Lil Wayne’s health scare: a timeline

The music world is currently on edge as rapper Lil Wayne recovers in the hospital after a concerning series of seizures last week. But there has been some confusion over the 30-year-old’s health amid tweets, reports, and rumours that Lil Wayne (real name: Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.) is near death. Here’s a timeline to set his recent health scare straight.

October 25, 2012 – Lil Wayne reportedly suffered two seizures in 24 hours in late October last year, both while in flight from Texas to Los Angeles. He sought medical attention from the first incident in Texas, which his reps explained as dehydration and a migraine. The next day, his pilot made an emergency stop in Louisiana, after Lil Wayne reportedly went into convulsions during the flight. He was treated at the Ochsner Medical Center in Kenner, Louisiana, and was released shortly thereafter.

November 12, 2012 – The next month, Lil Wayne confirmed he was “on seizure medicine” to MTV, but that he wasn’t necessarily following all of his doctor’s orders. “They said I gotta drink four water bottles a day, that's what the doctors say … I just came from the doctor. I ain't drinking four water bottles, but everything's good," he said.

March 12, 2013 – Lil Wayne was reportedly admitted into Los Angeles’s Cedars-Sinai hospital last Tuesday evening, after he had multiple seizures on the set of Nicki Minaj’s video shoot for her new single “High School.” TMZ reported that he was released only a few hours later, early Wednesday morning.

March 15, 2013 – TMZ broke another report that Weezy was found unconscious by his staff and rushed back to the hospital in critical condition. Sources claimed that he was put under an induced coma and “breathing through tubes,” and that his stomach needed to be pumped three times in order to flush out an excess of codeine in his system. The article, which cites that many of the rappers friends and family were about to pay their last respects, sparked a Twitter frenzy that feared Lil Wayne's imminent death.

8:28 p.m., March 15, 2013 – Lil Wayne calmed everyone’s fears when he tweeted, “I'm good everybody. Thx for the prayers and love.” It has now been retweeted over 190,000 times. The president of the record label Young Money Mack Maine also addressed rumours that day. “We will be releasing an official statement shortly but dont believe the nonsense about comas and tubes to breathe...that's false!!” he tweeted at 7:32 p.m. He also wrote directly to TMZ, “it's certain s--- you should not talk about or play with if u don't kno what u talking bout....don't deceive the fans or the people.”

March 16, 2013 – Lil Wayne’s reps officially confirm that the rapper did suffer seizures, but is recovering in hospital. Another source tells Us Weekly that the cause of Weezy’s health scare was an overdose of “sizzurp,” a mix of prescription-strength cough syrup, pop, and candy. The cough syrup, which contains a large amount of codeine, would explain the high quantity of the drug in Lil Wayne’s system. “Sizzurp” is the inspiration for Lil Wayne’s 2008 track “Me and My Drank.”

March 16, 2013 – Support starts coming in from Lil Wayne’s famous friends. Rappers Drake and Birdman and basketball player Chris Paul are seen visiting Cedars-Sinai, as is Nicki Minaj with a large collection of balloons. Musicians T.I., Jay Electronica, and Snoop Dogg tweet their thoughts and prayers for their friend.

March 17, 2013 – At his concert at South by Southwest, Usher used his crowd to send some positive energy to Lil Wayne in the hospital. Meanwhile, an expert told HollywoodLife.com that his drug of choice, "sizzurp," is “like drinking poison” and an overdose “should have killed him.”

March 18, 2013 – After Weezy survives the weekend, The Washington Post calls his apparent death scare “the most overheated celebrity deathwatch in recent years.”

Lil Wayne might not be days away from death, as the world feared at first. But it doesn't mean that he's totally out of the woods -- at least, as long as "sizzurp" remains part of his lifestyle. Judging from the outcry over his latest health scare, it's clear Lil Wayne has enough fans and friends who care for him - and hopefully they can convince him to curb his cough syrup kicks.

Lil Wayne's latest album, "I Am Not A Human Being II," is set to drop March 26.