Paula Abdul tells OK! Magazine in its new issue that she does not drink or do recreational drugs, but she is on prescription medication for extreme pain that often makes it hard for her to sleep.

About a year ago Paula told news outlets that she suffers from a rare condition called complex regional pain syndrome, which may have been brought on by a 1987 car crash. She told OK! that she has had 14 surgeries and has 4 titanium plates in her neck. She admits to taking the autoimmune drug Enbrel and the painkillers Relafen and Lidocaine. She says “If I appear exhausted on television, it’s because I am! I have a lot of sleepless nights because I’m in so much pain. I was taking far more medication on earlier seasons, and nobody said anything.”

The NY Post has details of a rant Paula had during a conference call with some publicists. She cries on tape about how badly she’s being treated by people, and talks about her health problems, including Addision’s disease. Addisons is an adrenal insufficiency and is treated with steroids. She must be on more drugs than she admitted to OK! if she has Addisons, as none of the drugs she listed is a steroid.

Paula also talks smack about her old publicist, and that seems to be who she’s mostly complaining about.

Abdul, who seems to be talking to a group of publicists at some point during the last week, trashes her former rep, Howard Bragman; reveals she’s dealing with challenging medical problems; and states she’s had enough of the terrible treatment she receives from the “people who are supposed to be taking care of things.”

She sobs on the tape: “I’ve never been treated this way and I’ve never seen anybody treated this way. This is just too much to stomach.” Abdul is assured by those hearing her wails, “You will be treated better starting right now.”

“I’ve been going through tremendous amounts of a difficult time,” said Abdul, who recently fibbed to her fans when she said she hurt her nose tripping over her Chihuahua. (We reported the real story last week – that Abdul threw a glass against the wall and a shard of it cut her face.)

Abdul, the former wife of Emilio Estevez, also outlines her health problems, including an adrenal disease called Addison’s.

Ranting about Bragman, who apparently didn’t appreciate her enough, the petite former pop star says: “I do a call-in every week for OK! Magazine on ‘American Idol.’ Because of my brilliant job, they want to do a cover on me. I’m being told by Howard Bragman that I’m too old and no one will ever want to do a cover.

It’s funny that the new publicists Paula is crying to tell her that she’s about to be treated better, because someone there had to have leaked the tape to the NY Post. If only they’d sent it to TMZ, we could hear it ourselves.

I feel bad for her that she’s dealing with all those medical problems though. Addison’s causes extreme fatigue, and can make sufferers irritable and depressed. It doesn’t cause slurred speech though, that’s probably due to all the drugs she’s on.