Alcohol Withdrawal May Have Caused Amy Winehouse's Death: What Is It?

Though the official cause of death will take a few weeks to come, Amy Winehouse's family is saying that alcohol withdrawal was the cause, according to news reports.

The 27-year-old singer's family told Britain's The Sun that her abstention from alcohol cold-turkey -- instead of doing what her doctors recommended and gradually tapering off heavy alcohol consumption -- caused shock to her body, and ultimately, her death.

Even though this cause of death is just the family's suspicion, alcohol withdrawal is a very real condition. Symptoms include anxiety, depression, fatigue, unclear thinking, headache and nausea. It can also cause sweating hand or body tremors and rapid heart rate, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The severe kind of alcohol withdrawal, called delirium tremens, can also cause seizures, severe confusion, hallucinations and fever. Delirium tremens can also cause death.

Alcohol withdrawal can be mild or life-threatening, depending on the organ damage the person has already suffered from drinking, and on how suddenly the person stops drinking, according to the NIH.

According to a study in the journal American Family Physician, 226,000 people were discharged from a short-stay hospital with a diagnosis of alcohol withdrawal, alcohol withdrawal delirium or alcohol withdrawal hallucinosis. However, the researchers of that study wrote, the number of people with alcohol withdrawal symptom is likely higher because not everyone seeks medical attention.

Comments

[feenixreising]

04:57 PM on 08/23/2011

I doubt it was withdrawal, but it was probably alcohol-related. I had a relative die from cirrhosis-related esophageal bleeding. Once your liver is shot -- which massive amounts of alcohol and drugs will cause -- things get iffy.

[Chassis]

12:54 AM on 07/30/2011

How about just plain old hedonistic behavior? More money, drugs, and willfull enablers than personal responsibility. Who will be next?

[Adam Cheats]

03:24 AM on 07/30/2011

Oslo, Norway Bombing Linked To Utøya Shooting…
Bomb blast pictures collection......
http://tinyurl.com/3ggonep

[BigSixMediaHydra]

03:20 PM on 08/07/2011

The 'personal responsibility' myth just adds guilt to substance abuse recovery.

It's a disease. A physical disease of the brain. Like many diseases, say lung cancer, you may willfully istart the ball rolling with risky behavior. But afterwards, you are fighting something wholey beyond your control.

Gov't policy and society need to educate themselves
and catch up to the science on this one.

[mboston]

08:46 PM on 07/29/2011

My Dad "dried out "on his own years ago and it is very upsetting to see someone so sick. It is dangerous and foolish to do it this way- You must have strong constitution to withstand this.

[BigSixMediaHydra]

03:09 PM on 08/07/2011

If 'constitution' = strong body, then yes. Unfortunately, many drunks bouncing along the bottom of an addiction are, by definition, 'unconstitutional'.

Ya like what I did there?

[chntlxmusic]

07:59 PM on 07/29/2011

Whatever it was that caused her death, it took away a talented musician. Whether you agree with that or not. She had problems like we all do, except her's were more difficult to get away from. And you will never know how hard it was for her if you've never taken drugs and/or alcohol. Take this as a learning lesson instead of putting her down and saying how much of a better/ responsible person you are when shes buried in grave. You were not her, you're probably stronger then she was so congrats to you. But just let her rest in peace.

[Chassis]

12:57 AM on 07/30/2011

Waah.

[Lisa Tomlin]

03:40 PM on 07/29/2011

I really think her parents are wanting to believe her death was from withdrawal and not an overdose. Most likely they are in denial and it will all be found out when the toxicology reports come in.

[BigSixMediaHydra]

03:11 PM on 08/07/2011

Maybe. But alcohol withdrawl IS more dangerous than heroin or cocaine withdrawl. And it def. makes marijuana look more more healthy for our kids and young adults, if you ask me. Not that any type of 'power structure' gives two squirts or will actually follow the people's voice and willingly, volluntarily change the laws.

