**Warning: Contains discussion of drug abuse, alcohol abuse and a near-fatal overdose.**
Demi Lovato has opened up about how her near-fatal drug overdose has effected her health.
The 31-year-old - who now goes by she/ her pronouns again, after previously changing to they/them - nearly died in July 2018 after overdosing on heroin.
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The 'Cool for the Summer' singer and Camp Rock actor has since revealed she's suffered lasting effects to her physical health as a result of her overdose.
Catch Lovato's reflections here:
Lovato's near-fatal overdose came after nearly six years of sobriety.
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It led to her experiencing organ failure, three strokes and a heart attack, and the singer also contracted pneumonia because she choked on her own sick.
The overdose has caused lasting effects on her health, Lovato appearing on on Sirius XM's The Howard Stern Show on 11 September to reveal the longer-term damage.
Lovato explains her overdose was so bad it affected her vision, with a lasting affect on the singer's sight to this day.
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"So I still actually have vision problems. [...] I don't drive. I don't drive anymore because I have blind spots in my vision," she explains.
"[...] It repaired significantly more within the first three months of the overdose happening but then there was residual. So like when I look at you, if I'm looking at yours eyes I don't see your nose or your mouth."
Lovato notes the lasting damage was caused by a lack of oxygen being able to flow to her brain when she overdosed, killing off 'some cells that just never repaired'.
As well as having a vision impairment, Lovato also has a hearing impairment as a result of the overdose, but says she reminds herself 'the importance of not living in the past and not having regrets for things'.
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"I try to remain positive and have a healthy perspective on what happened to me and just stay in the present moment," she adds.
Lovato is now completely sober - despite having previously argued drinking alcohol and smoking weed was okay, but finding they simply led her back to other substances which meant she had to go back into treatment in 2021.
The singer resolves: "All I did was replace my addiction with something I thought was safer. It threw me into this deep depression where I put on a bunch of weight because I was just smoking and eating. I was hiding in my room because I didn't want to go outside and anyone to see me. [...] This profound sadness I felt because I wasn't experiencing life. I was in this walking coma where I wasn't feeling any pain but I also wasn't feeling any joy.
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"Now when I laugh and have belly-laughs and there's tears streaming down my face, it feels so much more rewarding than when I'd laugh when I was high."
If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can call American Addiction Centers on (888) 830-7624 24 hours, seven days a week, or contact them through their website.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
You can also call 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 at the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline.
Topics: Celebrity, Demi Lovato, Drugs, Film and TV, Music, US News, Health, Mental Health
Poppy Bilderbeck