Mother who drank up to eight litres of Pepsi Max a day dies from excessive prescription drugs and caffeine

Coroner says Victoria Lane's body had ingested deadly volumes of prescription drugs exacerbated by excessive use of caffeine

A woman who drank up to eight litres of Pepsi Max a day died from taking too much of a prescription drug combined with "excessive use of caffeine", an inquest has heard.

North Staffordshire Coroner's Court was told Victoria Lane, a mother of one from Clayton, Stoke-on-Trent, drank as many as four two-litre bottles of the soft drink every day.

A post-mortem found she died due to her “excessive ingestion of fluoxetine exacerbated by excessive use of caffeine".

The 38-year-old's body was found at her home earlier this year by son Rhys, according to the Stoke Sentinel. He called 999, but paramedics were unable to revive her upon their arrival.

Rhys reportedly told the inquest of his mother's battle with depression, anxiety and alcoholism. It heard she had been prescribed anti-anxiety drug fluoxetine to help her deal with her mental health issues.

“When mum was drinking heavily she could get through a one-litre bottle of vodka a day and four two-litre bottles of Pepsi Max.” Rhys told the inquest, according to the Daily Mail.

Ms Lane’s mother, Rosalind Lane, reportedly told the inquest of how her daughter was involved in a car crash when she was 16, an event she said she believed had “changed” her daughter.

“She recovered physically from it but I noticed a change in her personality after that," she said.

"She became very black. She used to be bright and outgoing but she became reserved and a bit of a rebel at college.

“I knew she drank vodka, but I didn’t know how much. She did drink a lot of Pepsi Max though. One of the side-effects of the drugs was that she had a very dry mouth and Pepsi Max was what she liked to drink.”

Sarah Murphy, North Staffordshire’s assistant coroner, gave a verdict of accidental death, adding: “It is absolutely tragic that such a young lady who overcame adversity and had managed to sort herself and who had so much life and so much to look forward to, died prematurely.”

The family have set up a Just Giving page in memory of Ms Lane, with all the proceeds will be donated to mental health charity Mind UK.