Sources tell PageSix.com that Britney Spears is currently going through a detox process at the UCLA Medical Center. Doctors will stabilize her and evaluate her condition before she can be administered new medication to treat her suspected bipolar condition.

Detoxification is necessary for doctors to rid the patient’s system of other drugs so that they can be properly diagnosed and prescribed a course of treatment.

“It’s often helpful to clear the decks under medical supervision and get back to the drawing board and decide, ‘What have we been dealing with here?’” Dr. Keith Ablow, who has not treated the pop star, tells PageSix.com.

Detox is especially helpful in cases where the patient may have been misdiagnosed and administered medication that might have exacerbated or altered the person’s symptoms.

“You have lots of people who have manic symptoms of bipolar disorder wrongly diagnosed with attention deficit disorder,” says Dr. Ablow. “But if you put those people on stimulant medication, you can make them worse by driving them into the highest highs of their disorder.”

Britney was checked into the hospital late last night and placed on 72-hour psychiatric hold, or what is known as a 5150. So what can the singer expect over the coming days? During detoxification, the patient is slowly tapered off the medicine, with dosages being reduced over time. Doctors also sometimes use other medicines to temporarily blunt the symptoms of any withdrawal that might occur.

Dr. Ablow says it’s also helpful to have patients checked into the hospital for several days so doctors can monitor the effect of the medications over time and figure out whether more medications need to be added and in what dosage.

“Only a minority of patients achieve effective results from one mood stabilizer if they’re suffering from bipolar disorder. Many need two or three,” says Dr. Ablow, who added that mood stabilizers only work in a particular concentration in the blood that varies from person to person.

“And that takes time to figure out,” he says.

Source: Page Six

Britney Spears’ mother, Lynne, is planning to try and take her daughter home to Louisiana.

Following last night’s intervention and subsequent hospitalization, Lynne has decided that she is taking Britney out of L.A. as soon as she’s released from UCLA Medical Center. “Lynne is extremely concerned for her daughter and would like to take Britney back home to Louisiana and get her out of Hollywood,” Britney’s lawyer Michael Flanagan told PageSix.com exclusively.

Lynne feels that the biggest problem facing Britney’s recovery is the circle of friends she’s become involved with and Lynne desperately wants to extricate her daughter from that. “Brit has an amazing support system in Louisiana,” Flanagan says, reinforcing the belief that Britney simply can’t get the help she needs while she remains in L.A. “Lynn was holding up reasonably well, but her first priority and concern right now is with her daughter and helping her through this very tough situation that she is in.”

But as we’ve seen with Brit before, until she decides to make a change there is nothing anyone — not even her mother — can do to force her hand.

Source: Page Six

TMZ has learned Britney’s parents have won round one in the tug of war with Sam Lutfi. We’re told the doctors at UCLA are now “fully cooperating” with the parents in the treatment of Britney Spears, however, the war probably is not over until a judge signs an order as to who has control.

By the way, the men in white coats are giving props to LAPD’s “SMART Unit” which specializes in mental health cases for coordinating the events that went down last night and early this morning.

UPDATE: Sam Lutfi left the hospital before 4:00 AM. Papa Jamie just left.

Source: TMZ

TMZ has learned there is a bitter fight underway as this story is published. It’s taking place in the halls of UCLA Medical Center. As of right now, Jamie and Lynne Spears have been told they are not calling the shots in making medical decisions on behalf of Britney. Right now, it appears Sam Lutfi is in the driver’s seat, but that could all change.

Sources tell us after Britney’s stay at Cedars earlier this month, she had her lawyers draft paperwork making it clear she did not want her parents involved in making medical decisions on her behalf. We’re told her dad had gone ballistic back then, screaming and swearing at Lutfi — even pushing him — in front of Britney.

As to what paperwork was signed, the cleanest thing would be if Britney signed a durable power of attorney, giving someone power to make medical decisions on her behalf in an emergency. We are told no such document was signed, but somehow Britney made it clear she wanted Lutfi to make those decisions.

Right now, the doctors at UCLA are working with Lutfi and not the parents, but lawyers have been called and the tension in the air is thick. We’re told Jamie was screaming at Sam in the hallway, accusing him of trying to control his daughter’s mind.

As for Britney, we’re told she’s not only calm, the doctors have just given her a “cigarette break!”

Source: TMZ

Britney Spears’s latest trip to the hospital appears to be turning out much differently this time: The pop star went willingly, and she’s “more comfortable” receiving medical care – even making a joke about her second trip, a source close to the pop star tells PEOPLE.

“She’ll be in there for at least 72 hours getting evaluated. She might even stay longer,” says the source. “She’s more comfortable this time, she came into the waiting area, had a cigarette, made a joke about being there again. But who knows what will happen. All we can hope for is that she gets better.”

Even the logistics in getting her help and getting her to the hospital were planned better – and far in advance, according to the source.

“Something like this has been in the works since the [last trip to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center]. She has been seeing her psychiatrist every day,” the source says. “No one thought this would happen this soon, but it was clear if she stayed up for more than three days she’d have to get sent, since that could cause real damage. The last time she slept was Saturday.”

