About 5 percent of untreated patients going through alcohol withdrawal have seizures
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comWinehouse's death points to dangers of detoxing alone
Seeded on Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:15 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
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It's still sad to me that someone with such natural talant ended up dying too young. I can't imagine the insecurity that would drive you to be so destructive to yourself but it must be very powerful. All of her fans would have loved to see her but she apparently had a great fear of performing in front of them even though she was greatly talented as a singer. It's ironic that the very thing that made you so famous and so loved by so many created so much fear and lack of confidence. I feel like we've all been robbed of what would have been more wonderfully soulful and beautiful songs from Amy. Instead we must be satisfied with the songs we have and we will always wonder what great music could have come from her. Rest in peace Amy.
People often look for a reason - "she drank because she's insecure, under a lot of pressure, getting over a divorce, etc..." She drank because she was an alcoholic - simple as that. This disease really needs to be better recognized and destigmatized in the public mind, because it's much more common than most people think. If you think you have a problem, seek out help - there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Agreed, no_political.. People choose how they're going to cope with the problems life throws at them. Everyone has problems. But not everyone chooses to deal with them in a way that could be fatal. I've seen people who've lived through hideously brutal circumstances who never turned to alcohol and I've seen someone die from OD whose biggest problem in life was remembering if he took the trash to the curb. Our choices dictate our lives and only we are ultimately responsible for where those choices lead us.
Been there it's ugly and painful.
I think Winehouse's death says more about the dangers of becoming a drug addict and alcoholic, than about the dangers of detoxing alone.
Yes, well not everyone has your level of perfection. In fact, I'd say the rest of us are human and, therefore, fallible.
Any Winehouse's death says a great deal about a contemporary social failing : lack of a network or community to be there --physically present-- for those going through any number of rough patches. That would be all of us.
Except billmcc1.
Large, extended, multi-generational families are still what is needed.
Actually if you read the article it says a lot about the dangers of alcoholism.
It says nothing about other drugs. Did you catch the part where it says alcohol withdrawal is the only withdrawal that can kill you?
I'm pretty certain alcohol isn't the only drug that you can die from withdrawals.
Amy lived in England, which has (unlike the USA) health care for all. She could have gotten
help with her addiction anytime she wanted to ask. I'm sorry that she died, but you have to
take some responsibility for your own behaviors. Also, a hit song that uses "rehab, I say no, no, no" makes it more difficult see her death as some sort of socially-induced tragedy.
Also, alcohol is just about the only withdrawal that is likely to kill you. Withdrawal from benzo's
can bring about seizures, but death is more likely from alcohol. Check the NIH database for
references.
I detoxed own my own, and luckily I was around friends and family who got me to the hospital in time. July was 2 years since I went through that, and I'm happy to say I'm 1 1/2 years sober. I can't remember much of those days in the ICU, but I know I don't want to go through that again.
Congratulations on your sobriety! I celebrated 2 yrs sober in July. Thank God! Are you a friend of Bill?
See below...my experience and btw...Bravo on being alive! ;)
Congratulations harmony! I'm coming up on three years myself. Reading this article was very "sobering" in itself - it very easily could have been any one of us.
What a talent! Unfortunately she joins the ranks of John Belushi, Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Chris Farley, who have died far too young. Who knows what these talented people might have given the world. Such a shame.
can her family maybe go a week without doing an interview? They should call up Joe Jackson and see if they can launch a joint venture
When I went into treatment, they were less concerned about alcohol withdrawl than my withdrawl from Ativan. I had absolutely no idea that suddenly stopping a benzodiazepine could be so dangerous. I thank my lucky stars every day that I was fortunate enough to be able to go into treatment. I think I was on librium for only 3 days. Addiction is a horrible disease.
So why not bring back Prohibition? Oh sorry....that didn't work. Same reason our "war on drugs" isn't working either. This country needs to rebuild itself. Enough war.
It doesn't work because you can't stop people from being human. People like drugs. The vast majority do not have problems from using them, unfortunately the minority causes all the heartaches.
The government needs to end the war on drugs and instead treat them as the social issues as they are instead of pretending they are criminal issues. That's the only way drug use will decline.
It's the same with teenage pregnancy. You ever notice the states that have it the worst are the same ones that preach abstinence over safe sex.
This is a 100% completely untrue statement that is dangerous to make
“While you’re withdrawing from other drugs, you may want to die, but alcohol detox is the only actual drug detox you can die from,”
Later on they do in fact make reference to detoxing from Benzo's such as Xanax, Valium, Librium ect....
Stopping any benzo cold turkey with a physical dependance can cause major seizures and death. Even more then alcohol. A good friend of mine recently broke his back because he stopped taking his xanax cold turkey and had a seizure. Alcohol is dangerous as well. But the statement that none of the others will kill you only make you feel that way is very ignorant and very wrong and completely needs to be restated.
