A BRAVE woman who fought a rare illness for most of her life died after accidentally overdosing on painkillers, an inquest has heard.

The coroner's court in Newport heard how Lynne Hunt, 46, died at her home in King Street, Brynmawr last December after unintentionally taking too many painkillers - hoping to alleviate pain cause by the rare illness Carney Triad Syndrome.

The court heard from Mrs Hunt's husband Nicholas who said she had suffered with the illness since she was 17 years old.

In 2000 she had her stomach removed, the side effect of which meant that she would frequently be sick, sometimes several times a day.

On December 13 last year, Mrs Hunt was found collapsed on the kitchen floor by her son Gethin.

"I went to play indoor bowls and I had a call from Gethin. He said he found her on the kitchen floor. I got straight home and the ambulance and paramedics were there," said Mr Hunt.

Deputy Gwent coroner Wendy James said it was her belief that having already taken her prescribed amount of painkillers, Mrs Hunt had then been sick and mistakenly took another dose, not realising that some of the chemicals would already have been absorbed into her blood stream.

Mr Hunt told the court that prior to her death she had been acting her normal self.

"She was always battling. She had undergone numerous operations to remove rare forms of tumours in her body. There was no way of stopping the tumours. Her stomach was removed in 2000 and because of this her eating habits changed. She was sick. When the tumour occurred she would be ill for a long time.

"She would be in pain on a day to day basis and took painkillers everyday to alleviate the pain. She would take the painkiller but the side effects would make her sick and she would take another dose thinking the last one would not be effective. Every time she lay down she was sick. She had bad days but then the next day she would just get on with it."

Mr Hunt told the court how brave his wife of almost 25 years was, "She brought up the children and grandchildren, who she loved very much. She as unbelievably brave."

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Mrs James said, " "Since she was 17 Lynne had not enjoyed good health. She was in constant pain and she would have bad days and very bad days but it is apparent to me she bravely fought her condition and dealt with it in a very admiral way and had lived a normal life as she possibly could.

"The painkillers were attempting to relive her pain however she had her stomach removed and the side effect would be that she would be often sick on a daily basis. After taking them she would be sick and take a repeat dosage in the belief that the first dosage would not have worked. She needed to ease the pain.

"From a very young age she was burdened with an illness which she suffered pain on a daily basis. The removal of her stomach cruelly had a side effect of sickness. In a desperate attempt to alleviate the pain, believing the original dose had no effect. However, unbeknown to her part of the first dose had already gone into her blood stream.

"She fought it for 29 years and been very brave not to allow it to affect her daily life. She raised a family and worked until shortly before her death.

"There is no evidence that she consumed the medication in an attempt to end her own life. She has a very supportive and loving family around her. There's no reason she would have wanted to take her own life. "However, she had taken medication over the legally prescribed dosage and that had an unintentional and unforeseen effect which led to her death," Mrs James added.

A pathologist report concluded that Mrs Hunt died as a result of an overdose of medication.

Verdict: Misadventure.