A LEIGH woman died after taking 19 anti-depressant pills, an inquest heard.

Nicola Harwood, aged 44, from Hope Street in Leigh, had a seizure and collapsed at her home on July 22, the hearing at Bolton Coroner's Court was told.

Paramedics gave her CPR, which continued at the Royal Edward Albert Infirmary in Wigan, but stopped after an hour and she was pronounced dead at 8.40am.

Mrs Harwood, married to David Harwood, had been diagnosed with epilepsy in January last year following a seizure in December.

She was prescribed an anti-epileptic drug which was she taking alongside the anti-depressant Amitriptyline, which she was using to treat insomnia.

She was also known to be having tanning injections, used to tan the skin, which she had obtained from the internet, the inquest heard.

Mr Irshad, consultant at Wigan Infirmary, told the inquest the tanning injections could have been a 'predisposing factor' of her epilepsy.

However, in a post-mortem examination, she was found to have 'fatal levels' of the anti-depressant drugs Venlafaxine and Citalopram.

Her husband asked if she had been taking an increased dose of the anti-epileptic drug, which was in the process of being sanctioned through her GP, would she have had the seizure on the day of her death?

But coroner Simon Jones said that Mrs Harwood’s epilepsy was not the cause of her death and, even without having the condition, the level of drugs in her system was the cause.

Mr Jones said: “It is not clear where Mrs Harwood was getting the drugs from. It was only on closer inspection that you (Mr Harwood) looked and found the drugs in the medicine box. We can’t be sure where she got them from — it is possible that they might have come from the internet or they were very very old medication. The reason for her taking a large quantity of the medications is unclear.

“Her death was drug related as a result of combined toxicity. I offer my condolences."