[mvpel]

If he's still experiencing the pain, what's the point of getting off of the pain medication? There's nothing noble about living your life in constant pain.

[ThePythonicCow]

If he's still experiencing the pain, what's the point of getting off of the pain medication?

He said he had agreed with his doctor on the next step:

I have recently agreed with my physician about the next steps.

Perhaps there are more steps than just getting off the drugs. Perhaps he is addressing the back pain with surgery or some other means.

[JohnGalt]

That is a good queation.

Rush was a perfectly functioning addict who built a large and successful business. He has nothing to be ashamed of.

I hope (though doubt) that his entrance into a detox facility is motivated because he wants to get off these pills not because the 12 Steppers have convinced him this is what he is suppose to do, or to avoid some investigation.

[Beck_isright]

It's hard both ways. I quit the pain pills 9 months after my cervical surgery (herniated disc in my neck) and then surgery on my shoulder, both damaged in a car accident. I live with the pain in my shoulder and hand every day.

At some point, and it's up to each individual, you have to say to yourself that there is another way. Rush is human, and I do not blame him at all. Every person is different. I have found ways to deal with my pain, but I figured out after several months just how addictive those pain killers are. I quit cold turkey, and sucked it up. I still take Advil or other over the counter stuff every now and then, but do not want to go back to the prescription stuff. It's a tough choice to decide to deal with pain in your life. And I do not envy anyone trying to deal with it.

I wish Rush the best. He will learn to deal with this as all of us who have had unsuccessful surgeries have had to at some point or another. He has my prayers for him and his family.

[WoofDog123]

I agree, with the kind of pain that can accompany spinal issues, including failed surgery, unless there is a health-related issue with the meds usage, what is the problem?

[discostu]

It might not be noble but it is healthier. Strong pain killers are mostly opiate based, they have a lot of long term sideeffects, they also primarily function by making you too stoned to care about the pain which has it's own potential sideeffects.

[RWG]

If he's still experiencing the pain, what's the point of getting off of the pain medication?...Exactly right. The standard of care for pain is such that many hospitals and pain clinics are saying if you want to control your pain, take your meds. That means the head ditto must have been doing a lot more than just managing pain. Checking into treatment will cover all the stash he has acquired that is way over what it would take to treat constant and chronic back pain.

This problem of the head ditto reveals what a pathetic world view this blowhard has. All that ranting and raving about all the depraved with 'phantom' pain that only substances can treat, including the pain of poverty, loss, psychological injury, and the whole host of other ailments afflicting so many, now comes back to bite him. Why was he so weak that he became addicted? How are his choices any different than the ones a drunk on the street corner of a ghetto makes? He has access to the state of the art medical treatment that so many don't, yet he became addicted?

As an interesting aside, the impact drugs have on productivity may, depending on the substance, have little to no negative effect on an individual's ability to function and produce. Who ever thought he was tuning in to a show by an addict?

Confessing to the addiction is a ploy to eliminate legal problems. His statement last week was just so stupid. He wasn't going to say anything until he saw the evidence against him. He must have seen it this week.

[Sandy]

If he's still experiencing the pain, what's the point of getting off of the pain medication?

I'm wondering the same thing. His story doesn't make any sense, imo.

[sheikdetailfeather]

You are right. There is nothing noble about living life in pain. I would hope the doctors can find a safer alternative to help him with with pain. My understanding about these particular pain killers is that in time it requires more and more to get the same effect for as long.

[Timesink]

If he's still experiencing the pain, what's the point of getting off of the pain medication? There's nothing noble about living your life in constant pain.

Oddly enough, there are now electronic implants available not entirely dissimilar to Rush's cochlear implants, except that the control pain instead of interpret sound. Surgeons implant a little device in (I think) your back, and it causes electrical interference to the nerves that are causing your back pain. The pain signals never make it to your brain, and thus you feel no pain, or at least greatly reduced pain.

For someone genetically predisposed to addiction, as it appears Rush might be, it would be far preferable for him to get another implant and become The Bionic Limbaugh than to remain on pain medication the rest of his life. They were talking about this on CNN this afternoon (and, ironically, treating the story quite fairly, with no gloating or obsessing over Donovan McNabb), and the doctor on there said that if someone becomes addicted to these pills, as the tolerance builds up that person will eventually end up with all the classic signs and physical problems of opiate addiction, and possibly even die ... but that it could take years for that point to arrive.

So, ironically, the RATS' attempt to destroy Rush once and for all may have ended up literally saving Rush's life and allowing him to stay on the air for decades to come, because if he hadn't been forced to confront the problem now, he may have ended up dead or in jail in just another couple years. Thanks, Democrats! BWA-HA!