Recording timeless masterpieces like Old Man, Harvest Moon, and Heart of Gold helped Neil Young establish his reputation. Despite all of his achievements, the celebrity has struggled with more physical issues than most, including one that nearly cost him his life. What are they?
The singer had numerous health issues as a child, including epilepsy, polio, and type 1 diabetes. He had gotten so much worse by 1951 that he could hardly move. He also had to control his diabetes, knowing when to administer insulin and monitoring his blood sugar levels.
The celebrity also recalled having an epileptic attack in 1967 while attending a radio festival. I was having fun, you know, and I don’t know if I had forgotten to eat or what. After feeling a little queasy, I then started to feel strange and echoic, fell down, and I don’t really remember what happened after that. He said that he had to deal with epileptic fits when playing and claimed he always “left the stage” if he saw one coming on.
Nothing was quite as life-threatening as the brain aneurysm he had at the age of 54, which required immediate surgery, despite his childhood illnesses.
In his memoir, the actor recounts noticing what felt like a piece of broken glass in his eye.
The neurologist tells the actor, “The good news is, you’re here; you’re looking good. So, I went to my doctor, had an MRI, and the next morning I went to him. The bad news is that your brain has an aneurysm.
According to the NHS, a brain aneurysm is a blood vessel bulge brought on by a weak spot in the blood vessel wall. The pressure created by the blood flowing through this blood vessel’s weakness causes a small area to expand outwards.
Doctors for Young kept telling him, “It’s quite serious; we’ll have to get rid of it immediately.”
Young and his colleagues believed the issue was resolved after treatment at a facility in New York, and he quickly resumed his regular activities.
However, he had a terrible encounter two days following his surgery. “I made it half a block before the thing broke on the sidewalk, and let’s just say there was a complication. There was blood in my shoe. The surgeons had accessed his brain through my femoral artery. Because I was unconscious, the paramedics had to revive me.
The surgical approach entailed placing a tube within the artery and injecting microscopic platinum coils into the aneurysm. These coils then prevent the aneurysm from leaking blood, lowering the risk of rupture. But in Young’s instance, something went terribly wrong along the road.
There are several other ways to treat aneurysms, including this “endovascular coiling” procedure. The second procedure, called neurosurgical clipping, entails making a small incision on the head right above the eyebrow. The aneurysm is discovered when a tiny bone flap is removed. The scalp is then sewn back together after the surgeon securely seals it together with a tiny metal clip.
The size, location, and shape of the aneurysm will determine which method should be used to treat it. Both techniques have potential dangers, however coiling has generally been shown to carry a reduced overall risk of problems while also being a less intrusive operation.
The musician made the decision to drastically alter his lifestyle after being revived in order to safeguard his health. In order to better understand what his body needed and demanded at his age, this mostly meant quitting smoking marijuana.
However, all of his health issues have taken a severe toll, and Young says his future job prospects are uncertain: “Physically, I think it’s going to take its toll on me; it’s already starting to show itself here and there. I don’t think I’m going to be able to continue primarily being a musician forever.”
Depending on the stage of the aneurysm, several symptoms can be used to detect it. According to the Mayo Clinic, an unruptured aneurysm may never exhibit symptoms, especially if it is tiny enough. The aneurysm may produce pain above or behind one eye, a dilated pupil, changes in vision, or numbness on one side of the face if it presses on brain tissues or nerves.
When an aneurysm ruptures, there are far more symptoms since the situation becomes urgently life-threatening.
Typical warning signs and symptoms include:
sudden, excruciating headache
nausea and diarrhea
rigid neck
double or blurry vision
responsiveness to light
Seizure
a lowered eyelid
consciousness loss
Confusion.
The “worst headache” anyone has ever felt, according to some reports, is the one that results from an aneurysm rupture.
Due to the amount of blood that is pouring from the aneurysm site, those who have them frequently experience this headache.
If your headaches get very bad, it’s crucial to get medical help.
Similar to Young, brain aneurysms are frequently diagnosed through an MRI scan. However, a CT scan is the preferable way to locate the region of bleeding on the brain if it is believed that the aneurysm has ruptured.
It’s crucial to assist in lowering your blood pressure in order to lower your risk of developing a brain aneurysm. You can achieve this by giving up smoking.
Eating a balanced diet, limiting alcohol use, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising frequently, and consuming less caffeine are additional common ways to lower high blood pressure.
