A DIABETIC woman died after accidentally overdosing on a painkilling drug, an inquest has heard.

Dawn Rodger, aged 46, took a fatal dose of her prescribed painkiller fentanyl after she became confused when she began to suffer the onset of a hypoglycaemic attack.

The inquest heard that Mrs Rodger, who was once in the army, had numerous health problems including diabetes, partial blindness and a swelling in a liver that caused her immense pain.

Forced to retire because of ill health, Mrs Rodger struggled to control her diabetes, the inquest was told.

She needed to have two insulin injections a day but regularly had hypoglycaemic attacks.

Coroner Jennifer Leeming was told that Mrs Rodger was on a cocktail of prescribed drugs, both to treat her diabetes and to kill the pain she suffered.

Her partner Trevor Young found Mrs Rodger in November last year, lying in bed at their home in Wellington Walk, not breathing, with a chocolate bar in her hand.

A post mortem examination revealed that Mrs Rodger had fatal levels of one of her painkillers, fentanyl, in her system.

Only therapeutic levels of the other prescribed medication she was taking were present in her body.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Coroner Mrs Leeming said there was no evidence that Mrs Rodger had deliberately intended to take an overdose.

She said the fact she was found with some chocolate suggested she had started to feel the onset of an hypoglycaemic attack and had tried to eat some chocolate to prevent it from developing.

Mrs Leeming said the onset of the attack must have left Mrs Rodger's confused, causing her to take too many painkillers.