Adds the source: “The motorcade and everything was planned, it was already in the works to have them block off the road and airspace. It worked out perfectly.”

Source: People Magazine

Britney Spears was hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center for a psychiatric hold early Thursday morning, after being transported by ambulance from her Studio City home around 1 a.m.

An LAPD source tells PEOPLE: “Spears was escorted by police and is on her way to get help.”

The singer, 26, was transported to UCLA for treatment and evaluation during a 72-hour emergency hold, known as a 5150.

“She went willingly. It was like something in her heart was telling her she should go. She knew something was wrong,” confidant Sam Lutfi tells PEOPLE.

Police or a mental health professional can request one if a person is deemed to be a danger to herself or others. (Spears was held at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on such an order earlier this month, following her Jan. 3 custody standoff with police.)

Spears’s mother, Lynne – who’s in the midst of a tense reunion with her daughter – friend Alli Sims and Lutfi were all inside the gated mansion when police and the fire department arrived.

What brought on the hospitalization? “She was driving around her neighborhood like a mad-woman,” says a Spears family source. “Britney has been prescribed medication which she refuses to take. This is just another sad, sad evening.”

Lutfi and Spears’s father, Jamie, arrived at the hospital shortly after the singer. Her mother was later spotted leaving the Summit home with Spears’s photographer beau, Adnan Ghalib, in the backseat.

Earlier in the night, Internet rumors claimed that the singer had attempted suicide, but Lutfi and Sims both denied those claims to PEOPLE.

Since the January standoff, Spears has been stripped of visitation rights for her two sons Preston, 2, and Jayden, 1. Two sources have said she suffers from a psychological disease, with one source saying, “there is no question she is bipolar… she’s had manic episodes for years.”

As last night’s incident unfolded, a Spears source told PEOPLE simply, “Pray, please.”

Source: People Magazine

Britney Spears was delivered her new Mercedes Benz SLK 350, a gorgeous little coupe that is also very fast like her other Benzes, and then takes it out for a spin.

On the way home, she receives some “short cut” advice from an unidentified paparazzo, attempts to cut through a mountain pass to her home up at the Summit on Mulholland Drive, but then gets scared!

Brit Brit reports feeling “dizzy” and “scared” from being so close to the edge of cliff on the dusty little road, and requires assistance in turning her new ride around and getting back to the main road.

Source: Hollywood.TV

Sam Lutfi called Harvey Levin (TMZ.com editor) a few minutes ago, Britney by his side, and railed about the story we posted that Brit’s family believes Lutfi is poison.

Lutfi said there was no intervention last night, but then said Britney’s family “barged in.” For the record, the family is staging an intervention and Lutfi has been kept in the dark.

Lutfi said of the family, “They have an agenda. Their agenda is jealously because they don’t fit in. I do. They see her three times a year.”

Britney was by the phone during Lutfi’s conversation with Levin. Lutfi claimed he did not force Britney to buy a car, asking Brit, “Did I force you to buy a car.” In a heavy southern accent she responded, “No.” He continued, “Do I ever bug you.” She replied, “We argue.”

Lutfi said Britney’s mom is fine with him — it’s her dad who’s a problem. Family sources tell TMZ that’s baloney — both Lynne and Jamie “are on the same page,” feeling like Sam is a “megalomaniac” who is motivated by “evil.”

Source: TMZ

She needs to get away from him, fast!  Especially if the stories about his past are true…

Britney spent last night with her mother, Lynne Spears, and possible her father, Jamie.

They were seen going to a drug store this morning at 1.30AM with Sam and another friend.  This took place after the drama that unfolded at her house earlier in the evening.

The reports we’re getting from our photographers on the scene right now at Britney’s Beverly Hills home are that her paparazzi “boyfriend” Adnan Ghalib was attempting to enter Brit’s private, gated neighborhood and he was denied when the guard called her home!!!

At 5:43 pm, Britney went to the gate of her community, crying with her dog in her arms. Adnan came to the gate, tried to go in, and was denied.

Police were called; they are now at the scene; there’s a police copter in the sky. They’re looking for Adnan in his silver Mercedes SL.

The cops are checking the ID of all cars that pass her neighborhood.

Here’s how it started … Britney and Sam were inside the gates of Brit’s community and Britney got out the car crying, just after 7 pm. Sam got out to try to console her and got angry with photographers who were taking pix and told them to get away.

Not long after, the pap who partied at Britney’s house a week ago, Filipe, picked up Brit and drove her to her house; he left the neighborhood immediately after dropping her off.

By this time, the cops were arriving and Adnan showed up too but was denied entrance to Britney’s neighborhood.

Office George Lopez of the LAPD tells X17online that they received a call by the security team at Britney’s neighborhood because some paparazzi entered the gates of the community. Officers responded to the call and issued citations to the owners of the cars illegally parked on the street in front of the community.

Source: X17

As good as it sounds, Britney was out with Adnan after this incident last night.