I was prescribed Xanax several years ago. I ran out over the weekend and couldn't get a hold of the doctor to call in a refill and the nurse wouldn't refill it for me. Luckily, I hadn't been on it that long but that was the worst feeling ever. Needless to say, once I got a hold of the doctor, I made him give me something else with less dependency.
I can't imagine what your friend went through. What I have learned since then is that when changing those types of meds, you have to gradually be weaned off them and weaned on the replacement meds, if any.
8 Years ago...a young man down the street from me...23yrs old...looked to be healthy...had a major drinking problem...He went cold turkey and 2 days later died. This was 10 yrs ago and certainly news to me that this could happen from alcohol.
I was on a med...that I simply ran out of...Didn't know anything bad could happen and 6 days later I woke up one morning...feeling just awful and had a terrible feeling like I was about to have a heart attack. I ended up in the ER...AND they figured out I was in withdrawals...Me? experiencing withdrawal??? From what? It was simply the med I had procrastinated in picking up...from the pharmacy. That completely caught me off guard.
Ignorance can be bliss and it can kill you. Oh and being in withdrawals is the absolute pits...it's painful & scary.
She had great talent, and before all the drugs and stuff - was a very beautiful girl.
With that said - she was also very RICH and had the monetary capacity and friends (or groupies or whatever) that would have loved to help her through anything - sad that she didn't find a resource.
Again though - with the pictures of her towards the end - and I know this doesn't sound really great - but I highly doubt DETOX as a reason - I feel that in the end, maybe the whole truth is missing. There really isn't much point in saying she died from drugs - trust me - the damage to her body had been done - readily apparent by her appearance.
Better story to say it was detox - which IS harsh on the body - but her's was probably far too worn out to take it.
I went through acute Alcohol withdrawal 4 years ago and they also gave me Librium. I almost got hooked on those too. Its a no win situation when these doctors prescribe harmful drugs to get off other drugs. I quit drinking with daily dose of AA for a year. It works if you work it as they say. Sad she didn't have the support system she needed.
Amy's father (among others) need to just let this story go... every other day, it's another report about what 'may have' or 'might have' or 'could have' happened, with no absolutely no evidence behind it - enough already.
As a mental health nurse; I have seen many patients go through detox. Unfortunately medications that we use to ease the symptoms of detox are sedating and many patients don't remember the worse part of detoxing, and many times go back to the same behavior, only to have to detox again and again or until their bodies have had enough. We began video taping part of the detox process for the patients and started showing the video to them before they were discharged hoping to show them the trama and extreme toll it takes on a body, and the close calls that we had with saving their lives during a prolong seizure for example. No one detoxes the same way and no two substance's cause the same detox.
Her death points to bad health and lifestyle choices and the public cheering it on hoping for a train wreak and then getting it. The same for Lohan and Charlie and every other star in mid-crash. The public wants their blood and they will get it. Then afterward we pretend we care and mourn the loss. What a hopeless and useless and weak generation we have representing us at this time. I am 62 and the generations in their 20's and 30's make me sick. I would say that you should return to compassion and caring and building the work ethics you are going to need to get through the next 10 years but you probably have no idea what I am talking about.
I wish they would include the info that they have here with our youth. I never heard about getting off alcohol in the manner this article described it. I thought people WERE supposed to just get off it. I had NO idea the dangers of it.
Make sure you know where you are going when you die. There is a Heaven and Hell. Your theories and opinions won't matter when you die, only the truth, next life is eternal. Jesus died for our sins. Recieve Jesus as your savior!
2NVNo1: Get a life. Obviously, you're already certain you have your afterlife in the bag.
Get a life John Trent . Jerk. Gods Speed Amy
Very well said, tw1sted. I spent 8 months withdrawing from a benzo last year, and it was brutal. I tried to go off cold-turkey at first, and it was like entering the gates of hell. No doctor warned me it would happen, and no doctor gave me information on how to withdraw safely. I had to go onto the internet to learn that cold-turkey withdrawal can kill you, and it was only in online support groups that I learned how to taper down without risking my life.
Experts on benzos agree that benzo withdrawal is more difficult and more dangerous than any other form of withdrawal. I've also gone through cold-turkey alcohol withdrawal and it was tough, but benzo withdrawal was harder by several orders of magnitude.
I'm fortunate to be alive. I grieve that Amy Winehouse was not so fortunate. RIP, Amy.
Curious, how did you get your meds if you didn't see a doctor? To renew mine I had to see him 4 times per year so he could check my status on them. Now I have to go a minimum of once per year. I have said I want to go off them and he will only let me if he keeps a close eye on me. I have not made up my mind yet.
This happened to me at the start of a Caribbean cruise. I was trying to "stop drinking" for a family vacation and had a grand mal, ending up in a Puerto Rico hospital emergency room. I was lucky. Damn lucky. That was 21 years ago and was my wake-up call. I count my blessings every day.
Wait. Didn't she also have alcohol in her system? I would definitely say she was using the drug improperly.
And marijuana is illegal????? Something's wrong with this picture....