A “BRIGHT and cheerful” schoolgirl took her own life nine months after she began taking a strong medication for acne, an inquest heard.
Annabel Wright (15) had never been diagnosed with depression and was found dead in her Yorkshire bedroom in 2019.
3
3
3
Dad Simon told the inquest, held in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, that his daughter seemed completely calm as he walked past her earlier that evening.
But 20 minutes later, Annabel’s gran discovered her dead.
Will, a brave brother, tried to save his sister when she was just 12 years old. The ambulance arrived and the police arrived.
Annabel did not leave a suicide note. The toxicology tests for alcohol and drugs were negative.
The family said that cheery Annabel never worried about a thing and her mum, Helen, joked she “would live to be 120”.
The teenager attended St David’s School in Harrogate and was performing well, the hearing was told.
Her mum said: “She was very happy there. She was doing well. She was blessed with a large circle of friends.
Annabel’s mum said that she didn’t realize anything was wrong when her daughter noticed scratches on her wrist in January 2019. This was after Annabel had started Roaccutane.
Her daughter initially claimed that she had fallen and inflicted injuries on her wrist.
Her mother stated that the scratches she received were too frequent to be self-inflicted.
Later, her daughter admitted to her mother that she had cut herself in the bathroom with a razor blade just moments before chatting happily on the phone to her friends.
“She said she just felt low. She could not explain why,” She added that her mother was also there.
In July 2018, Mrs Wright and her daughter attended Church Lane Surgery in Boroughbridge for a routine review of her medication.
She was 12 years old and had been taking lymecycline antibiotics since then.
Mrs Wright stated that Annabel was referred by a Harrogate District Hospital dermatologist to her family, despite not having seen her before.
Mrs Wright, 50, continued: “We looked at each other and thought – result!
“We could get her off her antibiotics and possibly get her onto something that she would be comfortable with.
YOU’RE NOT ALONE
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It does not discriminate and touches the lives of everyone, from the homeless and the unemployed to doctors and builders, as well as reality stars and footballers.
It is more fatal than car accidents and cancer for people younger than 35.
It’s a taboo subject that is rarely discussed, and it threatens to continue its devastating rampage if we don’t stop now.
Central Recorder created the campaign “You’re Not Alone”.
We all can save lives by sharing practical advice, increasing awareness, and breaking down barriers when it comes to talking about mental health.
Let’s all make a commitment to seek help whenever we need it and to listen for others… We’re not alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
“I had not expected it. Her skin was a lot better than it had been. The lymecycline had worked wonders for her acne.”
Asked by the coroner Jonathan Leach how her daughter felt at having acne for so long, Mrs Wright replied: “It did not bother her. It didn’t bother her.
“She was concerned she would get some scarring. Like most teenagers, she would go into the bathroom and pick at it a bit and ask ‘Do you think it will scar?’
“I said ‘No. Just leave it alone. She was not distressed about it.”
The inquest was read the new GP’s letter stating: “Annabel had been on lymecycline for a year. Her acne has not improved.
“Her face is a sign of severe acne. I saw her because it had not been resolved.”
Mrs Wright did not entirely agree that her daughter’s skin was that bad but picked her up from school for the hospital appointment on October 3 2018.
She continued: “We were sat in the waiting room and there were a number of other patients who had very bad acne.
“I said to Annabel under my breath I think you need to be prepared that they are going to say ‘You just have an oily skin, you are just a teenager, off you go’.”
The consultant told Annabel “she wanted her on the Roaccutane before she got any scarring”.
Her mum added: “She was only 14 and it panicked her.”
The family were given a leaflet which Annabel ticked boxes on and her mother signed.
‘NO OTHER TREATMENT WAS OFFERED’
There was a warning that “a number of side effects may occur but there are extremely rare”.
Mrs Wright said: “There is nothing in there about suicide. Annabel wasn’t depressed. According to me, children depressed about skin can take their own lives.
“When you sit opposite an expert in their field and they say ‘Yes, but it could be argued that these children were depressed about their acne – it sways you.
“I was not aware that sudden suicidal impulses could overcome a perfectly normal person.”
Mrs Wright stated that she never asked for the removal of antibiotics and was skeptical from the beginning.
She told yesterday’s inquest: “I distinctly remember saying I had read about this drug years before and two Americans had taken their own lives.
“She said that could be because they were depressed about their skin.
I was told that the depression reaction was related to their skin, and Annabel wasn’t depressed about her skin.
“There was no other treatment suggested or offered.”
She went on to tell the inquest that she was “absolutely” convinced the drug had led to her daughter’s death, adding: “Normal, happy people do not just commit suicide without any sign or lead up to it.”
The hearing continues.
Contact the Samaritans
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, contact The Samaritans on 116 123.
They are always available to help you at no cost.
Or email https://www.samaritans.org/