Just yesterday I was thinking about Amy Winehouse and smiling to myself that she’s doing so well. The talented spitfire has been getting into a moderate amount of trouble on her extended vacation on the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia, but I was struck with the thought that she’s out of the woods. Given the stories I kind of assumed that she’s been drinking and smoking pot when she can get it but is steering clear of the hard stuff and is mostly lazing around soaking up the sun. This is great news for Amy, because a lot of people were worried that she was headed for an overdose or worse before she took off for the Caribbean.
It turns out that all is not well for the 26 year-old singer. Amy was admitted to the hospital in St. Lucia yesterday after what her spokesperson describes as a withdrawal from the maintenance medication she was taking to help quit harder drugs:
Amy Winehouse was admitted to a hospital on Friday after collapsing while struggling with addiction on her never-ending vacation in St. Lucia, the singer’s rep tells The Sun.
Sources described the ‘Rehab’ soulstress as in a “terrible state, a shaking mess” when she was taken to a facility on the Caribbean isle where she’s been staying since December.
A spokesman for Winehouse has not revealed what caused her to collapse, but noted that the singer had recently run out of medication she’d been using to battle her crack and heroin demons.
She is recovering well from this latest setback, though, and is expected to be discharged from the hospital shortly. No word on if she plans to prolong her stay in St. Lucia, where she has been spotted in various stages of sobriety.
[From Popeater]
I hope this is true and that Amy hasn’t relapsed. She seems to be doing so much better in the Caribbean and what’s more is that she’s decided on her own to stay there. This is an immensely talented woman with an incredibly troubled personal life. If she stays focused on her sobriety she can continue to produce incredible music for decades. I love Amy’s music and I admire the way she’s brought such soul to mainstream radio. She needs to stay sober and hang in there for the sake of her health, her music, and her fans.
Amy Winehouse is shown in the header visiting an archeological dig in the Caribbean with Blake Wood and friends on 2/1/09. She is also shown on 1/26/09. Thanks to Bauergriffin for these photos
Entirely possible that it’s just related to running out of the meds and not getting a prescription refill. Hopefully that gets sorted out at the hospital. Keep in mind kicking heroine can actually be quite dangerous for some people without the aid of meds such as methadone replacement therapy.
I wish her well. Her music got me through a tough time last spring. Now it just makes me ache for her to play it.
Actually, kicking heroin is NOT dangerous, just extremely unpleasant. However, kicking alcohol can be deadly, if you are a severe alcoholic. From the looks of her swollen belly, I’d say she’s got liver damage, probably from drinking (although I’ve never seen that in someone so young). Shaking can be a sign of DT’s which you get from alcohol withdrawal.
Not the rag on the head again…still, sounds as if she’s doing better overall.
I have a real gut feeling that she’s past playing games with her life and is taking her recovery seriously. Yeah, I know ‘serious’ is a relative thing with Amy, but I do feel, while she’s still got a way to go, she has genuinely turned a real corner. Hopefully, what her spokesman said is true, she just ran out of meds.
As someone who has had a young female family member with similiar addiction issues (hard drugs, alcohol living on the streets) who went through rehab and is now clean and sober, smoking pot and drinking does NOT indicate a serious approach to sobriety or ‘getting well’.
Its like someone with serious over-eating issues deciding the won’t eat a Burger King but will continue to visit McDonald’s and Wendy’s on a regular basis thinking that their eating issues are ‘dealt with’.
Amy Winehouse is not going to get well until she is involved in a serious rehab program with a large component of psychological assistance. The medication she is on only treats the physical addiction it doesn’t address the underlying issues that cause it…
@ Ms Triste – Heroin can cause hypertensive (very high blood pressure) episodes which can be very harmful. And shaking is a sign of withdrawal in many drugs, not just in DTs. (And shaking does not equal DTs.)
Thanks Polkasox, couldn’t have said it better!!
I don’t care what the lady looks like. Her talent is awesome. I hope nothing but the best for her.
Yes, she is in my prayers. I love her music, and hope and pray she can recover from these addictions. So many of our best artists die at such young ages from drugs and alcohol. I never understand WHY they seem so bent on destroying themselves. I hope Amy can overcome this curse.
There are actually many herbs and natural supplements/approaches that can be used to withdraw and detox. Other countries-ie,mexico,russia for starters,successfully utlize combined approaches. Acupuncture for one is remarkably effective for all addictions-shifts the brain wiring and assists in neuro and physiological chemistry balancing [in a nutshell],not to mention assisting with anxiety and stress. I’m surprised noone has turned her on to a ‘spa’ or the like.
Anyway,kicking heroin if done cold turkey can be dangerous if the body auto-intoxicates-all stored toxins release into the bloodstream [same happens with a food fast]…so it must be done carefully and with supervision. [Not to mention the mind games that go on with withdrawal].
I wonder what Robert Downey Jr. finally used? I suspect it was a combo of resources and that he was open to whatever worked. Does anyone know?
This is actually why so many people end up back on drugs and a perfect example of why quitting smoking is so tough. When the stored nicotine releases into the bloodstream to be discharged,it creates a huge craving for it. Utilize the patch if you want,but rebuilding with good vit. C and other nutrients gives much more mileage,it’s been shown.
drm…you hit the nail on the head. dancing around the edges of substance abuse is not going to help a hard core junkie stay clean. It might be the lesser of two evils for a while, but its a slippery slope for sure.
is she taking methadone ? if a person is taking methadone, it can be lethal to stop without being weaned off….and also potentially lethal if the person has a relapse and uses certain drugs while taking it.
That aside…I wonder what “medication” she was using that she ran out…interesting that it’s not described as “medication she was prescribed”…but “medication she was using”.
I always assummed her stomach was protruding because she starves herself. Sort of like the bloated kids you used to see on commercials wanting donations to feed the world?
Thanks, Polkasox, I was a little alarmed that someone thinks stopping heroin cold turkey wouldn’t be harmful.
@drm–you are absolutely right about the need for psychological counseling going hand in glove with recovery.
The physical act of recovering from a dependancy is so hard to do if the person refuses to face any of the issues that led to the addiction in the first place.
Especially if drug use is Amy’s knee-jerk reaction to stres–and right now Amy is in the process of being divorced from her scum-sucking husband, which is incredibly stressful.
I was thinking it was great for her to be in St. Lucia (or anywhere that wasn’t London), but now I wonder…what is the point of her getting herself cleaned up if she will just fall apart the minute she gets back to “real life”?
My prayers are with Amy, that she finds the help she needs, physically and mentally.
Needs psychotherapy badly. No substitute medication is going to treat her deep-seated issues. The girl needs intensive help with her personal demons.
The idea of using drugs to quit drugs is silly. It’s just as stupid as nicotine replacement therapy; she really needs to get her finger out and start working, sort out her life and realize that she’s not going to be around forever if she’s going to be falling off the wagon.
I think the use of drugs is intended to prevent dangerous physical withdrawl symptoms (quitting various addictive substances–including alcohol–cold turkey can, in fact, lead to strokes, heart attacks, siezures, etc.)
However, I was under the impression that the use of “withdrawl” drugs was intended to be monitored in order to lower the dosage safely.
Amy doesn’t seem to want to know about quitting everything. I doubt she’s ever really seriously considered it. She could’ve quit gradually several times over by now.
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