Bruce Lee played a major role in bringing martial arts to the world through movies. Millions of people got attracted to martial arts through his movies.
When he died mysteriously at the age of 32, various reasons were given for his death. From mafia killings to heat shock in 2018, the reasons are too long to list.
The December edition of this year's Clinical Journal of Kidney, the official journal of the European Society of Nephrology, is out.
In it, a study conducted based on the available information on Bruce Lee's death and studies, states that he suffered from brain swelling called cerebral oedema, resulting in hyponatremia.
The research paper also states that Bruce Lee had several factors that contributed to his hyponatremia.
It includes “factors that can induce chronic high fluid intake, acutely increase thirst (cannabis use), reduce the ability of the kidneys to excrete water by stimulating the secretion of antidiuretic hormone, or take drugs that interfere with the renal tubule's water excretory mechanisms (steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids), alcohol consumption, Acute kidney injury, past acute kidney injury” etc.
What happened on the day Bruce Lee died
This research paper describes information that may be in the public domain about what happened on the day of Bruce Lee's death. Those details are:
On the day of his death, Bruce Lee and his film producer, Raymond Chow, drove to the home of Lee's supposed girlfriend, Betty Ting Pein.
Lee spent a few hours alone with Ding Bei. Then he actively acted some scenes of his upcoming movie there. He had used cannabis before going home.
After drinking water around 7:30 pm, he developed headache and dizziness. Ding Bei gave him an 'equagesic' pill (a combination of meprobamate and aspirin that he had already taken). Lee went to the bedroom to rest.
At that time, Raymond Zhou left. At around 9:30 PM, Ding Bei found Li passed out. Tried to wake him to no avail.
Then he called Cho who left. They called a doctor. The doctor tried unsuccessfully to restart the heart with CPR for 10 minutes.
Lee was taken to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead there.
A post-mortem examination revealed no external injuries or signs of a tongue bite. The brain, which should have weighed 1,400 grams, weighed 1,575 grams due to severe cerebral edema.
Traces of cannabis were found in the stomach. Bruce Lee's death was officially determined to be cerebral edema caused by a hypersensitivity to the drug Equagesic.
Other causes and explanations for Lee's death, new study suggests
“Lee has used that pill before. Even on the day of his death, he took it 'only after' his health deteriorated. So he had symptoms before taking this pill.
Also, brain swelling would not have been the only clue at autopsy if the Aquagesic pill had been the cause,” says a new study published in the Clinical Kidney Journal.
On May 10, the month before his death, he had a seizure. Hence it was said that 'seizure' may have been the cause of his death.
But the paper, which claims it was "a one-off," says he underwent a full neurological examination by neurologist David Reisford on May 29 and 30, and the tests found no abnormalities in his brain function.
Also, “He was prescribed a drug called Phenytoin. He took it till the day he died.
If he had probably died of convulsions, his tongue would have been bitten off, his brain would have been swollen, and his lungs would have been swollen with excess fluid. Autopsy records suggest none of these. So he did not die of epilepsy,” the study said.
In 2018, it was said that the highest temperature was recorded on 20th July in 1973 and he died of heat stroke.
But, “During heat shock, the body temperature is above 40 degrees Celsius. Skin feels hot and dry. Abnormalities in the central nervous system are present.”
“In 2018, Matthew Polley, who suggested that heat shock was the cause, said that Bruce Lee had his sweat glands removed on May 10th and that this increased his chances of heat shock,” says a new study, arguing that this does not increase the chances of heat shock.
Furthermore, the temperature in Hong Kong on the day of his death was between 25 and 32 degrees Celsius, which is typical there, and his autopsy report said there was no evidence of organ failure.
A new reported cause of death
The research paper also states that Bruce Lee had several factors that contributed to his hyponatremia.
It includes "factors that can induce chronic high fluid intake, acutely increase thirst (cannabis use), reduce the kidney's ability to excrete water by stimulating the secretion of antidiuretic hormone, or take drugs that interfere with the renal tubule's water excretory mechanisms (steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids), alcohol consumption, Acute kidney injury, past acute kidney injury” etc.
Also, “Lee suffered from brain swelling on May 10th. He was on a dubbing job in Hong Kong when he developed headaches and dizziness. Since then he has vomited his afternoon meal. He is unable to stand and stumbles.
When he was taken to the nearby Baptist Hospital, he was diagnosed with brain swelling.
After that, when he was re-examined by Dr. Harold L. Karpman in the United States on May 25th, his blood urea nitrogen level was abnormal on May 10th and normal on May 25th. This suggests that he had a pre-existing kidney injury,” says the new study.
In addition to the above reasons for adding more water, Lee's wife, Linda, also spoke about his high-water diet.
On the day of his death, Bolly also talked about how he drank too much water,” the study notes, noting that Bruce Lee died of hyponatremia caused by brain swelling.
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