http://www.t-nation.com/forum_images/3/2/3264a-1fromm.jpg

http://www.startribune.com/...l/16029287.html

Erik (The Viking) Fromm, for many years one of the nation's leading amateur bodybuilders, died in his Richfield home from an overdose of a highly potent and addictive painkiller, authorities said today.

Fromm, 36, who died Feb. 4, overdosed on fentanyl, the Hennepin County medical examiner's office said. The office said the overdose was accidental, and police said today that they expect to close out their investigation soon.

Fromm's death is at least the second in the Upper Midwest involving a bodybuilder using fentanyl.

"People can very easily can overdose on it because it is so strong," said Carol Falkowski, of the Minnesota Department of Health and a leading expert in Minnesota on illicit drug use. "It's almost always used in hospital settings, it's so strong," she added.

Fentanyl, under the jurisdiction of the Drug Enforcement Administration, is an opium-derived pain reliever, considered at least 80 times stronger than morphine and has the highest level of control for drugs with a recognized medical use. Last year, people in major cities such as the Twin Cities, Philadelphia and Detroit were selling fentanyl on the street as heroin, leading to numerous deaths, Falkowski said.

Fentanyl administered through a skin patch were the subject of recent federal recalls because of a flaw that could cause patients or caregivers to overdose.

In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration said that "deaths and other serious problems have resulted from accidental overdoses" of fentanyl.

The New York State Department of Health has investigated incidents of the patches being stolen from hospitals or being removed from the skin of patients.

Fromm had a serious traffic accident about a year ago in Wyoming, causing him severe pain in his lower back and in his legs and arms, said a friend of Fromm's, Kevin Schreifels.

"He was rating the pain pretty high," said Schreifels, a doctor at Lyn-Lake Chiropractic in Minneapolis.

While living in his native Wyoming and other Rocky Mountain states between 1998 and 2004, Fromm consistently finished in the top 10 among amateur super-heavyweights in national competitions sponsored by the 20,000-member National Physique Committee (NPC). He climbed to second in 1999.

Flex magazine reported in 2005 that Fromm suffered physical setbacks -- tearing a biceps and a chest muscle.

In the other bodybuilder's death, 34-year-old Clinton J. Bitz of Sioux Falls died in his sleep in April 2007 from a fentanyl overdose, said his fiancee, Bobbi Doerfler.

Doerfler, who moved from Monticello, Minn., with Bitz to South Dakota in 2001, said he suffered from painful migraines and had built up a resistance to other painkillers.

Bitz's mother, Wanda Cyr, of Monticello said that a relative shipped fentanyl patches to her son. She said police in Sioux Falls have been pursuing a criminal case against that relative, who had the patches properly prescribed to him.

"I'm a nurse," Cyr said, adding that she told her son, " 'You can't use these. These are dangerous.' "

She said that her son, an electrician who competed in regional bodybuilding events, didn't know that the dosage in the relative's patches had been increased shortly before he last used them.

EDIT: MOD PLEASE CHANGE THE THREAD NAME: Fentanyl

I am an idiot.

Another source

Erik Fromm, one of the nation�??s leading amateur bodybuilders, has died at age 36. His fiancée said he was not a steroid user and had no health problems that she knew of. The Hennepin County medical examiner�??s office is investigating.

Erik (The Viking) Fromm, one of the nation's leading amateur bodybuilders, died Monday in his Richfield home.

The Hennepin County medical examiner's office is looking into the cause and manner of death. Police said they are investigating but do not believe a crime was committed.

Fromm, 36, took an interest in bodybuilding at age 14 and excelled in a sport that has long been troubled by steroid abuse among some of its competitors. But Fromm's fiancée and his ex-wife both said he was not a steroid user and had no health problems.

"When he was bodybuilding, he was a really giant guy," said Micah Brown, who has lived with Fromm for the past two years and was engaged to marry him. "But he has the genetics that are naturally of a large man." At 5-foot-11, Fromm's competitive weight would range from the low 250s to upper 270s.

"He worked his butt off," said Kori Fromm, of Hudson, Wis., who was married to Fromm from 1998 until they divorced in 2004.

"I went in the gym every day with him. That was our life."

While living in his native Wyoming and other Rocky Mountain states between 1998 and 2004, Erik Fromm consistently finished in the top 10 among amateur super-heavyweights in national competitions sponsored by the 20,000-member National Physique Committee (NPC). He climbed to second in 1999.

Flex magazine reported in 2005 that Fromm suffered physical setbacks -- tearing a biceps and a chest muscle.

Fromm "was very well known and respected in the bodybuilding community," said Dan Traugott, owner of the Repetrope Productions video company, which covers the NPC.

