Singer Natalie Cole, who was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, was recently hospitalized due to complications related to chemotherapy treatments according to People magazine.
Cole was in NYC promoting her just-released new album, Still Unforgettable, when she experienced a “set back,” and had to be hospitalized, according to a family member.
Last week, Cole visited the set of “Entertainment Tonight” where she talked about her disease, saying, “This is a virus that was dormant in my body for 25 years. I had no symptoms, was feeling great, working out like a crazy person — and this just keeled me over, like a feather… What I have is treated with chemo… every week.”
However, chemotherapy is a treatment for cancer, not Hepatitis C. So why would Cole be receiving chemotherapy treatments, you ask?
The answer is the antiviral medication she’s taking can be referred to as chemotherapy, although technically, they aren’t classified as chemotherapy drugs.
The current treatment for Hepatitis C includes 2 drugs — Interferon and Ribaviran, both antiviral medications.
Interferon helps the immune system by inhibiting viral replication inside host cells — similar to what chemotherapy does by targeting fast dividing cells. Interferon is also prescribed for patients with HIV as well as Hepatitis B and C.
The other drug is Ribavirin - an antiviral med which only works in combination with Interferon. Both drugs can cause similar side effects to those caused by chemotherapy, such as hair loss, nausea and vomiting — which can lead to severe dehydration requiring hospitalization.
Cole is expected to be released from the hospital soon. She will return home to begin her “month-long bed rest,” the singer’s reps tell People magazine. (Source)
This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 12:14 pm and filed under Celeb news, Health & medicine, Medical Minute, Music news . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed or Trackback from your own site. This site is Gravatar enabled. Sign up to upload your own avatar.
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yeah, i saw the video from the interview, her hair has fallen out but that is to be expected.
God’s Speed in her recovery
My co-workers wife was treated for chemo and had Hep C, also. I guess it’s a common treatment, now. I still don’t understand why…maybe it’s an experimental procedure, now.
My prayers goes out to Ms. Cole.
praying for her. being ill is not the business.
This is why you dont do cocaine or heroin it can haev LIFELONG HEALTH EFFECTS
Good luck and im sure she will be fine, remember black dont crack! And shes still young(yes she is)
I saw NC on the view the other day and I thought she was on drugs (the mind altering kind). She reminded me of how she used to be back in the day when she used to do interviews and was admittedly on cocaine during the interview with Barbara walters..LOL! She was so squirmish and scatterbrained…I was like..NOOO!! She has the potential to be so classy but, something other than chemo and hepatitis C is up with this chic!!
sandra, what do you think of the protocol for hepatitis c? i have two friends who had it, and they quit– they said it was too debilitating.
love your medical minutes– want a little more…