Making a career out of pratfalls eventually took a toll on Jerry Lewis.
The entertainer said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he spent 37 years in constant pain as a result of his trademark physical comedy, which led to an addiction to pills.
“In 1965, they gave me one Percodan that took me through the day. And by ’78, I was taking 13 a day, 15 a day. The addiction is devastating, because you’re not even clear anymore why you’re taking it. I had already discussed a variety of options, one of which was to kill myself,” he said.
“Chronic pain is not like any other malady. It is consistent. It is laborious. It is constant. It doesn’t leave you alone. It is the number one reason that we have suicides in this country today,” he said.
Relief came in 2002 with neurostimulation, which delivers precisely controlled, low-voltage electrical stimulation to the spinal cord. The stimulation blocks pain messages from reaching the brain. Instead of pain, Lewis feels a “tingling” sensation.
“I have a battery under my skin,” Lewis, 79, demonstrated. “This is the programmer. So, I pressed this on button here, as I do now. Did you hear that? A little ping. And I’m stimulating, and I don’t have any pain. It also opens my garage door.”