Tragic migraine sufferer took accidental overdose
INQUEST TOLD WOMAN STOCKPILED PAINKILLERS TO HELP EASE ‘THUNDERCLAP’ HEADACHES
A FORMER company PA mistakenly killed herself with a lethal overdose of prescription-only painkillers after she stockpiled them to treat her migraines.
Caroline Stephenson, 45, had been taking the highly-addictive Oxycodone opioids and Diazepam after her ‘thunderclap headaches’ became so severe she would slur her words.
Although her GP tried to reduce her prescription for Oxycodone – a painkiller in the Codeine family – Miss Stephenson would ask for more medication and began researching ways of buying it off the internet.
On May 27, just an hour after telling her partner how much she loved him, Miss Stephenson was found collapsed on the kitchen floor at their home in Swinton, Salford. She died despite efforts by paramedics to save her.
Tests showed Miss Stephenson had four times the recommended dose of Oxycodone in her system, plus traces of the sleeping pill Benzodiazepine and anti-anxiety tablet Amitriptyline.
Police searched her home and found an empty box for 56 Diazepam tablets which had been prescribed just four days before Miss Stephenson’s death.
At an inquest, a coroner said the tragedy was a deliberate act by Miss Stephenson to ‘relieve her pain’ which had an ‘unintended outcome’ but he rejected claims she had been used as a ‘guinea pig’ by healthcare staff.
The Bolton hearing was told Miss Stephenson had suffered from migraines for more than 20 years after she accidentally fell over and hit her head in her early 20s. She also suffered from bowel adhesions following surgery and has been diagnosed with hormone disorder Addison’s Disease.
Fiance David Lingard told the hearing: “She suffered with anxiety and depression and I was her best nurse because I could spot the signs quickly. She had also fallen in her early 20s, cracking her head, and she suffered from thunderclap headaches.
“The day before she died, May 26, we went out to watch the Champions League Final to see our team Liverpool play. The next morning, she came into the bedroom at about 10.30am and she jumped on the bed, told me she loved me and that she was going to walk the dog. At 11.35am, I woke up and went to the kitchen and I could see her collapsed on the floor. I called the paramedics and attempted to give her CPR, but she had died.
“I think she was mishandled, I feel like she was a guinea pig – one time she came home from the doctor’s crying and I had to pick up the pieces.”
Miss Stephenson’s GP Dr Niall Finegan, of the Sorrel Group Practice in Salford, said: “Oxycodone opioids are very addictive. With Caroline we tried to reduce her drugs, which we did, but there was a limit to the amount of pain she could take. She was taking Diazepam and she asked for them.”
Recording a conclusion of misadventure, coroner Timothy Brennand said: “I am of the view that because she was experiencing ongoing pain and because she had recently reduced the amount she took, she suddenly became overcome with Oxycodone.
“It was an act of deliberate selfmedication but with an unintended outcome. The family have raised concerns that Caroline was mistreated, and she was being used as a guinea pig. I find that is not the case.”