Eddie Van Halen Reportedly Back Home After Complications From His Cancer Treatment Put Him in the Hospital

The iconic ’80s rocker, according to the tabloid website TMZ, has just returned home after spending several days in the hospital as a result of “intestinal issues and abdominal pain.” Sources said they were a side effect of the drugs that Van Halen, 64, has been taking as part of his treatment for throat cancer.

In good news, TMZ also reports, Van Halen is now resting and spending time with his son, Wolfgang (Wolf), who is also now the bassist in the band Van Halen.

Eddie Van Halen’s Cancer Journey 

In October TMZ reported that Van Halen had been quietly traveling to Germany to receive radiation for his cancer for five years.

Van Halen has been open about what he believes to have caused his cancer: metal guitar picks. In 2015, after his original tongue cancer diagnosis (cells from which, the sources tell TMZ, spread to his throat), Van Halen did an interview with Billboard magazine. "I used metal picksthey're brass and copperwhich I always held in my mouth, in the exact place where I got the tongue cancer. This is just my own theory, but the doctors say it's possible."

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RELATED: Rocker Eddie Van Halen, 64, Says He Got Throat Cancer From Putting Metal Guitar Pick in His Mouth Is That Possible?

While Van Halen’s theory is certainly intriguing, there’s very little evidence to support it. In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do not classify copper or the metals in brass (an alloy comprised of copper and zinc) as carcinogenic to humans. This means that the metals are not known to cause cancer. Plus, Van Halen has been a lifelong smoker; as he told Billboard during the same interview, he began smoking cigarettes when he was only 12 years old.

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"I was an alcoholic, and I needed alcohol to function… I started drinking and smoking when I was 12. I got drunk before I'd show up to high school," Van Halen said.

RELATED: As Eddie Van Halen Faces His Own Cancer Journey, Wife Janie Reveals Cancer Scare of Her Own

According to the American Cancer Society, "Tobacco and alcohol use are two of the strongest risk factors for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers." (Oropharyngeal cancers meaning cancers of the mouth, tongue, or throat.) The more often that cigarette smoke comes into contact with the tongue and throat, the more damage occurs to the DNA in these cells. Each time that a cell repairs its DNA, there's a risk of developing a cancerous mutation.

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Because this cycle of cell damage and repair happens in the mouth and throat as well as the lungs, Eddie Van Halen's throat cancer could indeed be related to his smoking habit even though he doesn't have lung cancer.

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