Att'y Roy Black: Rush Was in Constant Pain

NewsMax ^ | 10/13/03 | Limbacher

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

I mentioned my brother earlier and his story is way too long to type here, but let me hit the highlights and his experience with pain meds.

He has had two very serious health problems. One required the removal of his colon with many complications afterward and multiple hospital stays. He was just released from the hospital again last week after being there THREE months. He nearly died of malnutrition from an intestinal blockage from adhesions.

Additionally, for the past 8 years, he has suffered unbelievably from the effects of a brown recluse bite on his lower leg.

The pain was horrific; unbearable. Incidentally, the leg was finally amputated below the knee only 5 months before he was admitted to the hospital this last time with the intestinal issues. He hadn't even had time to get his prosthesis.

As a side note.....he did get his prosthetic leg while in the hospital and is walking quite well with it now.

But, through his years of terrible pain, he regularly saw a pain doc. He put him on Methadone. Yes, Methadone as in what they give heroin addicts. It took away the pain. but the other effects and the addiction were things he had not considered when he would do anything to get relief. That's why I know that addiction can be very much unintended and likely is in most cases.

Fortunately for my brother, he kicked the Methadone successfully and is proudly among the very few that can.

Odds were strongly against him and all because he and a nasty spider crossed paths one day. None of us would have ever dreamed the long road that waited ahead.

My brother was able to conquer the addiction and that is wonderful, but I would dare anyone to be critical of him if he didn't. He never knew where that first dose would take him and it was prescribed by a competent and respected physician.

[Humidston]

Well hey, ain't nobody else volunteering information at this point. What's a girl gonna do??

[RJayneJ]

Yes, that acute pain ended. After several years I developed chronic pain that got more and more severe and I had to have a PLIF surgery which is a bone graft. Most people don't realize that there are two types of pain. I had an injury where a small fragment of bone was literally sawing through the sciatic nerve. The pain is like the latter stages of labor pains only they are constant and don't come and go like labor pains. And you don't get a prize of a baby at the end of it. With chronic pain, you have to learn how to live with it.

[GrandmaPatriot]

Watch the heartless liberals non-compassion to this great American.

Wasn't it the liberals that were just defending JFK for being zoned out of his mind on pain killers while in office? Rush isn't even a elected official, let alone the President of the US.

[NutCrackerBoy]

Kurt Cobain was, ladies and gentlemen, a worthless shred of human debris.-Rush Limbaugh

I'm not seeing the distinction here between Kurt Cobain's illegal use of heroin to self-medicate and Rush's illegal uses of oxycontin "synthetic heroin" to self-medicate. Yet Rush felt strong enough to condemn Cobain for his drug use with the comment above. Wonder if he'd make the same sort of comment now.-Mick2000

I don't know if you are presenting a fair case here, but I would say one difference is Cobain's words sounded like excuses, and Rush makes no excuses.

[concerned about politics]

I'm not seeing the distinction here between Kurt Cobain's illegal use of heroin to self-medicate and Rush's illegal uses of oxycontin "synthetic heroin" to self-medicate.

Rush's doctor proscribed it to him before the FDA stepped in to make it a more regulated substance.
Kurt decided to play doctor by himself, the idiot.

[Sandy]

Getting on the road to recovery is quite possible regardless of how you get to rehab.

Possible, yes, but much less likely. A person needs to want to get better. Maybe Rush does.

[Richard Kimball]

Sorry, I had to tweak you a little. Next question, who was supposed to play Mrs. Norman Schwarzkopf in his Gulf War Movie?

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

The pain is like the latter stages of labor pains only they are constant and don't come and go like labor pains. And you don't get a prize of a baby at the end of it. With chronic pain, you have to learn how to live with it.

Oh my.........you must be a strong person. I honestly cannot imagine it.

[concerned about politics]

Wasn't it the liberals that were just defending JFK for being zoned out of his mind on pain killers while in office? Rush isn't even a elected official, let alone the President of the US.

Good point, Grandma. I forgot about that.

[jbstrick]

South,

I know the situation you are in. My father was lucky enough to have a wonderful pain doctor in the final days of his battle with cancer. At home, he was on a IV drip of Moriphine. The amount (dosage) his body tolerated was unbelievable. The drugs made the final months bearable for him.

That being said, My prayers go to Rush.

[Humidston]

That's awful, Southflank... It sounds like Croan's disease to me. Am I right? If so, I know someone who's suffering with it and I'm told it is painful.

As for me, I see a HUGE difference between someone who gets hooked on street drugs and someone else who is addicted because of an inability to stop pain.

At any rate, tell your brother for me - CONGRATULATIONS!

[NutCrackerBoy]

Now I know he was medicated. So now when he comes back he should really let the fur fly when he's stone cold sober.

I think the best course for him will be to stay within himself and do his job.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

The drugs made the final months bearable for him.

And that means so much !!!!

That being said, My prayers go to Rush.

As do mine.

[Humidston]

>>I had an injury where a small fragment of bone was literally sawing through the sciatic nerve. <<

OMG!! You set my teeth on edge just describing it! What agony!

[RS]

See was the hot blond that Rush had the hots for - played the bus station hooker in the show with John Laroquette.

... I'll rub my head with my mink mitten and maybe it will come to me....

[jbstrick]

Easy, I really can't believe people are asking this question. The drugs take the unberable edge off of the pain. They do not remove it. My father's cancer was growing around the ciatic nerve. He was unable to walk unless he took his moriphine. (see my other post for dteails). The drugs turned the pain from stabbing and unbearable to something he could manage.

[Mick2000]

I don't know if you are presenting a fair case here, but I would say one difference is Cobain's words sounded like excuses, and Rush makes no excuses. True, Rush is making no excuses here, which I absolutely respect, but it just seems that Cobain's use of heroin seems a lot closer to being used as pain medication rather than to get high, but that distinction didn't seem to matter to Rush as the time he condemned Cobain.

[ClancyJ]

Bless your mom and brother. Life would be very hard having to do everything in pain.

I guess they have investigated pain management, biofeedback and all the options to control the pain.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

Thanks, my friend.

Actually he suffered for years with ulcerative colitis. His colon was cancer waiting to happen and it had to go.

Crohn's and ulcerative colitis are so closely related that it is often misdiagnosed one way or the other.

Either one is not pleasant and I never knew how many people suffer with these types of afflictions until it happened in my family. Isn't that so often the case?