Loudon Co. mom dies from hydrocodone overdose





March 7, 2005

By SHASTA CLARK
6 News Reporter

LOUDON COUNTY (WATE) -- A 30-year-old mother of three boys was found dead on her couch from a hydrocodone overdose. And her sister says she blames online pharmacies for supplying her with prescriptions.

Sharalyn Ruesch's body laid on her couch for about 12 hours before her young children figured out something was wrong.

Police say Sharalyn overdosed on hydrocodone, a highly addictive prescription pain killer she started taking for back problems.

Her sister, Cristy Ruesch, who flew in from Wisconsin, says the children are devastated by the loss of their mother and what they saw.

The youngest boy, who's five, found his mom slumped over on the couch with her head in a bowl of food at 9:00 a.m. He and his 12-year-old brother didn't try to wake her. A police report says they'd gotten in trouble before when she would pass out.

"And then he came out about 3:00 p.m. and couldn't wake her up. He said he touched her and felt that she was cold and hard and called 911," Cristy says.

The oldest boy had tucked himself into bed the night before. "He came out and said goodnight to his mom at 2:00 a.m. and...they say because of the way she was found and the condition she was found in, by 3:00 a.m., she was already gone," Cristy says.

"We found quite a collection of hydrocodone prescription, not illegal as far as I know," says Lt. John Houston.

He says Sharalyn ordered the pills online. "All they require you to do is put in your name and address and they may ask you a few brief medical questions and history. Evidently, there's some so-called doctor who okays it and they fill it."

Cristy Ruesch says her sister had several health problems. She says she was bipolar, an alcoholic and had severe back pain. That's why she started taking hydrocodone.

But she didn't have insurance and when she needed more pills, she got hundreds from online pharmacies. "I blame these doctors, these online people who don't check into people's backgrounds, who don't make sure that people aren't getting more medicine that could hurt them," Cristy says.

"I loved my sister very much and her sons loved her very much," Cristy says.

The Loudon County Sheriff's Department says it will investigate the online pharmacies to decide what can be done.

The boys will be split up. The oldest is moving to be with his dad in Utah. The middle boy already lives with his father. And Cristy says she and another relative want to take the five-year-old.

Source : http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=3045946

that is so so sad. I am wondering what it takes to OD from Hydro and can't help but think if it wasn't all about insurance , money etc, if she was in that much pain she should have been able to see a doctor for something stronger for the pain , without having to take enough hydro to die from. Isn't it usually the APAP that causes OD from it ? now i'm not saying it's right or wrong , i don't know all the circumstances, BUT you'd think that if there was a way to be properly treated without resorting to self treatment for what must have been an awful lot of pain , according to the report she had back pain and that i know can be very painful and not taken seriously leading to well try Vioxx or deal with it .. or what she did which is take too much of something to try to releive the pain and the problem is there are things they could prescribe with less apap. but God forbid that would make her a junkie , on oxy with kids, heaven forbid, better dead b/c insurance is one obstacle and then getting any doc to take pain seriously and prescribe something that could have helped her suffering and saved her life .. oh it's just so sad. I'm sorry I get these alerts, but feel i should pass them along. Please be careful !

My heart is breaking for her boys. This will be with them forever. That poor woman. Only 30 years old. We all need to pray for her family. peace

That is so sad. I know they probably had no other choice, but I hate it when brothers/sisters get split up. They need to be with each other. So Sad.

I wonder if it was the hyrocodone that killed her, or the acemetaphin? How much would it take to die from an overdose? I am so sad it was her little boys that discovered her body. They will be scarred for life. My heart goes out to them.

That's sad....

You can overdose on hydrocodone as easy as you can on apap. I think the red-line is about 200 to 250mgs in a 24hour period. It is very difficult to tell what the OD amount is becuase we build up tolerances to opiates. For one person, 100mg's will do it, while another would take 350mgs. From what I've read, opiates attatch themselves to certain parts of our brain and effect thier function in different ways. These effects are what make people like them...but are also what kills if taking to much. This is why opiates are used for coughs, pain, and in the begining depression. The natural function that your brain preforms when you are in pain (releasing endorphins) is caused by taking opiates. Which is why we build a tolerance so fast.

This bad publicity for OP's will be thier downfall. Sucks for those who need them. But my heart goes out to those children...they didn't ask for their mom to leave them like that. OP's are not to blame, she is. She's the one who decided to take more than was prescribed, or mix it with alcohol. It's just like the gun thing.....guns don't kill people, people kill people.....


