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My buddy Ray died of an accidental OD of oxycontin.
Dammit.
His family, of course, is using this as evidence that he was still a scumbag alcoholic who just switched to being a scumbag addict.
SIGH.
It's so damn clear that they had not spoken to him even remotely recently.
Trust me, The Lovely Harvey and I know from addicts and Ray wasn't. The tells were absent.
Especially when he called and talked to her about the topic of addiction. A road she traveled herself in high school.
We think that he was in a great deal of physical pain from his cellulitis and a bad back and he simply took too many pills too fast.
It happens.
A little too often, but it does.
It could also be something as simple as he was having liver and kidney issues and his body didn't filter out the opiates, thus leading up to a toxic level.
ReplyDeleteI know someone who, thanks to the lasting effects of a deep brain bleed, has her kidneys shut down if she gets stressed, and it can lead to an overdose. Taken to the ER 3 times for that issue.
Ray may have been doing everything perfectly fine. Except his body may not have been fine. And it's something that the doctors and pharmacists don't tell patients.
Like, well, blood sugars. Sure, can be and often is elevated by food, but can and often is elevated by emotional stress and physical stress, like, oh, say, a deep brain bleed or an internal infection. Seen that several times.
Ultimately, yes, Ray died from an overdose. But it may not have been his fault. Sadly, we'll never know.
Damnit that sucks. That's why even when I've experienced a lot of pain I am very reluctant to take any opiates.
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