"He had the genetic potential to succeed in the sport, and he was passionate and committed," Traugott said from his office in Tampa, Fla. "He was very gregarious and friendly with the other competitors. Sometimes, they try to be tough and psych each other out."

Brown, 23, said they were to be married in August at Clyth Castle in Scotland, Fromm's ancestral home. "Things were really coming together,'' she said.

After Fromm and Brown moved about two years ago to Minnesota from Wyoming, where he was in the oil and natural gas drilling business, he began training people in health and fitness, Brown said.

Fromm had "just absolutely blossomed and created an awesome network" in pursuing his new profession, Brown said. "He was a warrior and ... a hero to everybody -- everybody's big brother, everybody's father."

Fromm was well known at Los Campeones Gym on East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. The gym's MySpace page mourned his death.

A memorial service for Fromm is scheduled for today at Lakewood Cemetery Chapel, 3600 Hennepin Av. S., Minneapolis.

For more on Fromm's bodybuilding career, including photographs, visit: www.startribune.com/a3992.

Dumbass! I have no sympathy for fuckwits like that, esp. a bodybuilder who should know better!

Natural selection at work IMO! I'm not trying to be cold, but thats what happens when ya don't respect the power of powerful narcotics like fentanyl.

--KP

like they guy knew anything about the shit.

the docs just give you shit and you trust them....

he was obviously trying to get fucked up, which for a body builder seems weird to me to want to get fucked off of fent.

KP haven't you OD'ed before????

KP haven't you OD'ed before????

I haven't od'd b4 contrary to popular belief. But I know people who have and I'm understanding of that. Shit happens. The problem with street dope is that you don't know the purity.

But fentanyl and a PROFESSIONAL bodybuilder??? He should have known better!

--KP

body builders are not pharmacists.

they are baby killing, weight lifting, meat eating machines.

give someone like that some fent. and you gonna have some problems....

he probably thought "well if i can bench 300, i can take 300"

thts ^ where they fuck up

I haven't od'd b4 contrary to popular belief. But I know people who have and I'm understanding of that. Shit happens. The problem with street dope is that you don't know the purity.

But fentanyl and a PROFESSIONAL bodybuilder??? He should have known better!

--KP

One night, high on Methadone, I drank 20 shots of vodka. All I remember is being in a police car, freaking out, and being sent to the hospital. I awoke the next morning in 4 point restraints. My mom told me I was maced. Also I had bruises all over me from the cops roughing me up as well as on my wrists from trying to snap the cuffs.

--KP

he should have known better!

But fentanyl and a PROFESSIONAL bodybuilder??? He should have known better!


Amateur. And how is this any different from any other moron taking a bunch of painkillers and killing themselves. To most people, a painkiller is a painkiller, even when they're abusing them. They might then they make the differentiation between narcotic and not.

Body builders generally have a lot of specialized knowledge about training and, for the good ones anyways, about nutrition and proper supplementation. They're not, for the most part, studying drugs and their dosages. It sounds like, from the article, he got an upped dosage and wasn't paying attention. Dumb, but not any dumber than a myriad of stupid shit I've seen people do before.

And to anyone surprised a body builders using narcotics, most of the amateur body builders I've met use a good bit. God knows when I was lifting I was using psychoactives more heavily than I have otherwise. Being physically healthy only makes the drugs feel even better.

OP: It's Fentanyl, not fenedryl.

he probably thought "well if i can bench 300, i can take 300"

thts ^ where they fuck up

i lolled

i can take 300 pounds of fenedryl

i can take 300 pounds of fenedryl

LULZ!

--KP

Fentanyl is no fuckin joke man.Lot of scary stories with that beautiful chemical.I fuckin love it though cuz I always thought it was a speedy opiate.Fent.aahhhh.

shut the fuck up faggot

The OP was edited within 15 seconds asking for a thread title change, I am aware of this typo there is no need to continue pointing it out. If you would've actually read the entire first post you would've seen this.

Rofl, fenedryl.

shut the fuck up faggot

Suck on my johnson cunt.Change that fucking name already.What the fuck does that second word even mean?I need help building a tazer gun.Go fucking kill yourself please.

lol @ went to the hospital for 20 shots of vodka

Suck on my johnson cunt.Change that fucking name already.What the fuck does that second word even mean?I need help building a tazer gun.Go fucking kill yourself please.

It's not my fault you're retarded. Please take your dipshittery to someone else who might care.

I know wut it is fuckwad. Its just its about the second time ive ever heard it in my life.Its just a gay fuckin word.And at least change it for the illiterate dipshits that dont have a clue wut it means.Maybe aristotle would use that term today but wut the fuck.

Your just angry because you had to look it up...

Your just angry because you had to look it up...

Yeah oh so angry.