-NMP-

Wish it would make headlines everytime "Tylenol" kills...it does, WAY to often...does not diminish the sadness of the families loss, but sorry to say it, "Here we go again"
"REEFER MADNESS OF 2005" In 20 years, the kids will laugh about this hilariously!
Dave

I had a dear friend who had chronic migraines. She was prescribed by her Dr., a few different types of medication, with a caution that certain ones could not be taken at the same time. My friend was bi-polar and one night after getting all her scripts filled, she went home, took all the pills she had and her son found her dead the next morning.

My point in telling you all this is that while this lady may have ordering from OPs, it does not require an online service to cause death. I know of a few people who receive 90 hydros a month for chronic pain conditions and they are prescribed by their doctor. It's like what was said earlier about "guns don't kill people, people do". If someone is going abuse narcotics, it doesn't matter where they came from.

My heart also goes out to those boys because I've seen it. Hopefully they will get the help they need to overcome this trauma.

Light

very sad.

Sorry but we feel that it is inappropriate to have this picture here. This is a very sad situation.

I empathize with any child who loses a parent, especially at such a young age, and feel sorry for their loss. But I won't pander to the hydrocodone hysteria. This woman clearly had multiple issues - as was stated in the article: "bipolar...alocoholic..bad back pain" She was not just self-treating a bad back. I feel for what this family went through PERIOD. I'm sure they've been suffering for some time now.

But to blame the online pharmacies is a far cry from help in any scenario. Take a step back, and think.

She had problems that beyond Hydrocodone. Her Alcoholism did not get slammed though. Hmmm...

- Gekko

Well, as much as that is sad to hear its not always the truth being told in the news. She could have died from the alcohol but one will never know for sure.

What a sad, sad story. Those poor little boys had been living in such misery that they were already used to trying to take care of themselves, and were even afraid to try to wake her, or get help for so long says a lot. Yet the headline trumpets Hyrocodone, and the second sentence is the sister "blames online pharmacies..." Bet she's already got a lawyer, too. She was able to fly right down from Wisconsin, but where was she all this time...this didn't happen overnight. Hard to believe sometimes, when on the one hand you read about Child & Family Services getting called in over little or nothing, and yet here was a woman with deep problems, and nobody, family, friends, school, government, was helping.

As usual, wonder if there is more to this than the paper is saying. The quotes made the sheriff sound almost blase about the whole tragedy. Like, how could they come up with the cause of death so soon? I would like to think her children will now get therapy, not only for the emotional scars, but because bi-polor traits & alcoholism have strong genetic links.
Feeling kinda guilty about sounding judgmental here; one more reason to remember the blessings in my own life, & try to pass along a few.

The picture I posted which you removed was of the Loudon Co. mom and her three boys, not some random picture. Sorry if you felt it somehow made light of the situation, as that was certianly not my intention. I don't really understand how you could possibly take that way. Have some faith in humanity. Do you think that someone who comes to this website would not be impacted by the death of another from an overdose of pain medication, exactly what I was taking only 11 days ago... I definately feel it is a very tragic situation, and feel very empathetic for her and her family and friends. I don't really see how posting their picture, just as it was on the news website was offensive. Whenever someone has passed away and I want to keep them in my mind to pray for them, such as when the hostages have been killed I put their picture on my computer and pray for them. Usually makes me cry also. I thought others might want to do the same, say a prayer for her and her children.

One thing I don't understand is how I was screened because I said "very sad" and posted their picture but all these other people are posting in a defensive manner, trying to avoid looking at the effects of the codiene, put in on the alcohol, worrying about how the publicity is going to effect their getting their drugs and maybe you should remove the posts which question her skills as a mother..... hum, a nice picture of her and her children removed, people taking badly about a women who died tragically yesterday.....which is offensive?

Your gesture was sweet, as was the picture. As a mod, I do not allow pictures of children to stay posted on this site... it's just a bad idea. Please, do not take the removal of the picture as an attack at you, it was an attempt to protect these poor boys that must now deal with life without their mother.

If you would like to share the link to the news story and let the members that would like to follow that link please do so, news sites have a whole different level of liability issues. We must protect PW and it's members, and unfortunately, in this case, that is by not allowing the pictures of minors to be posted. By sharing the link you will release PW from liability but allow those that would like to follow the link and pray for those boys the opportunity to do so.

Gosh.. I have wanted SO many times to post pictures of my baby girl that I love and talk about so much, so that I can share her beautiful face with all of the wonderful members here at PW.. yet I refrain, she must be protected just as the young boys in the picture that was removed must be protected.

Please do not feel attacked HappyDestiny, it was not you or your post, it was a move made by the mods to protect those boy, their identities, and PW.

- Hausecat