Chyna’s Death Was From Accidental Overdose of Medication:
Manager
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chyna-s-death-was-accidental-overdose-medication-manager-n563816
Chyna’s manager said Wednesday he believes the pioneer wrestling star died of an accidental overdose of Ambien and Valium.
“She accidentally and unintentionally misused her legally prescribed medication over the course of 2-3 weeks. It’s an epidemic,” manager Anthony Anzaldo said in an email.
Chyna, born Joanie Laurer, was billed by the WWE as the “Ninth Wonder of the World” during her wrestling career. The Los Angeles Times first reported the manager’s comments.
Chyna died last week at age 46 in her Redondo Beach, California, home.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner has not yet ruled on a cause of death. It said a ruling is deferred pending additional investigation.
Coroner’s office Assistant Chief Ed Winter said full test results aren’t expected back for the next couple of months. “It is not closed,” Winter said of the case.
“It’s premature to give a cause of death on a case that the final tests are not in yet,” Winter said.
Anzaldo said Chyna died after falling asleep April 17 and that he found her at 3:30 p.m. April 20 after being unable to contact her.
“She fell asleep on Sunday night and peacefully took her last breath,” Anzaldo said. He said there were no alcohol or drugs, legal or illegal, at the scene.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner has not yet ruled on a cause of death. It said a ruling is deferred pending additional investigation.
Laurer was a female pioneer in the male-dominated sport of professional wrestling during the mid- to late-1990s, becoming the first woman to compete in the WWF Royal Rumble. She was also the first woman to become an Intercontinental Champion in 1999 and again in 2000.
Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan called her a “beautiful soul.” Stephanie McMahon, chief brand officer for WWE, hailed her as a “pioneer.”
The wrestler-turned-reality TV star and, later, adult film actress found fitness as an escape from a difficult childhood, according to the bio on her official website.
Filed under: General Problems
Maybe she wanted to die! It happens. I know/knew people it happened to. Why is THIS an accident??? Better to be a drug abuser than to kill yourself?
I don’t get it.
Is her manager a physician? toxicologist? coroner, even? (only takes a high school education and an election to be a coroner in most of Kentucky, btw) By the time the toxicology report comes out, it won’t make the headlines.
Best info I can find says this:
“Therapeutic blood concentrations typically range from 0.1-1.0 mg/L. Single oral doses of 10 mg result in diazepam concentrations of 0.2-0.6 mg/L at 0.5-2 hours, while chronic doses of 30 mg produce steady state diazepam concentrations of 0.7-1.5 mg/L and nordiazepam concentrations of 0.35-0.53 mg/L. Plasma concentrations of 0.3-0.4 mg/L are recommended for anxiolytic effects, and > 0.6 mg/L for control of seizures. Higher concentrations might suggest misuse or abuse.
….
Side Effect Profile: Side effects may include dry mouth, blurred or double vision, headache, vertigo, urinary retention, excessive perspiration, nausea and vomiting, ataxia, tremor, depression, hypotension and diminished reflexes. The elderly are more likely to develop significant adverse CNS effects from the use of diazepam. In overdose, paradoxical reactions of anxiety, insomnia, stimulation, hallucination, and acute hyperexcited state may occur. Shallow breathing, clammy skin, dilated pupils, weak and rapid pulse, coma, and death are possible.”
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/job185drugs/diazepam.htm
Comments on other discussion threads joke about choking:
“The standard joke in emergency medicine is that the way you die from a benzodiazepine overdose is to choke to death on the pills.”
“My neuroscience teacher said psychiatrists often makes jokes about the stigma related to benzos; “the only way to die for benzodiazepines is to choke on them”.”
True? I don’t know.
But, of course, we all KNOW that public enemy #1, in the United States, is drug abuse. Right? We live in a country of lemmings.