Following the announcement that the teenager’s death was suicide through the combined toxicity of two common medications, The Advocate spoke with experts about the risks of these drugs.
Yeah, this is exactly what I wouldn’t want anyone to do. From the article,
The Advocate spoke to Dr. Joshua King, medical director of the Maryland Poison Center at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and Dr. Masha Yemets, a clinical toxicology fellow at the same institution, to gain insights into the risks associated with fluoxetine and diphenhydramine…
Both said they couldn’t comment definitively on Benedict’s death — “Without the full autopsy report and associated toxicology data, we couldn’t comment about the medical examiner’s determination,” Yemets cautioned — but they agreed that both of the medications reported to be in Benedict’s system are commonly taken and pose a low risk of dangerous interactions when used correctly.
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Regarding young people being prescribed antidepressants such as fluoxetine, in addition to those possibly using diphenhydramine for allergies, King emphasized the need to avoid causing alarm among patients and their guardians. Discontinuing prescribed medications due to fear stirred by individual cases might lead to more harm than the medication itself, he noted. “It would be more dangerous if someone were prescribed this medication for depression and heard about this case and said, ‘This is dangerous. I’m going to stop taking it,’ and then ended up having a complication due to untreated depression,” he said
Yeah, this is exactly what I wouldn’t want anyone to do. From the article,