More Than Five Drugs Found in Heath's Apartment

196. I am really sorry to hear about the death of Heath. Everyone is so ready to jump on the fact that he Overdosed on meds but who is asking what flu virus has he had? Some people have died from certain flu's last year alone was his immune system good? Just because someone looks healthy does not mean they are...My condolences to the family. Heath will be missed.

Posted at 11:55AM on Jan 24th 2008 by Raina

197. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VIDEO WHERE THE REPORTER SAID HE HUNG HIMSELF?! why did tmz take this down???!?!?! I thiunk the medi is screwing with us over his death. Why did the cops bring ina ladder?!?!!

Posted at 2:36PM on Jan 24th 2008 by shannon

198. #184 mandi,

I have to disagree with you.

Unfortunately, there are some of us, who have no choice BUT to take this many drugs daily. OR give up living any kind of normal life at all. I was once a very active person. LIFE was my kind of HIGH. I wouldn’t even take anything for a headache, unless I absolutely had to.

Now, I take nine pills every morning, several, depending on what is bothering me the most, throughout the day, and another nine pills every night before I go to sleep. YES. Some of them are the same meds I take each morning, and duplicate again at night.

Most of what I do take, I hope will prolong my life. I am only 45 years old, and have been totally disabled now for 3 years, due to a mistake made by a Neurologist while trying to repair my spine. I’d had two other back surgeries prior to this final one, all failing to give me back what I lost.

In my final surgery, the Neurologist fused my lumbar (lower spine) together. He placed a titanium rod, about 7” long, 5 titanium pins, varying lengths, and 9 screws in my back. Needless to say, it is no longer flexible in that area. After the surgery, I realized there was something terribly wrong. I had lost all the feeling in my left leg. The Neurologist had failed to realize that while fusing the bones together, he had gotten the sciatic nerve embedded in the rapidly hardening fusing material. IT is PERMINATE, and can never be removed, or fixed further.

I find information at this site helpful, http://www.spine-health.com/topics/cd/hurt/h04.html

Without all the medications I take daily, I might as well go out and start digging my own grave. Some people DO NEED this many pills just to survive.

I am not trying to defend everyone who takes a lot of medication. Some, really don’t need it, and do abuse it. Others truly do have a GREAT NEED for the meds they take. I’m not quite ready to give up my life yet. I want to enjoy my grandchildren at least for a few more years. Or at least be here to see them, even if it is now impossible for me to take up any activities with them.

BTW- I only see ONE Dr., my family physician.

Posted at 12:07PM on Jan 24th 2008 by CrystalWolf

199. I am tired of reading all the rude comments made about Heath Ledger and what happened to him and how many meds he took. First off, do any of you know how long a person stays on set? I do> The hours suck, even if the pay is nice. And he was a person, famous or not, he was and now he is gone and all I have seen minus a few nice people, is a bunch of envious rude self righteous people spouting off at the mouth. I am not saying that people don't have a right to their opinion, but damm, did any of you know him? No, and no I didn't either. All those meds are dangerous taken together and sometimes even just taken single. As one person stated he could of had an allergic reaction to his meds. I would hate to be half of you guys friends' because if this is the sort of respect you show someone you didn't know and their family, anyone can only imagine what kind of respect you show your friends and others around you. Gee didn't I piss anyone off, doubt it, did it sink in that maybe people should try showing respect for a person who has died, doubt it also?!? He was a great actor and a nice soul and now he is gone, Heath Ledger was someone's friend, father, brother, son, cousin, and grandson, and almost all I have seen is and heard is his life and the way he died, getting ripped apart...and for those of you who brought the country into this...well this is such a great country that people on here are tearing a man apart, yeah, what a shinning example we are, huh?!? I feel bad for his family and for anyone that is close to him. So he had money and was famous, everyone is famous among their friends, and some are just famous. Get a grip....

Posted at 12:19PM on Jan 24th 2008 by Christina

200. #191crystalwolf
you make very good points. i dont want to be misunderstood, i realize that there often is a need to take multiple prescirptions. i was in a car accident three years ago when the doctors believed that my sciatic nerve was damaged, but couldnt tell me with 100%certainty bcuz it does not show up on most MRIs/xrays, i have been taking oxycontin ever since. i need it, but i hate that i take it. i also was taking multiple anxiey pills and sleeping pills, but i made the choice to stop taking those bcuz the combination of everything put me in the hospital 7x in one year. i was seeing my fam. doc, a pain specialist and psychiatrist-all of whom were writing scripts 4 me 2 take. i do believe that sum drs r 2 blame, but i was making the choice. as a patient, i feel that one should know what they are putting in2 their body, so i did sum research and when i learned how the combinations of what iwas taking can be deadly, i checked into detox because that was the only way i could stop. since then, i have found MANY ways to deal with anxiety and stress, and also things that wouldmake it easier for me to sleep at nite. i am still on the pain medication because i need it just to get up and go to work every day. i guess i was just trying to say that so many prescription related accidents and/or deaths could probably be prevented if people had more faith in themselves and more knowledge on the harm pills can cause, and if we, as a society, were less dependent on meds to get us through the day.

