Posted on 10/20/2003 11:00:31 AM PDT by yonif
BOSTON - Rush Limbaugh is not alone. Addiction to prescription painkillers has boomed in recent years, and they can be as tough to kick as heroin.
The number of Americans who begin misusing painkillers each year has almost quadrupled from 1990 to 2001, according to government figures.
And many abusers don't recognize the insidious slide into addiction.
"It's just so much more acceptable in society for people to be taking prescription drugs," said Sean Evans, 31, of Everett, Mass., a construction worker who became addicted to the pain reliever OxyContin, then moved on to heroin.
"You can always rationalize the reason to take it."
Limbaugh, the radio commentator, told his audience on Oct. 10 he is addicted to prescription painkillers that he began taking after spinal surgery "some years ago."
He said he had checked himself in for treatment twice before, without success.
This time, he said he was headed to a rehab center for a month "to once and for all break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me."
Limbaugh may be overly optimistic about the time frame, said Alice Young, a psychology professor and a drug researcher at Wayne State University in Detroit.
"He had said he was going into treatment and lick it within 30 days. I think that's probably an unrealistic expectation," she said.
Limbaugh didn't name the medication, but the National Enquirer, which first reported his abuse, said Limbaugh's drug connection said he used OxyContin and other painkillers.
(Excerpt) Read more at bayarea.com ...
Yeah, like being in EXCRUCIATING PAIN without it. If anything doctors are too reluctant to prescribe pain meds. If the DEA doesn't come after them and ban them from medicine for life, then the patents are likely to sue them for getting them addicted. It's much harder to sue for not prescibing enough drugs and letting the paitient live in agony.
Was wondering the same. . .also I am assuming that he still suffers from pain as well; if that is the case; what does he do now?
Doctors say the biology and treatment of addiction are similar in many ways for both legal and illegal drugs; from tobacco, alcohol and prescription painkillers to cocaine and heroin.
This may be true but what's their point (they headlined with Rush Limbaugh's name so I consider it relevant to discuss his case). Rush has told his listeners time and time again that he was addicted to cigarettes (his "formerly nicotine stained fingers"). He still smokes cigars. Maybe this is seen as more hypocrisy by some. I don't know the frequency with which he smokes cigars (which aren't inhaled) versus the frequency with which he smoked cigarettes. He certainly did make reference to it at times when people discussed being "victimized" by "Big Tobacco". Rush has certainly confronted "addictions" before. He also said that when he lost weight, he realized that he had to eliminate all "adult beverages" (sugars and carbohydrates). Addiction is not just about "willpower" but as this article later states, Rush was still taking the medications to fight continued pain. Rush has also said that he has twice before gone into rehab to stop taking these medications. We have not been told his symptoms of withdrawl, if any (why substitute pain killers aren't used).
Addiction sets in when users become dependent on the intense feelings evoked as the drug works on primitive pleasure points within the brain."In our field, a drug is a drug is a drug," said Bill Carrick, program manager at the CAB Boston Treatment Center. Evans, the construction worker, was undergoing detoxification there.
Initial treatment often entails detox, sometimes with a substitute drug such as methadone. Long-term therapy may aim to substitute healthy rewards in family or work life for drug-induced euphoria.
Some abusers of painkillers are no longer in pain and take the drug purely for pleasure.
Others, as Limbaugh said of himself, are also getting relief from pain.
This line of reasoning is that addicts take it because of mental, not physical addiction. There can be physical withdrawl symptoms too (not just cold sweats; I believe that I had muscle spasms after I stopped taking some muscle relaxers for back pain, I tried not to take them long because they made me sluggish and when I didn't take them I had painful/violent spasms in my leg muscles; I toughed it out for a few days to stop taking them).
Evans, for example, started taking painkillers when he had his wisdom teeth pulled.
I had all 4 wisdom teeth impacted and extracted the same day. I was given a valium IV (administered at a hospital because I wanted an anesthesiaologist on hand incase I had a reaction; it would take much more time for an emergency vehicle to get to a dentist office). After the procedure (which I was conscious through, it took about an hour) I was given some pain killers and antibiotics. I can assure you that this man's pain was long over before he started taking heroin (and I doubt that he even took Oxycontin for his wisdom teeth removal). Apples to oranges comparing this man's story to Rush Limbaugh's.
Technology has changed, maybe he will reconsider this now. Jerry Lewis was so racked by back pain that he almost killed himself. He now swears by the electrical stimulation device that he can control to block pain signals to his nervous system. Rush should look into such a system to see if it would relieve his pain.
Meanwhile the DUmmycrats keep hammering on Rush. First it was that he was faking his deafness then it became that his deafness was caused by drug addiction. They also question how he could be a golfer if is back caused him so much pain (they assert that he's lying and was just joypopping hillbilly heroin).
His critics will continue to shout and wail. They are also a bunch of lying liars.
Geez John, you and I finally find common ground.
I'm stunned at the reaction of some Freepers to this situation. I actually had someone on another thread say that doctors shouldn't be allowed to prescribe these drugs because someone MIGHT become addicted. Hydrocodone and oxycodone are incredibly effective in treating pain and to in any way limit the access would be terrible.
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