[Harp-L] Self-inflicted disease, addictions and 'reaL'tragedies.Long.

[sean stephens <thepriapist@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello and good evening to all ,
I just felt that I might pipe in on the subject of cause/effect discussion stemming from the sudden and shocking death of Mr Freeze.
I possess only one of Maestro Primach's works, namely ' Company Man', but it was enough to flag up to me the man's gargantuan talents.
I spent weeks,nay months, listening to and trying to unravel the instrumental colossus that is 'varmint'.How does somebody compose such a perfectly constructed , swinging, and in the pocket tune like that??? It is perfect! 
I post in response to a listers query re anyone who might have a medical insight into addictions etc and to the Butter/Primach vs Clarke.. self inflicted or otherwise question.
Speaking as a failed Doctor(well, dropped out in intern year,I think thats what a junior doctor is titled in the states?) and sincerely not wishing to sound patronising etc ,I still possess a basic med school knowledge and because I like a drink myself I am fairly well versed in the cons/deleterious factors re C2H5OH (BOOZE).
As far as I understand it,Bill had a problem with the drink,now I may well be well off the mark with this assumption re Bills  death (for thats all it is!) however one of the well recognised pathophysiological effects of alcohol excess (chronic), is cirrhosis of the liver,this is where normal hepatic/liver cells die due to poisoning (eg alcohol) only to be replaced by fibrotic tissue,that is, collagen,scar tissue.The cirrhotic process in turn leads to a condition known as 'portal hypertension', the portal vein which carries all your ingested nutrients from the gut to the liver becomes congested as a result of forementioned scar tissue tightening.This congestion results in a back pressure which usually ,but not always, if unchecked results in a bursting of the veins associated with the lower part of the oesophagus (gullet) known as oesophageal varices and presents symptomatically as haemotemesis (the vomiting of blood).This is one well known cause of
 'internal bleeding' along with the  fact that the stomach itself may have become ulcerated and prone to bleeding.Either individually or together,the effects can be catastrophic and again I don't know the specific facts re Bill's surgery but given that he also was treated for congestive heart failure sometime prior to his death ( dilated cardiomyopathy,an enlarged but weakened heart often associated with alcohol abuse) and that the liver itself manufactures all the components necessary for effective haemostasis (blood clotting) and thus, folk with a damaged liver will bleed longer,I feel that alcohol was a major contributing factor in his premature and tragic death.
I don't know if he had any genetic/familial predisposition to thrombophilia (easy bleeding) and if so I stand humbly and respectfully corrected and I also post my thoughts in defiance to the wishes of the harp-l owner whom I totally accept as being correct in his opinion as to refrain from speculation re deceased ,however I felt compelled to give a view and state that IMHO chronic alcoholism is in many ways just a slow suicide, as effective ultimately,  as a narcotic overdose (intended or otherwise)
Deepest respect to Maestros,Clarke,Primach,Delay,Butter,Pastorius,Parker,et al.(The good often die young)
Sean.


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