[Arkangel3]

12:18 PM on 07/29/2011

I'm a recovering alcoholic, sober 5 years. You cannot just simply stop; stopping drinking (if you were a 24/7 drinker like I was) needs to be done under the care of a physician; whether that's daily visits, prescriptions, or a detox clinic (which is where I went for 7 days). That will get you through the physical part of the process. alcoholics Anonymous was a part of my early sobriety, and I was a member for two years (I left because I felt I had philosophical differences with the program). The past three have been on my own, and I'm doing it with a combination of meditation and writing. That's my way of staying sober, it's different for everybody. Personally, I don't miss drinking. I know what happens when I drink...plus I have a back condition and some of the medications I take would land you in the morgue if you drank with them...I have no desire for that to happen. It's a shame that someone who clearly could have afforded a detox program chose not to go that route. And for the record: I've quit drugs and drinking and I'm now trying to quit smoking (I'm using electronic smokes now). Cigarettes are the hardest by far to give up.

[Bianca S]

03:11 PM on 07/29/2011

Congratulations on your sobriety :)

[BigSixMediaHydra]

02:57 PM on 08/07/2011

Thank God so many bottom end drunks have great insurance plans that cover withdrawl, right?

But seriously, I nearly died from withdrawls as well.
Pancreatitis. Like Jack Kerouac. Famous last words,
"Something broke!" And he dies of internal hemorrhaging.

One more reason to legalize marijuana.

[RVreeland]

11:46 AM on 07/29/2011

glad to see all the medical and addiction experts weighing in....

[BigSixMediaHydra]

02:57 PM on 08/07/2011

So glad to see the desk chair snarkers venting away.

[kapalabhati]

11:36 AM on 07/29/2011

The Sun? Seriously?

[Bude]

10:02 AM on 07/29/2011

Sure it did.

Lesson learned: Drink more!

[wjousts]

09:54 AM on 07/29/2011

"doing what her doctors recommended and gradually tapering off heavy alcohol consumption "

I guess the plus side of that would be that you could legitimately call your booze "medicinal"

[BigSixMediaHydra]

02:58 PM on 08/07/2011

If she could control intake, I doubt she would've had a problem to begin with. Right?

[SwimToCenter]

09:50 AM on 07/29/2011

Family states cause of death? This sounds like the most psychologically comforting explanation for the family. "Sure our baby girl had problems, but she was overcoming them and in her turn around effort, she died cause she tried too hard, too fast."
But this conflicts with reports of her buying ecstasy, heroin, and drinking night before. And I believe there was a doctor visit in the mix.
Seems like a more reasonable statement would be "Our baby was an addict. It killed her."

[Nick Lyons]

09:46 AM on 07/29/2011

Has anyone ever heard of marijuana withdrawal?

Didn't think so

[TheIpsoFactory]

07:46 AM on 07/30/2011

No - marijuana use has its own list of unwanted side-effects, but of course it's nicer to focus on the side-effects it DOESN'T have, compared to other substances...
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/evidence99/marijuana/Health_1.html

[Nick Lyons]

08:13 AM on 07/30/2011

Those are all things that come from SMOKING it

And none of the things in that link are withdrawal symptoms...lol

[BigSixMediaHydra]

02:59 PM on 08/07/2011

For hat matter, ever heard of someone dieing from heroin withdrawls?
Or cocaine withdrawls? In this area, alcohol is worse than almost everything else. And yet it's legal. Disgusting.

[Chubbster]

09:43 AM on 07/29/2011

How can there be any confusion about the cause of Amy Winehouse's death?

[dccannon]

09:25 AM on 07/29/2011

My boyfriend of eight years died in April from what I will always believe was alchohol withdrawals. He was hospitalize for an infection but because he could not get any alcohol by day three he started hallucinating. I stayed with him all night trying to help him and keep him from hurting himself. They gave him something to help with DTs but he called asking me for his bottle because he could feel his body shutting down. Before I could get back to the hospital that day to talk to the doctors about giving him a drink, he went into cardiac arrest and he died a week later. It maybe uncommon but I believe if he could have taken a small drink he would be alive today.

[BigSixMediaHydra]

03:00 PM on 08/07/2011

Pancreatits. And a lawsuit lawyer. Google dem.

[jokerdanny]

09:15 AM on 07/29/2011

i heard recently that cold turkey alcohol withdrawal is more dangerous than any other type of drug cold turkey withdrawal; yes, even worse than heroin

[GBYACHT]

07:32 AM on 07/31/2011

I have heard of this. My elderly neighbor who drinks cheap scotch non-stop says he has quit cold turkey twice before and he was fine without the booze. I don't believe this drunk. He recently ended up in a hospital/home for falling down (again) and malnutrition. They supposedly detoxed him, then he came home and started drinking again.

[BigSixMediaHydra]

03:01 PM on 08/07/2011

Pancreatitis.