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

["Bob Laughlin" <rlaughlin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for this, as it may hopefully forestall the inevitable for those who
have not been duly forewarned to this point.

Both having and being around the blues oftentimes goes hand in hand with
being subject to potentially life-shortening influences. Lord have mercy.
Shine a little light on me.

BL


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "sean stephens" <thepriapist@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 9:04 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Self-inflicted disease, addictions and
'reaL'tragedies.Long.


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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