Dad Says Amy Winehouse Has Emphysema

Source: NYT/Reuters

Published: June 22, 2008

LONDON (Reuters) - Soul singer Amy Winehouse has developed the lung condition emphysema and has been warned by doctors that she will die if she continues smoking drugs, her father said in an interview on Sunday.

Mitch Winehouse said the incurable illness, which leaves sufferers struggling for breath, was diagnosed when his daughter had a series of health checks in hospital.

"The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won't just ruin her voice, it will kill her," he was quoted as saying in the Sunday Mirror. "The doctors have said that if she had continued the way she was going she could have ended up an invalid -- she wouldn't have been able to breathe."...

He added that a spell in hospital last week and renewed treatment for her well-publicized drug addiction had offered a ray of hope for his 24-year-old daughter.

"If she doesn't go back to drugs, then she can lead this magnificent life," he said. "We are praying that that's what Amy really wants. She seems resolute."...

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-britain-winehouse.html

She's really a tragic person, a poster person for the dangers of some kinds of drugs.

One of my grandmothers suffered from a moderate case of emphysema for several years before she died. That was from smoking cigarettes. It is not funny in any way.

to live, and die, with.

What a horrible way to go. I've seen it many times. Not in anyone that young, though.

Let's hope Amy is smart enough not to say, "enough."

I'm really opposed to the "first name celebrity" culture that's clogging our nation's arteries, but I actually like the Amy Winehouse music I've checked out. She's got sort of a travel back in time voice, and what she does with it indicates that she understands what she's doin' with it. But she's a mess mess mess. Let's hope she kicks the shit and shows us what she's really capable of. I don't really have any patience for her self-indulgent fuck-ups.

... on one hand, it is sad that someone so young and presumably talented has something this awful ...

... on the other hand ... she's a prime example of the wasteoids that so many 'young and famous' life-in-the-fastlane/"can't cope so must smoke" people also are, so it's kind of hard to shed a tear.

I feel conflicted too. Of course a part of me feels for what she is suffering (and so young too!). But, what about the coal miners who risk their lives getting and get those horrible lung diseases because they are providing for their families. While they "choose" that profession, their options are really kind of limited. It's not like some young woman (or man) doing it for reasons that don't really help anyone. On the other hand, she is probably mentally ill. The tragedy perhaps is that some one so talented from a good family couldn't get help and indulges in self destructive behavior that amounts to a slow suicide.

Or are there other "drugs" (sorry, I don't consider pot a drug--it is a natural plant, for heaven's sake, not a manufactured chemical!)that people smoke? Crack? Is this what they are talking about?

Sorry, I've never used pot or crack or any illegal drug for that matter, so I'm not hep to what is happening.

"With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes, her lungs are all gunked up. There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She's got 70 percent lung capacity."

Those kids of addictions take a lifetime of effort to overcome.

whether it be cigarettes, heroin, crack or pot. All types of smoking sends more gunk to the lungs.

That are most certainly drugs... peyote, Opium, even Crack --though manufactured as you say -- comes from a plant...

I don't think they could talk about Amy Winehouse without implying other drugs. She is a user and a half.

"They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said No No NO
Yes, I've been black but when I come back you'll know know know
I ain't got the time and if Daddy thinks I'm fine
He's tried to make me go to rehab, but I won't go go go."

-Amy Winehouse.

althought the drug warrior bullshit on the web tries to convince you otherwise. The beneficial herb remains illegal for unknown reasons.

but if you have it you can't smoke anything, even the green.

Dow Chemical and William Randolph Hearst. Corporations wanted to cut out a good natural competitor and elements of the government wanted to have a way to control people.

Every picture I see of her, she has a tobacco cigarette in her hand.

Crack is smoked by vaporization...not harmful to the lungs, so I doubt he means crack.

There is no way her emphysema is pot related and not tobacco related.

Crack smokers often use bad shit for screens in their shooters, and not to mention when they are running low the will really torch the stem inhaling very intense hot air, burning and searing lung tissue. Let us not forget some of the cut in it she may have smoked.

I feel for her, but it's her choice what she wants to do. i won't deride her choice, i'm sure she has her own reasons.

At a certain point crack removes the element of choice. Prior to that, the drug demolishes the ability of the addict to foresee what lies ahead. It almost literally severs your pre-frontal lobes (where we project consequences and sense future outcomes). Destitute, anorexic people crawling around on their hands and knees looking for phantom rocks they're sure have been dropped somewhere in the carpet will still deny that the drug has assumed absolute power.

Some people may try crack and yet steer away from the waterfall. But others - a majority, possibly - will become its slave and wreck everything in futile pursuit of that first, transcendent, soul-orgasmic high. They will never quite find it, for it recedes with each use, yet they will never stop obsessing about it. Recovery is possible but it requires superhuman commitment against unrelenting temptation. "Ol' Slick" will travel with you in the back of your mind the rest of your days, biding his time, slowly convincing you that you've beaten the rocks, and can now responsibly handle a taste "just this once." And then the cycle starts anew...

