Fentanyl overdose victim Michael Clayton thought he was taking a pain killer

IT’S a painkiller more potent than heroin that people are taking to get through tough sessions at the gym. But the consequences are a killer.

IT’S a painkiller more potent than heroin that people are now taking to get through tough sessions at the gym.

But experts warn using fentanyl as their go-to pain killer after a workout could have tragic consequences, as one shattered Gold Coast family has learned.

Personal trainer Michael Clayton never woke up after applying a fentanyl patch and going to bed on March 27.

The 21-year-old just wanted some relief from sore butt muscles after days of training in the gym.

The next morning, Mr Clayton’s girlfriend Caity Screen thought he was in a “deep sleep” but when she couldn’t rouse him, realised he was unconscious and called an ambulance.

Mr Clayton was rushed to hospital. Sadly, he was dead within a month.

A 20-year-old Gold Coast fitness instructor who allegedly supplied him with the patch fronted Southport Magistrates Court earlier today, charged with supplying a dangerous drug and possession of steroids and fentanyl. He will return to court again in September.

As the case unfolds, experts are warning fentanyl use may be a bigger problem than previously thought.

Michael had complained of sore butt muscles.

‘HE THOUGHT IT WAS A PAIN KILLER’

Police say the drug that killed Mr Clayton was a fentanyl patch, an synthetic opiate-based drug used to prevent pain after surgery that is sometimes given to cancer patients.

Ms Screen said Mr Clayton took it just like any other pain medication.

“He just thought it was a pain killer to ease the pain so he could get a good night’s sleep,” the 20-year-old told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

“That’s all he told me. That’s all he thought it was. He didn’t know how serious it was or what the drug even was. The (muscle) injury was just from a few days prior. It was getting worse and he was over it.”

She said he applied the patch at 8.30pm and the pair fell asleep.

“The next morning he wouldn’t wake up.”

Mr Clayton is not the first person to overdose on fentanyl.

In 2008, a US bodybuilder named Erik ‘The Viking’ Fromm took a lethal dose of the drug to control pain in his lower back.

Fromm, 36, was a former top-10 competitor among amateur super-heavyweights and was once ranked second in the US.

But he was injured in a traffic accident in 2007 and to get back on top in 2008 he first needed to get over the pain.

His friend, Kevin Schriefels, told reporters “he was rating the pain pretty high”.

That’s when he took an accidental fatal dose of fentanyl. A year earlier, the death of another American bodybuilder, 34-year-old Clinton Bitz, was also attributed to the drug, which had been prescribed to his father.

Bodybuilder Erik Fromm died from a fentanyl overdose in 2008.

‘IT’S MORE POTENT THAN MORPHINE’

Drug expert Amanda Roxburgh told news.com.au fentanyl is “a powerful analgesic more potent than morphine”.

“It’s for cancer pain but in 2006 it became available for prescription to patients with chronic non-cancer pain.”

Ms Roxburgh, a senior researcher at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said Mr Clayton may have suffered a stronger response to the drug if he was “opiate naive”, or his body was not used to strong pain killers.

“If somebody is opiate naive then the drug is going to be a lot more potent. It also depends on the dosage.”

Ms Roxburgh published a paper in 2013 about fentanyl-related mortality in Australia. In it, she concluded “fentanyl-related mortality started to increase the same time as prescribing rates, with the number of deaths increasing from four in 2007 to 14 in 2008”.

She said the fact that fentanyl deaths are occurring among younger Australians “is of concern” and warned people away from using fentanyl as a “first port of call” for pain relief.

“I does have quite serious consequences and clearly in this case it was tragic for everybody involved.”

Mr Clayton’s mum Lisa said she hoped no other family would have to go through what her family has gone through.

“Michael is easy going, easy to talk to,” Ms Clayton told the Bulletin.

“He worked hard and enjoyed his personal training and was a great chef. His sister, grandparents and myself are still struggling to deal with the reality of the situation.

“We can’t change what has happened, we can only hope that something will be done to stop it happening to someone else’s child.

“We have all been given a life sentence as we will never have Michael back with us.”

Caity rushed Michael to hospital but by then the drug had taken its toll. Screen.