“He’s admitted to heroin addiction previously. Supposedly, there is a mix of heroin and Fentanyl out there.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fentanyl
Fentanyl is very, very powerful. A possible overdose to my elderly mother in law, sent her to the emergency room.
A relapse by an addict alcoholic is nothing to be surprised about.
But there are also many addicts/alcoholics in the entertainment world, with long term sobriety.
Sir Anthony Hopkins, Eric Clapton, Robert Downey Jr., Alice Cooper, John Williams, Sir Elton John, Ringo Starr, Bill Ward etc.
Others entertainers with sobriety have relapsed including Mel Gibson, Stephen Tyler, Nick Nolte, etc.
Too bad about Hoffman. He was among the most talented actors of this time.
A kidney stone once sent to the hospital where they gave me Fentanyl. They might just as well have fed me skittles, so then they gave me whatever is the next step up and it took me to some other place and some other time, but the pain got left behind.
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Fentanyl is very powerful, yes.
After surgery, I was given morphine drip in hospital - I know how people under morphine think they can fly. Found I reacted so poorly to it that I was taken off.
Later on in rehab from surgery pain, I was put on Fentanyl patch. When it came off during a shower I neglected to put another one back on since I had been feeling no pain (hello, me, it was the Fentanyl that made me comfortable after the surgery).
After missing that one patch, I ended up in emergency claiming that the whole world smelled terrible. I asked, loudly and hysterically, everyone from EMS to everyone in ER, patients and nurses and doctors didn't they smelled it, too. Of course no one smelled the smell but I was hysterical that no one seemed to smell the horrible "smell".
Fentanyl - avoid if possible but if you have to use it, don't stop it abruptly and stay with physician the whole time you are on it.
It was horrible and I had PTDS type of dreams. Awful, awful, awful time in my life. Doctor said the reaction was like a smell "hallucination".
I still cringe when I think of it and it has been at least 4 - 5 years.
Sometimes the terrible dreams still come back.