In four chaotic, self-destructive, fateful years, Britney Spears hit rock bottom … and kept on falling. Here, the inside story on all that went wrong—her missteps, her meltdowns and what friends say may be her last hope for rescue.

Christmas lights dangle from tree branches in front of the Raffles L’Ermitage, the Beverly Hills hotel where Britney Spears slept last night—and where the paparazzi who keep watch over her now sit waiting. Although she owns a mansion in L.A., she often crashes in hotels because, the press speculate, her cupboards at home are bare: She likes to order room service. Spears is the only celebrity in the world under photographers’ 24-hour watch, a surveillance mode usually reserved for prisoners and suicides. Some of the core group of 15 or so lensmen who call themselves “her paps” pass the stakeout hours online, chatting with women via wireless laptop connections. Some smoke pot. Felix, the team captain for X17, the paparazzi agency with the closest ties to Britney, occasionally looks down at his phone to find a text message from Sam Lutfi, Spears’s confidant and de facto manager since last summer. Felix reads aloud: “She is inside.”

“Britney is money,” says another X17 photographer, standing next to the BMW that pictures of Britney have bought him. Someone tells the story of the day they followed her halfway to Las Vegas. She got takeout from Taco Bell at a rest stop in the desert. Then she turned the car around and drove home. “Britney is crazy,” says another, bemused.

We have been waiting since about 10 A.M., and the thrill, at 8:39 P.M., as two hotel security guards appear at the entrance to the garage, is libidinal: When Britney’s 612-horsepower Mercedes SL65 AMG shoots out of the driveway, rips west on Burton Way and up Foothill Road, it’s sweet release.

Britney drives like a rabbit being chased across a field. Trailed by 15 cars, she signals right, then turns left.  Glides into a left-turn lane, makes a right. On Wilshire Boulevard, slows from 50 miles per hour down to 15, then bangs an illegal U-turn into brake-­screeching traffic. The driver in the lead mutters, “Bitch.”

Then he’s cut off by a Mercedes SL500 steered by Adnan Ghalib, a daredevil-fearless paparazzo who usually rides at the front of the pack.

If Britney has been in hiding all day and her paps have gotten no pictures, they hope for a red light at the top of Coldwater Canyon, the last intersection before her house. Tonight they’re lucky. Britney stops; Ghalib pulls his Benz into the oncoming traffic lane, slams into park and the gang crowds around her car for just less than a minute.

Thus surrounded, Britney, wearing the same outfit she wore last night, doesn’t look at the photographers but focuses on a point in the air a few inches in front of her nose, slowly pivoting her head on the axis of her neck, clicks and flashes dicing her movement like a strobe. She seems to be basking, and she seems to be trapped. Even her vehicle looks resigned: A smashed headlight has been out for weeks, and she’s still driving on a spare tire from a flat she had in October. (Her paps changed it for her.)

When the light turns, the paps scramble back to their cars, Britney turns right, guns it and they let her go. The white car shrinks into the darkness, wriggling up Mulholland toward the gated community where she lives.

The Britney chase feels like a video game where, every moment, you’re sure you’re going to die; yet against all odds, despite all carelessness, nothing kills you. Even the photographers who do this every day admit that they’re scared by it. One X17 videographer warns, “Someone is going to get hurt, man.”

Without prompting, he mimes holding up a camera with one hand and dialing his phone with the other—explaining that the video of an accidental death cannot legally be sold, unless the cameraman can prove he was calling 911 at the same time. Clearly, he’s given this endgame some thought. There’s no way not to ask: Would a video of Britney’s death be the ultimate prize?

“That would be horrible,” he says. “No, no. Nobody wants that.”

To read the rest of the article (it’s long), click the read more link.

Read the rest of this entry »

As Britney Spears’s confidants are being deposed in her child custody case, Alli Sims says Spears is maintaining a positive outlook.

“She does seem happy,” Sims told PEOPLE at Saturday’s Hugo Boss/Glamour Studio Glam suite, of Spears, 26. “I’m sure obviously she’s going through some things, and a lot, right now. That definitely gets to you.

“I’m not saying that everything is fine,” Sims, 26, says. “Obviously, she’s worried about stuff, like we all are. She’s hanging in there. I’m not worried. She’ll get back. She’ll be fine.”

Sims, who has been away from L.A. traveling, is moving into a new apartment in the Brentwood section of the city. She and Spears talk regularly, Sims says.

“I talked to her today, she’s doing good,” Sims explains. “I love her to death. She’s a sweetheart. … We have never had a fight. It’s so funny, because you’re off visiting friends and you’re not here, by her side, they’re like you’re fighting. That’s not true at all.”

Adds Sims, “I’ll probably see her this week.”

Last week, Spears’ paparazzo-turned-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib gave interviews to Entertainment Tonight and The Insider about his personal relationship with Spears. Sims, who has said she does not like Ghalib, has not seen the interview, she says, but that friends told her about it.

“He’s been around, what, three weeks?” Sims tells PEOPLE. “I heard about it just from friends who watched it. I don’t really see the point of that. … I only know him from him following us around for eight months. I don’t personally know him. But I don’t like that vibe.”

Source: People Magazine