Good read here:

http://www.amazon.com/Corner-Year-Life-Inner-City-Neighborhood/dp/0767900316/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214167096&sr=8-2

Just like any effort to quit starts with choice. In the end only those with a true desire to quit do so. I know more about crack than i'd like to admitt, smoked more than my share. Still do on occasion, but i never spend large sums of money($150 bucks once a month maybe), nor do it more than once in a blue moon. It's like any drug it's just recreation if you just use your head and don't lose control.

Some will be able to retain an element of control. Many will not. By the time you find out which fork of the road your genetics and neuroreceptor profile have pre-ordained, choice is just a pretty word for the lottery losers.

Don't mean to discount your experience in any way - to the contrary, I want to hear more. I've had different experiences, and those drive what I write as well.

Best of luck and strength to you in all ways.

But as we all know anything can be addictive, food, gambling, even frickin' house cleaning. It's usually some lack of self esteem, or fear of rejection, or fear of some kind.

My control comes from fear, and knowledge from being around those who failed in their control. Thats why i feel true honest education is the way to go. just think if folks really knew what to expect when they did it, they very well have more control. It's the ones who get surprised by that urge at the end that really fail.

I am by no means superman. I can control smoking rocked cocaine, but i can't make a day without a joint, and marijuanas supposed to be much less addictive. Go figure :shrug:

As a whole crack is less a demon than most think. Those phantom crumbs go away after about an hour, and thats the danger area. It makes you feel so good for the 10-15 minutes each hit lasts when you run out you may feel the need to go crumb combing, or in bad cases rob someone.

I'll also agree mileage will vary from person to person. In the end however it is choice people choose to start and quit on their own every day. Experts will tell you people coerced by others to quit fail, it has to be a personal choice.

as well as many prescription meds can be smoked.

spell edit

Isn't this along the lines of celebrity stuff that a lot at DU (including me) rail against? No matter I guess. Hope she sees the light and quits doing dope, and smoking cigs, etc.

Her big breakout hit was a song called "Rehab" so blaming her celebrity for her excesses is hardly a real argument

Who honestly thinks this f*ck up will suddenly turn things around?

..........that is just really a bunch of bullshit. People that follow this kinda shit, oughta just get a fucking life. There's nothing wrong with following music, movies or the actors in both professions, but God, you gotta follow every time a celebrity sneezes, tokes a joint, or takes a fucking drink????? Jesus fucking Christ,,,,, GET A FUCKING LIFE!!!!!!

to post in this thread!

There is a "hide thread" switch next to the thread title. Use it. Make it your buddy. Your blood pressure will thank you for it!

:shrug:

What a waste.

Genius and addiction seem so often to be connected somehow.

Genius is one thing, but being treated as 'royalty' is another. When you are surrounded by people who want something from you, who flatter and cajole, who treat you as if you can do no wrong, and who don't dare to confront you when your behavior is out of line, you begin to act accordingly. You begin to feel alone, and you begin to feel invulnerable.

Invulnerability always requires testing... one puts their hand in the flame to see if they can still feel pain.

If only the celebrity stuff was taken out of the mix, and someone with talent wasn't 'elevated' unduly... we might still have a bunch of our greatest creative talents to enjoy.

somebody posted a recent picture of her a couple of weeks ago. It was shocking. She looks to be about 65 years old or more. Her skin is all pock marked. Sad indeed.

Poor addicted girl probably has the lungs of a 60-year-old.

Serious question.

When I was young and reckless I thought I'd never live pass 40.So I have surpassed my expectancy by 23 years.I've never smoked crack and only started smoking pot occassionly 23 years ago.I did however in my youth smoke rabbit tobacco, Cataba pods,Buglar and once in a while Blossier's cigarettes.
Anyway I feel like I'm living on borrowed time and its gravy!

Hope you feel better.

Isn't that awfully young?

I thought maybe a lifetime of smoking, maybe when you are 50 or so.

Sad

Most rich coke users stick to the powder. If she snorted quality cocaine at the same rate she seems to smoke crack, she would probably be close to bankruptcy.

She's got a schtick to keep her name in the press and sell records.

much safer on the lungs....

And I paraphrase:

"She's not The Nazz, she's just a buzz. Some kind of temporary."

Speaking of someone who worked in the music industry for 27 years, for some of the biggest drug consumers on the face of the planet, I have seen this all before. It will not end well. It will, however, not be tragic. Just another dead pop star who rode the slow-suicide train.

How trite. How average. How over. How they sing with a gun in their mouths I will never know.

I don't know either.