Posted at 12:33PM on Jan 24th 2008 by mandi

201. Restoril is generally only prescribed on a short-term basis, usually 30 days. Lunesta is known to have caused unusual side effects such as sleepwalking, driving somewhere while asleep and gorging from the refrigerator while asleep. These other drugs are all redundant sedatives. If this poor young man suffered from anxiety he needed to be placed on one anti-anxiety medication and maybe a short-term sleep remedy. (I speak from experience but I realize everyone is different) This is insanity. Do celebrities not have access to any competent doctors?

Posted at 1:29PM on Jan 24th 2008 by Anya

202. If I don't want to read the mini stories, I just jump over them and move on. Saves time. lol

Posted at 1:18PM on Jan 24th 2008 by darklanding

203. I'm NOT sure what the big deal is about having 5 different medications in your house.

Go look in your medicine cabinet, I'm sure we ALL have 5 prescription medications, but it doesn't mean we are TAKING them all at one time. It doesn't mean he was TAKING them all at one time.

I have trouble sleeping, and have those same meds in my house. Here is how it goes...the doctor gives me a prescription for 1 med, and I try it for a week or so and it doesn't help, so I go BACK to the doctor and tell him it's not helping so he gives me another prescription to try something else. I don't throw away the first prescription, but I do keep it in my cabinet in case I need it in the future. I even have the restoril, which doesn't help me AT ALL.....ALL of my bottles are NEARLY FULL, because they do not help me, but I still have them in my house. I also have anxiety medication, and anti-depressant medication, to help sleep and the anti-depressant medication was prescribed when I stopped smoking. I didn't take them all, they are all nearly FULL BOTTLES, but it doesn't mean I am taking them all at once.

People are morons.....90% of households have prescription medications, many of them the same ones found in Heath Ledgers apartment.

I'm not so sure why everyone is SOOOO QUICCK to label him a drug addict based on 5 bottles in his house. Go count yours, see how many you have......are you all drug addicts too?

Posted at 1:16PM on Jan 24th 2008 by Reality Check

204. In all fairness I should probably clarify that it was Ambience which received all the negative publicity about side effects. I think Lunesta may have the same potential but I admit I'm not entirely certain. I realized I was talking about the wrong drug after I posted.

Posted at 1:33PM on Jan 24th 2008 by Anya

205. For all of you saying you know he was doing other drugs like coke and heroin, blah, blah, blah, because of how fidgety he was in interviews and on the red carpet. Did anyone ever think that he actually had an anxiety problem and not a drug problem. He was taking anxiety drugs, so it would make sense. Not all people in Hollywood are slime or doing drugs and living their lives recklessly, get a clue people.

And I wouldn't wish insomnia on anyone, it's horrible. Get two hours of sleep for a couple weeks and see how you feel. It starts making you crazy, you would do anything for some sleep.

Keep judging a-holes. You will get yours eventually. Leave the poor man alone and let him RIP.

Posted at 2:20PM on Jan 24th 2008 by blah, blah, blah

206. ITS SUCH SHAME THAT A JUNG HANDSOME ACTOR IS NOW DEAD HE HAD A LIFE AHEAD OF HIM

Posted at 7:41PM on Jan 25th 2008 by naomi

207. blah blah blah #199..you are EXACTLY right.

My husband has anxiety, and he fidgets all the time. He can't keep his legs still, he's always fidgeting and he's definately not on drugs. I see it on a daily basis, my husband has anxiety so badly it even causes heart palpitations. He has tried all of this medication, and none of it has helped.

He told me last night that he felt sorry for this guy if he indeed DID have anxiety AND was a star, that is not a very good combination at all. He also told me it sounded bad of him to say, but he could relate to Heath Ledger's comments on how he felt good about dying because he had Matilda to pass along in life. My husband said he has thought about the same thing many times, because anxiety and heart palpitations can make him feel sometimes like he might die and it's something that he thinks about often. He told me he had never told me before, but he worries about dying because of his heart palpitations caused by anxiety and that he would at least die knowing that he brought 3 children into the world, which made him feel like if he died tomorrow...he at least accomplished something.

People with anxiety do fidget, can't sleep, are anxious and think about dying because a panic or anxiety attack can literally make you FEEL like you ARE going to die.

Give the guy a break, we probably have 30 medication bottles in our house that have been prescribed over the last few years for incomnia and anxiety.......my husband doesn't use any of them, but he has them all here if he needed them.

Posted at 3:24PM on Jan 24th 2008 by Reality Check

208. I think his doc is in big trouble (assuming all the meds came from the same doc) ! Ttoo many sedatives on board at once - likely depressed his respirations enough that he just stopped breathing.....

Posted at 3:54PM on Jan 24th 2008 by lisa

209. i dunno about others but at our pharmacy the computer tells us if the patients had a prescription filled somewhere else and if a drug will interact with something else theyve gotten here it tells us that, too...just sayin

Posted at 5:10PM on Jan 24th 2008 by chinye

210. AS MENTIONED THERE WERE LEGAL DRUGS AND THEY WERE ************ F U L L ******************* SO THEREFORE IT WAS NOT AN OVERDOSE THAT KILLED HIM... WHAT WAS HURTING HI THE MOST WAS THE SEPERATION OF HIS WIFE MICHELLE WHICH HE ADORED AND HIS LITTLE GIRL....

MY SYMPATHY GOES TO ALL HIS FAMILY AND MICHELLE AND HER LITTLE GIRL AND HER FAMILY AS WELL...

MAY HE REST IN PEACE.....

Posted at 5:41PM on Jan 24th 2008 by shirlina