Julia Campagna
thought she was having a "spiritual
experience" in the days leading up to her
fiery crash, in which two people died, at the
Peach Arch border crossing.
Campagna took the stand in a New Westminster |
Julia Campagna
symptoms got worse |
court yesterday where she
testified that she had no other way to interpret
the delusions she started having after taking a
herbal weight-loss product.
Three psychiatrists have testified that the
Washington state woman's psychotic episode was
triggered by an over-the-counter drug called
Xenedrine.
Court has heard that Campagna, 28, took the drug
for five days, stopping four days before the
accident on May 30, 1998, at the border crossing.
Kimberly Brooks, 18, and Monique Ishikawa, 19,
died in a fiery explosion when their car was
struck from behind by Campagna's speeding
vehicle.
Even though she wasn't talomg the drug. her
delusions grew, Campagna said.
"I had a difficult time trying to figure out
what was going on," she told the judge.
"I didn't know what to attribute it to,
other than I was having a spiritual
experience."
She said she bought the drug in order to lose
weight to improve her marathon running. She went
to a health-food store in Kirkland, Wash., where
a clerk recommended she take Xenedrine.
Within hours of taking the first tablets,
Campagna said, she felt "jittery" and
"up." When she started experiencing
insomnia and a racing mind, she went back to the
health-food store, where she was told her body
just had to "adjust" to the medication.
When the symptoms got worse, Campagna phoned her
family physician and was told to stop taking the
drug. She complied, but the symptoms continued to
grow.
She became convinced that she was to begin a
romance with a National Hockey League player who
was meeting her in Vancouver. Earlier court heard
that Campagna believed she was carrying NHL star
Joe Nieuwendyk's baby.
Campagna said the time since the accident has
been stressful for her.
"I think about what happened and I go over
it in my mind and I wish there was some
way..." she trailed off.
"I don't know why it happemed, I don't know
why I loved and they didn't. I don't understand
it."
Campagna said she had never shown signs of a
mental illness, even though her mother has been
hospitalized for a mental illness, and her sister
was hospitalized for a mental illness induced by
LSD use. |
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