WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT One woman has come forward to say she was on the same medication as Elisa Lam
Whispers of supernatural activity, cult involvement and sinister play persist in the shadowy corners of the internet as potential explanations for Elisa Lam’s heartbreaking demise – but one individual taking the same medication as the 21-year-old has stepped forward with her personal experience of the drug.
The series of bone-chilling events has maintained the Cecil Hotel’s notoriety despite efforts to rebrand as ‘the Stay On Main’.
Nevertheless, Elisa Lam’s gruesome death remains one that won’t be easily erased from memory and has haunted LA for decades – despite being officially classified as accidental drowning.
One person, diagnosed with bipolar disorder just like Elisa, revealed she was prescribed the identical medication regime, including Lamotrigine (Lamictal) and Venlafaxine (Effexor), and maintains she understands the precise “torture” the innocent Canadian visitor would have endured in the hours before her premature death.
Disturbingly, Elisa remained in the hotel’s water tank on the notoriously perilous Skid Row for days in 2013 before guests noticed the water tasted peculiar, reports the Mirror US.
Unsettling footage of Elisa’s bizarre behaviour in the hotel lift, cringing before something unseen to the observer, has been viewed millions of times.
Emphasising they had a different form of bipolar, bipolar 2, to Elisa who had bipolar 1, the latter Mind describes as experiencing “at least one episode of mania which has lasted longer than a week.”
The person, who suffers from bipolar 2, said: “Elisa had bipolar 1, so her mania was a little different and more intense than what I experience. I can only imagine the torture that girl’s mind put her through. Reading some of her Tumblr posts was heartbreaking because of how utterly relatable it was.”
The Reddit user explained: “I spent my teen years in and out of treatment and doing trial and error with psych meds. Eventually I got on 2 pills that seemed to work well for me- Lamotrigine (Lamictal) and Venlafaxine (Effexor). Both of these were prescribed to Elisa and it looks like she wasn’t taking them as prescribed at the time of her tragic death.”
They admitted that trying to “ween” themselves off the medications was “horrible”. “I say this because I know what it is like to be in a state of withdrawal from these meds.”
They said: “Getting off of Venlafaxine was horrible. Even with my dosage gradually decreased, I remember what it was like when that mg first went to zero. For a week it felt like I could feel every synapses in my brain.
“Like electric shocks going through my head. I couldn’t think clearly. I felt like nothing made sense and my mind was incredibly foggy. It didn’t feel like real life. I was a waitress at that time and it was hell to be going through that while trying to work.
“Lamotrigine withdrawal was similar except the synapses part. When I was on it, half the time the thing that would make me remember to take it for the day was not being able to think clearly. Life felt like I was dreaming but in a scary-wtf is going on- kind of way.”
Sympathising with the chaotic chemical state Elisa’s brain must have been experiencing, they added: “I can’t imagine going through both of these withdrawals and being in a state of mania simultaneously. Plus these weren’t the only meds she was taking.
“I can imagine her feeling adventurous and manic on her last night in LA, wanting to go explore, and jumping into the water tank only to horrifyingly realize she could not escape.
“The similarities to the movie “dark water” might not just be a coincidence. In her altered state of mind she may have wanted to act it out a bit. That’s more just speculation, but everything about this case is. All I know is it’s a tragic story and I hope she is resting peacefully and that her family has found some peace as well.”
