View All General Comment Abuse Story Death Story Chronic Pain Story       Please sign our Guestbook Name:Barbara E. Ringrose Email:[email protected] Type:Death Story Date:12/9/2004 My brother, Robert Ringrose, just passed away on November 9, 2004 as a result of a drug over dose involving Oxycontin. My brother was 50 years old. He had had surgery in the spring of 2004. During recovery from his surgery, he was prescribed mild pain medications. He eventually was given Oxycontin for the pain. I believe his on-going depression in conjuction with the prescribed oxycontin was a toxic mix for my brother. That the medical profession is widely to blame for these oxycontin related deaths; not the pharmaceutical company. The health care professionals are aware of the risks and when prescribing these medications, need to be more involved in counseling, monitoring of the patient as well as family members, and utilizing blood/urine testing while the drug is being administered. For a patient, such as my brother, to be given such a dangerous drug such as Oxycontin is like giving him a loaded pistol to lay beside his bed each night to comfort him when life's challenges become far too great. During the last three years, my brother had two surgeries, endured the difficult threat of breast cancer and treatment of my sister-in-law, and dealt with my sister-in-laws constant depression and threats of suicide (which resulted in a 30 day stay in a local hospital psyche ward). The ultimate blow to my brother was his wife leaving him a couple of months ago to live with another man. Patient's experiencing life situations such as these are significantly high risk and, in my opinion, should never be given access by a health care professional to these type of drugs. The professional needs to be reprimanded for his neglect and poor choice. It is the professionals ultimate responsibility to provide good quality care and follow up care for his patient-not the pharmaceutical company-they just make the drug available. I would hope this letter serves in some way to emphasize the risks associated with not only Oxycontin, but any drugs prescribed by the medical profession. I believe our society has become far too dependent on prescriptions and that our health care professionals are not taking the necessary steps in monitoring the success via standard medical testing...........Ed Bisch: Keep in mind that oxycontin's risks were mimimized to these physicians   Name:Carrie Farmer Email:[email protected] Type:Death Story Date:12/9/2004 My brother, Ellis Hatcher III, died from mixing oxy and alcohol. He was with some friends and made a decision that not only effected his life but all of those that love him. I got the call early one morning that they could not wake him up. That was the worst morning of my life. Two others have now died. I miss him and I wish he would have just woke up from his sleep. I know he is at peace now, I just wish I was. I love him and I can not wait to see him. When that day comes, then I will be able to have a full heart again.   Name:Asher Hardt Email:[email protected] Type:Abuse Story Date:12/9/2004 Back when I was 14 it was 1999 and and I was in 8th grade, I was always hanging out with the older kids in High School. I was one of those kids that you would never be able to guess my age because I looked so much younger than I actually was. I was always looking for ways to make myself seem cooler than most kids my age. One day one of my friends told me about this new pain killer called Oxycontin that he had heard about through a magazine he had read. Little did I know that, that small little encounter would lead to such horrible things. Once I had heard about it, I didnt really think to much of it, that was until I went through my mother's ex-boyfriends pills. He had every thing you could ever want if you were a pill head, valium, xanax, soma, and Oxy. I noticed the Oxy first, and remembered what my friend had told me about them. So I stole about 10 80mg pills. I waited for a few of my friends to come over, and then we each took one full pill. It took about an hour then all of a sudden I was feeling really really high, and feeling a little dizzy too. My friends decided that they were getting tired and so they both drove home. I later found out that both of them on their way home had to pull over and throw up. The strongest pain pill any of us had ever taken was a vicodin, and we really had no clue what Oxycontin really was, other than it was a pain killer. So I was feeling really really messed up. After taking that first pill I was in bed throwing up for three straight days. After that experience I dont know why I would have ever wanted to take them again, but that was just the begining. I began to become infatuated with Oxy's aka OC. I was breaking the 80mg pills into 1/4 and swallowing them at least twice a day. Then one day one of my buddies who was doing the Oxy quite often with me, figured out that you can suck off the time release. So we sucked off the time release of an 80mg pill, crushed it up and snorted it. I was reluctant to try it, considering I had never put anything up my nose before. But I was pressured into it and I did it. Once that stuff went up my nose, it was the end. I started stealing hundereds and hundereds of 80mg pills from my moms boyfriend. I would just sit at home, ditch school and snort Oxy all day. I became so into it, that I was press crushing 50 at a time, so I would always have lines ready to go. I was doing it so often that I wasnt really feeling it when I snorted a full 80mg pill, so I would double up and do 2 at a time. Kids at school started to notice that I was no longer showing up to school and when I did I looked like absolute hell. Rumors were getting around school about this new drug called Oxy or OC. So kids started going home to their parents, most of whom were very wealthy and well educated, and asking what Oxycontin was, and one parent told their kid that it was synthetic heroin. That kid then came up to me and told me hey you know what you are doing is synthetic heroin, and I just disregarded the comment and moved on. not believing that I would ever be doing anything along the lines of heroin. I started to become so addcited to Oxy that I robbed my moms boyfriend twice for all of the pills he had, usually about 6 to 700 pills at a time. I was snorting at least 15 to 20 80mg pills a day and I was only 14 years old at the time. This all went on until I was about 15 when, I went away to summer camp, loaded with pre-crushed Oxy's. I made it all the way til the second to last day when one of the counselors found it. They wanted to call the police, but my parents convinced them not to. My mother had to fly to Hawaii personally to come pick me up from camp. By this point I was so addicted to Oxy I would do anything to get the same rush when I didnt have any, I would snort any pill I could find, just to feel it go up my nose. My parents found out about the Oxy, and my mother especially knew about it since, I one time found her, lieing on her bed not breathing, she had accidentally overdosed on Oxy and I had to revive her. So she knew what the pill was all about. So my parents decided that enough was enough and decided to send me away to boot camp. it was around early September of 2001 when two gigantic men came into my room in the middle of the night and took me away to boot camp. The boot camp/hard lined disciplinary school was located in the middle of the Ochocco National Forest in Oregon. The two men took me out there. I went from one day having an endless supply of Oxy going up my nose and ciggarettes, to nothing. I had to get off Oxy, cold turkey with nothing. It was the best thing that ever could have happened to me. Even though I didnt sleep for literally two months straight nor did I eat, it was the only way I was ever going to get off Oxy, otherwise I surely would have died or been put in jail. When I came out of the boot camp two years later I was a transformed person. But even to this day I still CRAVE oxy, think about it everday, but I know that if I ever touch it again, than I might as well just shoot myself square in the head, so I distance myself from it, becuase if it were in the same room as me I would 100% put it up my nose. I have never really went back and thought about my story and Im sure that there are a lot of things missing, but if I could get off Oxycontin, after being as addicted as I was and still am, I think anyone can get off it. I personally cant imagine anyone or anything being more addicted to anything as I was to Oxy, I just dont think that it is possible. I hope my story is helpful to those struggling with the addiction.

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