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In June, the former Springbok and Bulls flyhalf Derrick Hougaard was given a 50% chance of waking up from the medically induced coma that he was placed into.

At the time, the toxicology report hadn’t been completed, and he spent three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria battling respiratory pneumonia.

His girlfriend, pop singer Nadiné, had found him unconscious at his home before rushing him to the hospital. Only recently, has Hougaard admitted on Jacaranda FM to consuming a variety of medications before this health scare.

Hougaard said nothing sinister happened with the medication he took when speaking to The Drive with Rob & Roz, adding that he took the usual dose of medication but just didn’t wake up the next day.

Image: Twitter/@derickhougaard

Per The Citizen, Hougaard regularly used Dopaquel, which treats both anxiety and manic episodes; Trazodone, a strong anti-depressant that also doubles as a sleeping tablet; and opioid-based prescription pain medication, which is highly addictive.

During the interview the former rugby star shared that the only ‘toxin’ doctors picked up in his blood was a sleeping tablet he used every now and again. He added that they didn’t even pick up the antidepressant called Trazodone, which he had been using for a long time in his blood. They only picked up opioids, which is pain medication.

However, the truth about the severity of  Hougaard’s prescription medication addiction is being revealed in rugby writer Brendan Nel’s new book Derick Hougaard: Die ware storie van die Liefling van Loftus, set to be released this month.

Image: Wordsworth Books

The book delves into untold stories of Derick’s days on and off the pitch and how his confidants and friends tried curbing his addiction, which set in after his rugby career came to an abrupt end in 2015.

The book mentions Hougaard’s 2019 interview with Huisgenoot where he admitted that the end of his rugby career left a big void in his life:

“This is one of the biggest gaps in my life. I always knew rugby was my passion, yes. But you don’t realize how big a role it plays in your life until you lose it. You don’t realize how big a void it will cause when you are no longer actively involved in it.”

“It takes a man to ask for help, or to admit that you need help. There are ugly and difficult times behind me. Especially when I mixed the pills and booze. We weren’t taught exactly what its effects are…or exactly how dangerous something like that can be. You maybe drank your medication with one glass of wine, maybe two, but the consequences are always severe. But I’m okay now. I’m standing.”

He said his depression influenced his relationship with his now ex-wife, singer Karlien van Jaarsveld:

“I was depressed and in a deep, dark place because I could no longer live out my rugby dream. The side effects of the medicine and the knowledge that I would never play professionally again broke me.”

“I took strong pain pills every day, got injections, and became dependent on sleeping pills. I couldn’t cope. It felt like I was on the downhill road.”

One of Hougaard’s friends also told Nel about a time when he and Derick were on their way to a meeting when Derick stopped at a pharmacy to get “a box of Tramacet, a schedule 5 pain pill and an opiate which is highly addictive if abused”. The friends said that when they were on their way home, Derick asked to stop for another box of Tramacet because the first box was apparently finished within a few hours.

Image: Instagram

A doctor who knows Hougaard well said that addicts create their own reality, and when that happens, only “two things happen to them. Either they die or they hit rock bottom and change. If someone tries to change you it never works.”

He reckons that’s where Derick is at now.

[source:citizen]