According to US Magazine, the drugs found in Smith's system included a variety of prescription pills. These include muscle relaxant pills that are prescribed for treating insomnia and anxiety. Diazepam is most commonly prescribed as an anti-anxiety drug or an anti-panic drug, and the effects include calmness, relaxation, and drowsiness. However, there can be adverse side effects which can range from extreme drowsiness, fatigue, and ataxia to loss of balance. Rarely, diazepam causes a paradoxical reaction with excitability, muscle spasm, lack of sleep, and rage. Confusion, depression, speech problems, and double vision are also rare side effects of diazepam. Lorazepam and Oxazepam are also used to treat anxiety disorders. Substance abuse, dependence and overdose are steadily increasing problems in the United States, most especially among celebrities who seem can't to handle the many stresses of their lives. Most physicians are aware of the more commonly abused prescription medications, such as benzodiazepines, and narcotics. The abuse on muscle relaxant pills is not as well recognized.
Muscle relaxant pills are not really a class of drugs, but rather a group of different drugs that each has an overall sedative effect on the body. These drugs do not act directly on the muscles, rather they act centrally (in the brain) and are more of a total body relaxant. Typically, muscle relaxants are prescribed early in a course of back pain, on a short-term basis, to relieve low back pain associated with muscle spasms.
Muscle relaxant pills are frequently used in combination with other central nervous system depressants, such as alcohol, benzodiazepines or narcotics. They are used in three main ways: to prolong the effect of alcohol or a narcotic drug, to increase the effect of the primary drug of abuse or to achieve the same effect with a smaller amount of alcohol or narcotic. Prescriptions for muscle relaxant pills are usually easier to obtain than prescriptions for narcotics and are often less expensive. People who use these pills sometimes substitute muscle relaxant pills when a narcotic is not available. In these circumstances, high doses may be used to achieve the desired sedative or mood-altering effect.
The news about Anna Nicole Smith's death shocked Hollywood, but the reports seems to account the cause of her death is nothing new to them. Other high-profile celebrities such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe were also once victims of substance abuse. However, in the case of Anna Nicole Smith, it was like a double whammy that hit her life. Her death came just five months after her 20-year-old son Daniel suddenly died under suspicious circumstances in the Bahamas, which was also suspected to be a case of drug overdose.
