hired Murray , a cardiologist . The singer was spending long days rehearsing for concerts that he saw as crucial to reviving his career . For six weeks , Murray told police that he treated Jackson for insomnia . He said he had been giving the singer an intravenous drip with 50 milligrams of propofol , diluted with lidocaine , every night to help him sleep . Jackson was already familiar with propofol , a powerful anesthetic , Murray said . The singer even called it his `` milk '' because of its milky appearance , he said . With the concerts approaching , Jackson started to need these drugs every night , Murray said -- and the doctor said he worried that Jackson was becoming addicted to propofol . He wanted to wean Jackson off the drug . Three days before Jackson 's death -- on June 22 -- Murray gave the singer a combination of drugs that he hoped gradually would move the singer off propofol . That mixture involved propofol , the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam -LRB- known by its brand name , Ativan -RRB- and midazolam -LRB- known as Versed -RRB- . It succeeded in helping Jackson
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Michael Jackson could n't sleep . A coroner preliminarily has concluded Michael Jackson died of an overdose of propofol , court documents say . Maybe it was anxiety over his upcoming comeback concert series in London , England . Perhaps his body was trying to process too many different medications . The reason may never be known , but a sworn affidavit makes clear that the King of Pop could n't get rest the night before he died on June 25 . The affidavit , from Detective Orlando Martinez of the Los Angeles Police Department , outlines probable cause for search warrants on the offices of doctors who are thought to have treated Jackson . Yet it also opens a window into Jackson 's final hours , revealing information about the singer 's treatment and the drugs given him by Dr. Conrad Murray , his personal physician , before his death . Watch a panel discuss Jackson 's death '' Based on interviews , visits to Jackson 's home as well as records and documents gathered during the investigation , the affidavit provides the following account of Jackson 's last days : In May , Jackson