RIP Matthew Perry - age 54

Mik

@George-K said in RIP Matthew Perry - age 54:

I read that, at one time, Perry was taking up to 55 Vicodin per day, while working on "Friends."

Supposedly, there were no illicit drugs found at his home, but there were prescriptions for anti-depressants, etc.

Gotta wonder how one drowns in a hot tub unless there's some chemical misadventure going on.

The acetaminophen alone would be enough to kill you. I suppose he could have had an MI and then drowned before that could kill him, but I suspect we'll find he nodded out.

Such an unhappy life for one so otherwise fortunate.

LuFins Dad

I read it was a cardiac incident?

Jolly

Well, after that much recreational drug use, a lot of those guys have bad tickers.

LuFins Dad

@Jolly said in RIP Matthew Perry - age 54:

Well, after that much recreational drug use, a lot of those guys have bad tickers.

Not saying...Just sayin'...

Doctor Phibes

Decades of alcohol and drug abuse and we’re blaming the Covid vaccine.

1950’s jazz musicians must have had time machines.

taiwan_girl

@Mik said in RIP Matthew Perry - age 54:

Such an unhappy life for one so otherwise fortunate.

From an interview he gave a short while ago.

Alcohol’s sneaky power and the way it changes the perspectives and feelings of those who drink it gripped Perry like a vice, and he thought fame would give him the help he needed. So he prayed to become a celebrity, and he got his answer.

He told Power, “That prayer was, ‘Please, God, make me famous. You can do anything you to me; just make me famous.’ Three weeks later, I got ‘Friends,’ and God didn’t forget about the second part.”

Horace

Seems he was wired for unhappiness, regardless of life circumstance.

Doctor Phibes

@Horace said in RIP Matthew Perry - age 54:

Seems he was wired for unhappiness, regardless of life circumstance.

I've occasionally wondered whether people are funny because they're unhappy or whether the connection is a more complex one with creativity in general.

I heard somebody interviewed recently - Jimmy Carr, I think, talking about standup, and he compared it to jazz in the 1930's, saying it's really a new art-form, with only a very small number of people making a success of it. Maybe it's not the only thing it has in common with that period of jazz. Not that Perry was a stand-up comedian, but he clearly had a natural comedic gift.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

Overdose.

Matthew Perry, the “Friends” actor who publicly struggled with drinking and drug use for decades, died from the “acute effects” of ketamine, an anesthetic with psychedelic properties, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said in an autopsy report that was released on Friday.

Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles on Oct. 28. He was 54.

The medical examiner’s office said that drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of an opioid, buprenorphine, had contributed to his death.

But the autopsy ascribed his death primarily to “the acute effects of ketamine.” Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic that has become increasingly popular as an alternative therapy for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other hard-to-treat mental health problems. It is also used recreationally.

The autopsy report said that Perry had been on ketamine infusion therapy but that the ketamine in his system could not have been from his last known therapy session, which was about a week and a half before he died.
“At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” the autopsy report said. It noted that the level of ketamine investigators found in Perry’s blood was equivalent to the amount that would be used during general anesthesia.