yui stricken by panic disorder…hospitalized after mixing medication and alcohol!

Rock band [Flower Flower] vocalist and guitarist, yui (26) was discovered to be hospitalized in Tokyo mid January this year.

yui had gone on hiatus in November 2012 and said, “I feel like I’ve reached a limit. I wonder if I have arrived at a point where I can no longer take a step forward or stand up. I don’t want to show my broken self.” However, in May last year, she changed her stage name from YUI to yui, and restarted her activities. Even performing at the end of year [COUNTDOWN JAPAN 13/14], it was almost certain that she was on the road towards a full comeback. What exactly happened to her? A related musician continues with this.

“The truth is that recently, she was diagnosed with “panic disorder”, and prescribed some mood stabilizers. She accidently took the medication with some alcohol, badly affecting her consciousness, and was sent to the hospital via ambulance in that state. She was at home and it seems her mother and boyfriend were with her too. The boyfriend (whom yui’s mother acknowledges) is her band member, and went onto the ambulance with her.

“Panic disorder is a condition where the patient would occasionally suffer from a sudden loss of breath, palpitations, nausea, dizziness, and sweating. Apart from frequently experiencing these effects, the patient would suffer from the anxiety of the thought “is it happening again?”, and cases where the patient avoids going outside because of this fear are not uncommon.” said Dr. Kusugawa, an expert on panic disorders at a mental clinic in Ningyomachi.

“The condition arises easily when a person is under severe stress. Artists, and especially people who have a perfectionist attitude, probably need to be careful of this. The medicine SSRI is usually prescribed to control the effects of seizures, and is often paired with mood stabilizers. The stabilizing effects are usually seen within a month, but it is common to remain on medication for 6 months and up to a year. Consuming alcohol and mental medication simultaneously is prohibited as it might impair movement, or cause the patient to lose consciousness. That said, the disease can often be cured if treated early. Most patients continue working even while undergoing treatment.”"

Erring on the side of caution when she was sent to the hospital, she was fine and discharged by the next day.

“She was really busy toward the end of last year, but thankfully in this new year she has now gone on off. For that reason, it seems she’s not getting any special assignments and is currently recuperating at home. This time she was hospitalized because she did not know enough about the effects of the medication, but with the support from her boyfriend and mother, she appears to be regaining her sense of calm”.

(Artist involved in the music industry)