Heroin overdose - suicide or accident?

The Heroin Overdose Mystery

Heroin overdose deaths in the Unites States more than tripled from 2010 to 2014, reaching almost 11,000 per year. Despite the use of the term “overdose,” many of these victims died after self-administering an amount of opiate that would not be expected to be fatal for these drug-experienced, and drug-tolerant, individuals. Various explanations of this overdose mystery have been proposed. I desc...

Death from propofol: accident, suicide, or murder?

A 24-yr-old woman was found dead in her home from apparent propofol "toxicity." Her blood level of propofol was 4.3 microg/mL. She had no history of drug abuse and no evidence of such behavior at autopsy. The medical examiner and police investigators felt that she died from probable homicide. Attention was focused on a male registered nurse acquaintance, who had acquired propofol and other drug...

Propane-associated autoerotic asphyxiation: accident or suicide?

Autoerotic fatalities refer to a death resulting from the participation in a sex-related activity designed to heighten sexual arousal. The overwhelming majority of these deaths are due to asphyxia, most often by hanging or ligature compression of the neck. Here we report a case of "atypical" autoerotic fatality in which death was not induced by ligature compression. Unusual death of a 24-year-o...

Heroin Overdose: Prevalence, Correlates, Consequences and Interventions

Suicide due to cyclizine overdose.

Cyclizine is an antihistamine with sedative effect used to treat motion sickness. A few studies have reported on cyclizine abuse among teenagers, and cyclizine abuse has been reported among opioid dependants receiving methadone, with the combination having been reported to produce strong psychoactive effects. Few reports exist on the possible toxic effects of cyclizine, and it is regarded as a ...