A mother who became addicted to painkillers to ease the agony she felt after birth died from an accidental overdose, an inquest heard.
Jade Farquhar, 31, regularly felt “severe discomfort” after having twins.
The mother of six was given a series of painkillers – including codeine, morphine, pregabalin and diazepam – to ease the pain, Lancs live reported.
Jade became addicted to the medicine and passed away suddenly on November 30, 2023, after “taking too much”.
A coroner said she went through a “very difficult time” before her death, according to Manchester Evening News.
Jade’s family launched a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs after his death.
Her niece Chelsea Farquhar said her mother “died suddenly” and “left behind six beautiful babies, four sisters and a brother, as well as cousins, nieces and nephews.”
In November last year, Jade invited a friend to her home in Mill Hill, Blackburn.
The friend went to sleep around 11pm. When waking up the next morning, she found Jade unresponsive.
Paramedics were called and Jade was pronounced dead at the scene.
An inquest into her mother’s death – held on May 17 – heard that Jade had already asked for help to deal with her addiction to painkillers and was keen to become less dependent on the medication.
Assistant Coroner Richard Taylor said concentrations of codeine in Jade’s body were “much higher than normally found” and sufficient to result in her death.
He added that morphine levels in her blood were also similar to levels seen in other fatal cases.
Meanwhile, the toxicology report revealed that levels of pregabalin and diazepam in Jade’s blood were within normally prescribed limits – but can increase toxic effects and increase the risk of death when taken alongside other painkillers.
Members of Jade’s family who attended the inquest were convinced she had taken too many pills by accident.
Jade’s sister Lorraine told the coroner that she would not have deliberately ended her life without writing something to her children.
This was echoed by Mr Taylor, who said: “It appears she simply took too much medication.
“She went through very difficult times. She had to change ownership and there were allegations against a former partner.
“She was addicted to painkillers and must have been in great discomfort; she simply took too much.”
He concluded that Jade’s death was the result of a “misadventure” – similar to an accidental death, but where an individual takes a risky action that unintentionally results in death.
After the inquest, Lorraine said of Jade: “Her children made her happy. She never got over losing our mother seven years ago.”
Jade’s sad case comes after a landmark inquiry concluded that good pregnancy care for women in the UK “is the exception rather than the rule”.
The damning report into NHS maternity services – known as Birth Trauma Inquiry – Detailed harrowing stories of mothers who were left lying in their own blood and urine or denied basic needs, such as pain relief, earlier this week.
Some mothers were left with life-changing injuries after birth.
Meanwhile, a leading maternity expert told The Sun that three fatal conditions are responsible for the rise in maternal deaths in the UK.
Medications You Can and Cannot Take Together Safely
IF IN doubt about how certain medicines may interact with each other, always speak to a family doctor or pharmacist.
Here are some medications you can and cannot take in combination with other medications.
Ibuprofen
Some drugs – like ibuprofen – don’t mix well with others.
Common pain reliever may not interact well with:
- Medicines that help prevent blood clots, such as warfarin
- Anti-inflammatory pain relievers such as aspirin, diclofenac, mefenamic acid, or naproxen
- Medicines for hypertension
- Steroid medications such as betamethasone, dexamethasone, hydrocortisone, or prednisolone
- Antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, norfloxacin or ofloxacin
- Antidepressants such as citalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, venlafaxine, paroxetine or sertraline
- Diabetes medications such as gliclazide, glimepiride, glipizide, or tolbutamide
Tell your doctor if you are taking any of these medications if he or she starts any type of ibuprofen.
It’s safe to take ibuprofen with acetaminophen or codeine, but don’t take it with aspirin or naproxen without talking to a pharmacist or doctor.
Paracetamol
It is safe to take acetaminophen with most prescription medications, including antibiotics.
But be careful when placing it next to:
- Warfarin, a medicine to prevent blood clots – paracetamol may increase the risk of bleeding if taken regularly
- Medicine to treat epilepsy
- Medicine to treat tuberculosis (TB)
It is safe to take acetaminophen with other types of pain relievers that do not contain acetaminophen, such as ibuprofen, aspirin, or codeine.
But do not take it together with other medicines that contain paracetamol. For example, cough and cold medicines often contain it, so you shouldn’t take a paracetamol tablet separately.
If you take two different medicines that contain acetaminophen, there is a risk of overdose.
Aspirin
Some medicines can affect the way aspirin works, so you should speak to a doctor if you take any of the following:
- Medicines to prevent blood clots, such as clopidogrel, apixaban, edoxaban, dabigatran, rivaroxaban and warfarin – taking them with aspirin can cause bleeding problems
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as sertraline, to treat depression
- Medicines for pain and swelling (inflammation), such as ibuprofen and prednisolone
- Medicines to prevent organ rejection after transplantation, such as cyclosporine and tacrolimus
- Medicines to treat high blood pressure, such as furosemide and ramipril
- Digoxin, a medicine for heart problems
- Lithium, a remedy for mental health problems
- Acetazolamide, for glaucoma
- Methotrexate, a medicine used to stop the immune system from overreacting and sometimes to treat some types of cancer
- Diabetes medications, such as insulin and gliclazide
It is safe to take aspirin as a pain reliever with acetaminophen or codeine.
But don’t take aspirin with ibuprofen or naproxen without talking to a doctor.
Source: SNS
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
