Amy Winehouse’s Death: Did Alcohol Withdrawal Cause Her Death?

Amy Winehouse, the twenty seven year old famous singer was found dead at her dwelling in London by her bodyguard, in late July of 2011. Amy Winehouse’s widely publicized drug and alcohol abuse caused many people to assume that the probable cause of her death would be from an accidental drug overdose. To their surprise, the autopsy conducted by the London Police could not find conclusive evidence of what caused of her death.

A few weeks later, toxicology reports found small amounts of alcohol in her system, but no illegal drugs. In August, her Father told the BBC Newsbeat, that although Amy had been clean of illegal drugs for three years, his daughter’s problem was drinking alcohol. She was in the midst of an alcohol recovery effort when she died.

He repeated this message in an interview with Anderson Cooper on the new daytime television talk show, Anderson. Her father said that she died of a seizure due to alcohol withdrawal and that the Librium she was taking failed to prevent the seizure. Small amounts of Librium were found in her system, but no illegal drugs.

Librium is one of the benzodiazepines that are commonly medically prescribed to ease some of the symptoms of withdrawal. However, Librium combined with alcohol can cause serious side effects. When people are taking Librium, they should not drink alcohol.

Amy Winehouse’s chronic drug and alcohol use interfered with her on stage performances. Her off stage attempts at rehabilitation have been documented by the BBC as far back as August 2007, when she made her first rehabilitation effort with then husband Blake Fielder-Civil. Her last documented drug rehabilitation was in June 2009.

At that time, her father reported that she was still drinking, but had overcome her drug abuse problems. According to friends and family, she was able to stop the drug use and narrow the scope of her addiction to alcohol. Two years later, based on her on stage behavior, her chronic alcohol abuse was not in remission.

In May of 2011, Amy was admitted to the Priory Clinic in London for assessment. Her assessment lasted only one week. Her spokesperson told the BBC that the singer had completed the process, and was ready to begin her European tour. Only a few weeks after her inpatient assessment, an intoxicated Amy was visibly drunk on stage at her kick- off performance in Belgrade. Her unexpected death occurred one month later.

In a moving eulogy, at Amy’s funeral in July, Mr. Winehouse told family and friends that Amy had just completed three weeks of abstinence ( from alcohol) and was the happiest she had ever been.

The sequence of events in the months prior to Amy’s death indicates that she needed alcohol rehabilitation. If she had participated in medically monitored withdrawal, she would have had at minimum, immediate medical support to respond to her seizure.

Severe withdrawal symptoms can occur when a heavy drinker or alcohol dependent person stops drinking. When seizures occur, a fast and aggressive emergency medical response can save the patients life.

Most people underestimate the risks that are part of the process of recovery from alcohol abuse and dependency. Every year, over a million and half people are admitted to either alcoholism treatment or a general medical hospital for supervised detoxification from alcohol. Alcohol recovery programs run in 30, 60 or 90-day cycles and include medical care, supervision and monitoring of alcohol detoxification.

Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome is a set of signs and symptoms that predictably occur when heavy drinkers stop drinking. Some of the most common symptoms include tremors, craving for alcohol, insomnia, vivid dreams, anxiety, hyper- vigilance, agitation, irritability, loss of appetite and nausea. Severe manifestations of Alcohol Withdrawal include hallucinations, seizures, and delirium tremors. Symptoms of withdrawal vary and some alcoholic patients who cut down or stop do not experience them.

This is why monitored rehabilitation is so essential. Each person will vary in their resiliency to the process of recovery, as well as exhibit different physiological and psychological responses to withdrawal.

Alcohol Withdrawal is a complex physiological syndrome. Our current understanding based on scientific research, is that withdrawal symptoms occur due to the alcohol-induced imbalance between inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters in the brain.

When symptoms occur, Benzodiazepines are often prescribed to prevent seizures, decrease or eliminate symptoms and to ease the discomfort of alcohol withdrawal. Because they have a similar effect on the neurotransmitters as alcohol, they can be used as an alcohol substitute. The use of pharmacological medically supervised therapy provides a safer and more comfortable route to withdrawal than abruptly stopping the alcohol.

Based on the information about her past and recent episodes with alcohol, it does seem quite likely that Amy Winehouse died from severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The final cause of her death is still to be determined after an official inquest.

Citings

Amy Winehouse: No illegal drugs found in her system August 23, 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14635384

Amy Winehouse Addiction Treatment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14273953

Amy Winehouse had ‘prescribed drug’ in system when she diedhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8754374/Amy-Winehouse-had-prescribed-drug-in-system-when-she-died.html


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