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Paula Abdul: I'm 'not addicted to pills'


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According to CNN.com:

Paula Abdul: I'm 'not addicted to pills'

'Idol' judge notes history of pain

Friday, April 22, 2005 Posted: 8:17 AM EDT (1217 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Don't mistake Paula Abdul's niceties or silliness on "American Idol" for drug addiction. Despite a neuropathic disorder and 12 operations, Abdul says she's "not addicted to pills of any kind."

"If people only knew what I've gone through with pain and pills," Abdul, 42, tells the May 2 issue of People magazine. "I'm dancing for joy at the fact that not even a year ago I was in so much pain I could barely get up."

Last November, the "Idol" judge was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a chronic neurological disorder that causes severe pain.

"I get a shot (of an anti-inflammatory drug) once a week," she said. "I give it to myself."

Abdul remarked that her 25 years of pain have been long and arduous, beginning with a cheerleading accident at 17 that injured a disc in her neck. The pain was punctuated with "a couple of car accidents" in the 1980s, her battle with bulimia, an emergency plane landing in 1992, paralysis in 1998 and years of failed treatments including prescription drugs, acupuncture and live leech therapy.

"By 1999, everywhere I went, I'd look for something sharp to lean up against and jam a corner into my neck -- something to fight the pain," Abdul said.

The choreographer and pop star is talking about her chronic pain after reading messages posted on the Fox talent show's Web site that attributed her odd antics to drug addiction.

"From where I was to where I am is a miracle," she said. "It's beyond a miracle."

Last month, Abdul was fined and sentenced to two years' probation after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor count of hit-and-run driving. The charge stemmed from an accident last December in which her car clipped another vehicle on a San Fernando Valley freeway.

People magazine is a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/22/p...l.ap/index.html

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How did an emergency plane landing cause her physical pain? or am i suppose to assume it was a rough bumpy one like you see int he movie where people fly out of there seats and the drink cart smashes in your face..

mmmmm leeches

Edited by langsgirl
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How did an emergency plane landing cause her physical pain?  or am i suppose to assume it was a rough bumpy one like you see int he movie where people fly out of there seats and the drink cart smashes in your face..

mmmmm leeches

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It could have been one of those emergency landings where the passengers had to get of the plane through those slides or something...that could have trigged some RSD-related pain.

Ugh, RSD is one of the worst things a person can go through. I feel very bad for Paula. Doctors diagnosed me with RSD multiple times, in fact, they still think I have it. :saddevil:

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She's gotta be on something, though.  And I'm not saying that because she loves all the contestants; she's done that ever since the show started.  This season, though, she just seems kinda loopy and she looks like she's in another world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wouldn't be surprised if she was on Neurontin, an anti-seizure medication that is also used for nerve pain and other types of pain. It's commonly precribed for people who suffer from RSD. It can definitely make you a bit loopy...I should know, I used to take it myself!

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