When you are in pain, you will try just about anything. Especially if traditional medicine has failed you, or you can’t afford to go the doctor or have no prescription medication coverage.

Doctors determined that the man had essentially overdosed on the glucocorticoids—he had taken doses that exceeded the normal levels of glucocorticoids in the body. The steroids likely suppressed immune responses, leading to his infections and GI ulcers. But, more significantly, the excess steroid levels also caused his HPA axis to essentially shut down. While it’s possible to get the HPA axis back up and running after withdrawal from excessive steroid use, the amount of time that takes can vary. Further, if a person stops taking large doses of glucocorticoids abruptly, rather than gradually—as in the man’s case—and particularly after chronic use—also as in the man’s case—it can lead to an adrenal crisis.

So what finally sent him to the hospital in a crisis was aburptly stopping all the supplements after his body had built up a dependency. So this would be like full alcoholics dying from going cold turkey.

They weren't "herbal pain quackery", if you follow the links in the article three of the products he was taking were subject to FDA alerts for containing undisclosed pharmaceuticals.