Amy Winehouse’s Alcohol Overdose Death Might Have Been Avoided with Long-Term Alcohol Rehab, According To Narconon Spokesperson
Coroner’s report issued on October 28 reports that singer’s blood alcohol content was five times the legal driving limit at time of death. Short alcohol and drug rehab stays and prescription medication for alcohol withdrawal failed to save her life.
The coroner in the case of singer Amy WInehouse’s death has finally published the results of toxicology tests in London. The tests showed a blood alcohol content of 0.4 percent. In the UK and the US both, the legal limit for driving is 0.08 percent. Medical guidelines indicate that overdoses can start triggering severe symptoms at .28%.
Amy had been trying to stay off alcohol just before her death and had just seen her physician the day before she died. But toxicology reports show that she obviously lapsed with a terrible alcoholic binge that killed her. Three empty vodka bottles were found in the singer’s room at the time of her death.
Amy had been fighting her drug and alcohol abuse for the last few years of her career, and had been in and out of the hospital and rehabs several times. Her appearance became strained and fragile as she lost weight and struggled with cocaine and heroin addictions. Finally, she became unable to perform at some of her concerts, being booed off the stage on several occasions in 2007 and later.
She reportedly quit using illicit drugs in 2008 but then was not able to hang onto sobriety, choosing alcohol instead of illicit drugs. At the time of her death, her physician had prescribed Librium to help her with alcohol withdrawal.
“The short-term rehabs and medication Amy used to help her with substance abuse recovery were not sufficient to save her life,” observed Erica Catton, Media Director for Narconon Arrowhead, a long-term residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in Oklahoma. “The National Institute on Drug Abuse has advised that it takes a rehab program of 90 days or longer to have the effect of long-lasting sobriety for most people. At Narconon Arrowhead, recovering addicts proceed through our substance abuse recovery program at their own rates, completing the program usually in four or five months.”
Ms. Catton pointed out that alcohol recovery takes more than simply going through a short alcohol detox. An alcohol detox service will help a person come off heavy alcohol consumption under close medical supervision to prevent any problems with high fever, seizures or the coma that could occur during withdrawal. But once the person is clean and sober, staying sober means that they must get help rebuilding a life that may have been established on continuous alcohol abuse.
“When a person is accustomed to dealing with problems in life by using alcohol and when their relationships and work have suffered greatly as a result, as Amy’s did, it takes learning new life skills and putting those skills to work at building a new, alcohol-free structure for one’s life. Amy did not get this guidance and lost everything as a result,” Ms. Catton stated.
At Narconon Arrowhead, recovering alcoholics learn communication skills that restore their abilities to interact responsibly with their environments, how to choose friends who will not lead one back into alcohol abuse and how to restore personal integrity and self-esteem before going back out to face the world. This fully-faceted program enables seven out of ten graduates to stay sober after they return to work or home.
The Narconon drug and alcohol recovery program has been saving lives from drug and alcohol addiction since 1966. For more information on Narconon, contact 800-468-6933.
References:
http://news.yahoo.com/coroner-amy-winehouse-died-too-much-alcohol-123334324.html
http://www.alcohol.vt.edu/21stbirthday/alcoholpoisoning.html
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/story/2011-10-26/amy-winehouse-pathologist/50927104/1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Winehouse
http://www.drugabuse.gov/PODAT/faqs.html#faq5
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20068315-10391698.html
