Bret Michaels Remains Hospitalized After Brain Hemorrhage

April 24, 2010 — -- Bret Michaels, the reality TV star and frontman of the glam-metal band Poison, remained hospitalized in critical condition Saturday after suffering a brain hemorrhage, according to his website.

"There are several incorrect reports on Bret's condition," read the Saturday posting on bretmichaels.com. "Bret remains in critical condition at an undisclosed location. Further tests are being ran and information will be updated in the coming days."

Michaels, 47, former star of VH1's "Rock of Love With Bret Michaels" and current "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant, initially was hospitalized at an undisclosed facility Thursday after suffering a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding at the base of his brain stem, his publicist confirmed to ABCNews.com Friday.

Michaels was in critical condition and under "intense observation" by doctors while they ran tests to determine the cause of his bleeding, People magazine reported.

The new medical woes came on the heels of an emergency appendectomy Michaels received after falling ill before a concert April 11.

Besides his active performing career, Michaels can be seen each week as a top contender on Donald Trump's NBC reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice," competing against singer Cyndi Lauper and media maven Sharon Osbourne, to name a few of the remaining competitors.

Trump released a statement Friday, saying, "I am deeply saddened to hear about Bret Michaels and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family at this time. He's a great competitor and champion and I hope he will be fine."

Last weekend, Michaels revealed details of how he was rushed to a hospital on April 11 before a show in San Antonio, Texas.

"They told me that if I had gone onstage like I wanted to, [my appendix] likely would have ruptured and I could have died," he wrote on his blog.

"I'm feeling pretty bad ... to tell you the truth," Michaels wrote after the appendectomy. "When you're not planning on having a body part ripped out of you, it can be a shock to the system. While the doctors are amazing in San Antonio, there is just no way around the fact that getting your appendix out HURTS. I have a pretty good threshold for pain, but this one hurts."

The rocker added that because he's been a diabetic since age 6, his recovery could take longer than usual. However, it's unlikely that Michaels' diabetes spurred his current condition.

"This [type of hemorrhage] is usually from an aneursym," Dr. Wendy Wright, an assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, told ABCNews.com. "The risk of an aneurysm rupturing is probably related to size -- the larger the aneurysm, the more likely to rupture -- and also may be more likely in people who smoke or on blood thinning medications."

Past Drug Use Could be a Factor in Impairing Recovery

A factor that could have played into Michaels' current condition is his past history of drug use. Michaels hasn't been shy about his hard-partying, rock 'n' roll past. In a 2003 interview with VH1, he described a "menage a mess" from his Poison days, saying, "It was the drugs, the booze, doing the lines off [exotic dancers]."

"Being a drug user, in particular a user of injectable drugs, can damage heart valves and predispose you to get endocarditis," said Dr. Richard Bernstein, a neurologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Endocarditis involves infection at one of the heart's valves.

Bernstein added: "Cocaine use in and of itself can be a major cause of intracerebral hemorrhage."

ABC News' Dan Childs, Michael S. James and Nancy Ayala contributed to this report.