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Friday, Mar 29, 2013 1:02 PM UTC

Lil Wayne: “I’m an epileptic, I’m prone to seizures”

The rapper denies rumors that his seizures were induced by a drug overdose

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Topics: epilepsy, seizures, Health, rap music, lil wayne,

Lil Wayne: (Credit: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

After giving friends, family and fans a scare when he was in the ICU for nearly a week, rapper Lil Wayne has commented on the cause of the seizures that almost took his life. TMZ first speculated that the cause of the seizures was an overdose on cough syrup, which functions as an opiate in high doses. But on Los Angeles radio station Power 106, the rapper denied the rumors, attributing them to his epilepsy:

“I’m an epileptic, I’m prone to seizures. Like, this isn’t my first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh seizure. I’ve had a bunch of seizures, y’all just never hear about them. But this time it got real bad ’cause I had three of them in a row and on the third one, my heart rate went down to like 30 percent. Basically, I could’ve died, so that is why it was so serious. But the reason being for the seizures is just plain stress, no rest, overworking myself.”

Wayne has been open with his battles with addiction, which was the subject of the 2009 documentary “The Carter.” “Everybody wants me to stop. It ain’t that easy,” he said in the film. “Shit feels like death in your stomach when you stop doing it.”

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com. More Prachi Gupta.

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