Monday, June 29th, 2009...12:28 am
A Side Effect of Michael Jackson’s Tragic Death – Consumer Health Education
Drugs.com reported a massive 20,900% increase (yes, you read that correctly – twenty thousand, nine hundred percent) in interest for information on the prescription medication Demerol – allegedly prescribed for the legendary entertainer Michael Jackson. More than 135,000 page views were logged on the Drugs.com web site by people researching Demerol this past Friday – the single biggest spike in daily interest for a medication since the similarly tragic and untimely death of Heath Ledger.
Demerol (meperidine) is a narcotic pain relieving medication. It works by dulling the pain perception center in the brain. Interest in the medication exploded from around 650 page views per day on average to 135,164 page views on Friday, June 26.
Aside from the amazing display of near real-time information dissemination triggered by this event, it would seem that recently deceased celebrities are inadvertently responsible for educating others about the potential dangers of prescription medications.
The passing of Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith also led to increased consumer research on medications such as OxyContin, Xanax, Valium, Ativan and Restoril. “We saw huge increases in page views for those medications, but the interest in researching Demerol surpasses anything we have seen before.” said Philip Thornton, CEO of Drugs.com.
While it is yet to be determined whether any prescription medication played a part in Michael Jackson’s tragic passing, the subsequent increased awareness may just help prevent unnecessary deaths due to the misuse of narcotic medications.
About Drugs.com
Drugs.com is the largest and most comprehensive drug information resource on the web with over 5 million unique visitors per month (ComScore, April 09). Providing free, independent, peer-reviewed, objective and up-to-date drug information at both consumer and professional levels, Drugs.com empowers patients and caregivers to take charge of their health and be more informed than ever before. The site includes many interactive tools to assist consumers and healthcare professionals such as a the new Mednotes personal medication records (PMR), a handy pill identification wizard, drug interactions checker and more.
More information at:
http://www.drugs.com and
http://www.drugs.com/demerol.html
8 Comments
June 30th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Although this article mentions the increased interest in Demerol it only mentions the possible link between presciption opioid use dangers and nothing about the fact that meperadine (Demerol) is uniquely dangereous. Many hospitals have removed it from their formularies or restricted its use. It has a long acting metabolite, normeperadine which does not respond to naloxone. It can cause seizures and cardiac arrhymias. Giving it IM besides causing tissue damage gives an uneven peak. If it was given to Mr. Jackson, this should be the opportunity to take it (and propoxyphene as medication with similar problems) off the market as they are the truely dangerous opioids. General opioid hysteria only serves to deny cancer patients, chronic pain patients, and dying patients addequate pain relief.
July 1st, 2009 at 7:16 am
thank you for the timely cautioning of the side effects of dangerous norcotis
July 1st, 2009 at 10:50 am
I was surprised that nothing was mentioned about
hallucinations when taking demerol.I had a long stay in the hospital with pancreas trouble and was on Demerol
most of the time,and had a couple of trips I wouldn’t want to go on again.Thanks
July 1st, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Thanks so much for keeping us in touch with current affairs.Its good to know all drugs are poisons especially when misused or wrong dosage is used the good drug can turn out to be fatal.So watch out!
July 21st, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I just want to thank you for providing this important information. Were it not for your website I am convinced my husband would have been deceased. We check each and every medicine prescribed by his Doctor to be sure they are not interacting. I feel most people expect too much from their Doctor. They cannot know everything, so we should all take responsibility for our health, etc. and this website helps. Thank you.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I never ever post but this time I will. Thanks a lot for the great blog.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Great Article and thank you for writing it. I work at a drug rehab facility and I see too many people every day that take medicine that the doc gives them not knowing what they are really taking.
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
Thank you for your site. I was given demerol once when I had to have a large piece of stick removed from my palm.
When I was taken home I laid down suddenly in the street 3 times before I could get to my house.
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