Eric Clapton Suffers From Neuropathy Too

Today's post from telegraph.co.uk (see link below) talks about Eric Clapton's life with neuropathy. We're always searching for role models to promote knowledge of the disease, although nobody would wish it on anybody, famous or not. Unfortunately, it's more common that you might think among musicians and often affects the hands and fingers. However, they should also maybe bear in mind that years of 'good living' can also bring on nerve damage, so playing their instruments may not be the only cause. That said, when a celebrity hits the headlines thanks to neuropathy, it brings the disease into the public spotlight and makes people ask questions as to what it is and how it works. So in that sense and with great sympathy for Clapton and others, we may all benefit in the long run from the increased publicity - that's a sad fact of life in itself!


The disease that could end Eric Clapton’s career: why musicians fear peripheral neuropathy
13 June 2016 Tristram Fane Saunders

Eric Clapton in New Orleans, 2014 Credit: John Davisson/Invision/AP

Last week, Eric Clapton revealed the name of the condition which could spell the end of his musical career: peripheral neuropathy.
“I’ve had quite a lot of pain over the last year,” the guitarist told Classic Rock magazine. “You feel like you have electric shocks going down your leg.” The condition, which affects nerves in the body’s extremities and can cause numbness, shooting pains and loss of co-ordination, is making it hard for him to play.

Clapton is not the only famous musician to have had the condition. 

Procul Harum guitarist Dave Ball began suffering from peripheral neuropathy while undergoing chemotherapy in 2012.  In an article for Macmillan Cancer Support, he described the sensation as “finger tingles”.
“Basically it feels like your nerves are exposed to the outside world,” explained Ball, who died last year. “Any contact – particularly with cold – can make you ‘uncomfortable’. You end up wearing gloves a lot of the time... Not the best of side effects from my viewpoint,” he added. “I’m a guitarist by trade and as you probably know, we use our fingers to make a noise.”

The guitarist now feels "electric shocks" in his legs Credit: Chris van de Vooren/Sunshine International/REX

Andy Fraser, the bassist for Seventies hard rock pioneers Free, also suffered from the condition. Fraser, who died in 2015 aged 62, had been fighting “AIDS… bouts of cancer, peripheral neuropathy, and a long list of not so pleasant medical conditions,” according to an interview he gave in 2014.

And, before he took his own life in March this year, Keith Emerson (the keyboardist of Emerson Lake and Palmer) had been struggling with dystonia, a similar condition, caused by a motorcycle accident in 1994 which damaged the nerves in his right hand. “He had an operation a few years ago to take out a bad muscle but the pain and nerve issues in his right hand were getting worse," said his long-term partner, Mari Kawaguchi.

Andy Fraser (left) with Free in 1975 Credit: Dezo Hoffman/Rex

In the UK, almost one in 10 people over the age of  55 suffer from the condition, which is painful but rarely fatal. Diabetes is the leading cause, but it can also be brought on by physical injury, chemotherapy or alcoholism. According to the Mayo Clinic, it can be provoked by nerve pressure from making repetitive motions, such as typing.

In a career spanning five decades, Clapton has written and performed countless hits, such as Layla, Tears in Heaven and Sunshine of Your Love. In the Sixties, the slogan “Eric Clapton is God” appeared graffitied on walls across London. But at 71, “God” now finds playing hard work: “This particular condition I’m living with isn’t necessarily going to get better,” he said.

People with peripheral neuropathy are often prescribed a period of rest, but this can be difficult for musicians. “One of the most frustrating things for a musician is to be told to stop playing if they have a problem,” says Dr Scott E Brown, who runs the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department at Sinai Hospital, Baltimore. 

Eric Clapton (centre) with Cream in the Sixties Credit: Bill Wood/Rex Features

Brown is himself a musician, and a biographer of the jazz pianist James P Johnson.  “It’s rare where absolutely stopping all playing is required," he has said. "So it’s important [that] you counsel the musician in the proper way to keep playing while being able to heal and rehab from injury.”
According to the classical music magazine, Scena, peripheral neuropathy accounts for one in five diagnoses among musicians. However, a study by Dr Richard J Lederman ( ‘Peripheral nerve disorders in instrumentalists’, in the journal Annals of Neurology), suggests that instrumentalists are no more likely than other professional musicians to develop the condition.

The road has become unbearableEric Clapton, 2014

 

As Clapton’s neuropathy is in his legs, rather than his hands, it is unlikely that the condition was directly caused by his guitar-playing; the condition could have been brought on by his alcohol consumption, rather than any physical injury.
Clapton’s health has been a source of concern for several years. He cancelled a string of concerts in 2013, citing “extreme back pain”. The following year, he said he was “looking at retirement,” as he could no longer handle the strain of touring: “The road has become unbearable,” he told Uncut. “I don’t want to go off the boil to the point where I’m embarrassing myself."

“It might be that I can't [keep playing], if it hurts too much,” he added. “I have odd ailments."

However, Clapton has no plans to stop recording. Earlier this month, The Sun reported that he recently been in the studio with The Rolling Stones, recording two tracks for their next album.

“I can still play,” he told Classic Rock magazine. “I mean, it’s hard work sometimes, the physical side of it - just getting old, man, is hard. I don’t know how I survived - the Seventies especially. There was one point there where they were flying me to hospital…  and I was dying, apparently - I had three ulcers and one of them was bleeding. I was drinking three bottles of brandy and taking handfuls of codeine, and I was close to checking out. It’s amazing that I’m still here, really.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/the-disease-that-could-end-eric-claptons-career-why-musicians-fe/