "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," Wayne Munroe told reporters.
Both antidepressants and sedatives can be fatal if they are taken with alcohol or painkillers, like methadone. Daniel Smith's sudden death once again emphasizes the need to take any medications only on medical advice and only as they are prescribed.
More Information:
Smith Accepts Explanation of Son's Death
Photo: Publicity photo
oh shit….may it happen to me im on zoloft and lexapro……..maybe it was the methadone that made him over dose…im really scare because i tak lots of lexapro and soloft and neurontin and paxyl…am i heading for a suicide…should i quit taking all this shit?
My husband took methadone while he was drunk and never woke up. I can relate to Anna Nicoles grief. I had a 2 month old and a 2 1/2 yr old. It has been 8 years and I still feel the pain.
Jeanne
What is still missing from the news is why these drugs in combination had this effect.
Methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro all take the same route for metabolism. All 3 drugs are also designed to block the route. This is what allows them to reach a steady state.
Between 7 to 15% of the population will have a genetic variation that makes this route slow to begin with.
Instead of a drug clearing our body in 14 hours it may take 36 hours to clear. And this is just with one drug being used.
If Daniel were taking any herbs as well, it would have compounded this because most Chinese Herbs use and block this same route.
I am the author of The Road Back – How to Get Off Drugs Safely http://www.theroadback.org and deal with people daily that are prescribed a combo of medications like Daniel was taking and all begin suffering symptoms much worse than the symptoms being treat at the beginning.
Terrell Owens nearly died this week while taking a pain killer hydrocodone. Hydrocodone uses the same route to metabolize as the drugs Daniel was taking.
Physicians’ need to be more aware or educated on what these drugs are really doing within our body.
This news comes very scary to me. My husband is a recovering addict. We are constantly searching for real help in the state of Maine. There is very little to be found. He is a methadone patient at a recovery hospitol. His physichian knowing he is on Methadone and knows he is also a alcoholic, perscribed him recently with Lexapro. How very shocked i’am to see this is lethal, and how even more scared i’am for my husband, whom struggles everyday to regain a sober life. He no longer as i’ve read this will take the lexapro.
why you start drunk
i now how you felt anna and i sometime have same feeling just like that and that my uncle passed away in new mexico and hope you have nice thought without focusing on the pain