DESPERATE DRUG RUSH

NY Post ^ | 10-12-03 | NY Post

[ambrose]

FEEDING HIS ADDICTION: Radio host Rush Limbaugh is checking into a substance abuse clinic to treat his prescription pill addiction.

A desperate, drug-addicted Rush Limbaugh begged his dealer to score him a final, explosive dope cocktail just two weeks before he attempted to detox last year, a new report says.

[SamAdams76]

These drugs have destroyed many lives. I have a family member with disc problems who lives in constant pain. She is so desperate for pain pills that she raids the medicine cabinet of everybody she visits. When she comes over our house, my wife and I have to hide everything, including what is in the liquor cabinet. It's a sad spectacle. One time she took all my wife's percosets (that she had been taking for an operation she recently had) and left just one pill in the bottle - as if we wouldn't notice.

I am very fortunate in that I have had a relatively pain-free life and only had one prescription in my life - antibiotics for a sinus infection about 10 years ago. It's hard for me to understand people what people with chronic pain have to deal with for that reason. I'm sure Rush's addiction made him do things he now regrets also. I hope that Rush (and my family member) can somehow beat this addiction while also finding a way to deal with the chronic pain.

[Support Free Republic]

---

WHAT? Y'all ain't given to Free Republic yet?
	We Salute Free Republic's Donors! Be one! Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[RepublicanArmy]

Cline also said her former boss was so desperate to get his hands on painkillers that he pressured one man into handing over pills prescribed for his wife after she'd had a miscarriage.

Cline said he had also scored pills from a stenographer with a broken leg.

Yep I'd believe what this woman has to say, she is a very credible source. Rush is guilty so send him up the river. (/sarcasm off)

Until I see proof that Rush got/did something illegal then I will presume he is innocent. There is no reason to Judge him before the FACTS are out. I stress the word FACTS because I think this woman is about as credible as Bill Clintoon saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman!"

[backhoe]

Until I see proof

That's what I am waiting for.

So far, all I have seen are allegations, stories, anecdotes- and it's all very entertaining, but where is the evidence?

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

"Until I see proof that Rush got/did something illegal then I will presume he is innocent."

He already admitted to it. All this denial is looking really foolish.

[ambrose]

Duh Nile isn't just a river in Egypt.

[just deserts]

Duh Nile isn't just a river in Egypt.

The posts that just amaze me are the "but he was using 'government sanctioned' drugs not 'street' drugs" as if that makes his drug use somehow justifiable as opposed to someone who uses 'non-government sactioned' drugs.

[just deserts]

oops, someone who uses 'non-government sactioned' drugs

sanctioned

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

What really bothers me is Rush's hypocritical stance on the War on Drugs. People get killed in the illegal prescription drug market, illegal cash profits get made, etc. It's just as immoral - if not more so - to "Escape" on stolen illegal prescription drugs as it is to escape on Marijuana. The only difference is that Marijuana is much less damaging to your health than the drugs Limbaugh is abusing.

The war on drugs needs to end. It's cost in money, life and liberty is inexcusable.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

"It's hard for me to understand people what people with chronic pain have to deal with for that reason."

Go stick both hands into the flame of the cook stove burners, when you get that sudden urge to remove them, then you will have an inkling of severe chronic pain. I have had three major back surgeries. The last one ten months ago involved surgical relief for pinched nerves and the fusing of four lumbar vertebrate, which necessitated two 9 mm titanium rods and eight large screws to hold things together. The operation was to correct the previous failed back surgeries. It didn't, neuropathy resulting from the pinched nerves was too far advanced.

I have constant back and leg pain, then just for good measure, I have periodic spasms in the large muscles of the back. When it occurs, the muscles bunch and knot up into contorted balls, by this time I am literally screaming and writhing on the floor in pain.

Without medication I am afraid to sneeze, or even cough when the muscles are irritated for fear of triggering the spasms. I am currently on the Duragisic patch and three other pain meds. Addiction is the least of my worries or concerns at this time, I am struggling to just function and achieve something of a life even close to normality.

[Dane]

What really bothers me is Rush's hypocritical stance on the War on Drugs.

Could you please state to me where Rush has condemned anyone who got addicted to drugs due to a medical condition?

JMO, but recreational drug abuse and medical conditon prescription drug abuse are two different things.

[Kaslin]

"Until I see proof that Rush got/did something illegal then I will presume he is innocent."

He already admitted to it. All this denial is looking really foolish.

No he has not admitted of doing something illegal. He admitted he had taken pain killers which were prescriped by his doctor. He said the stories we have heard, the stories we have read contain inaccuracies and distortions and he will clear those up when he returns. Until then we should not come to any conclusions

[demkicker]

Without medication I am afraid to sneeze, or even cough when the muscles are irritated for fear of triggering the spasms. I am currently on the Duragisic patch and three other pain meds. Addiction is the least of my worries or concerns at this time, I am struggling to just function and achieve something of a life even close to normality.

Thank you for articulating what unberable pain is like. You shined a spotlight on the reason folks use pain medication and thank God for it. When one cannot function because their suffering is so extreme, who should give a rat's ass if one happens to get addicted to the only thing that provides relief?

I just said a little prayer for you. God's speed....

[mass55th]

"He already admitted to it. All this denial is looking really foolish."

These people want proof as I did, and as far as I'm concerned, I received that proof with Rush's admission that he is addicted to painkillers, and more than likely has been for some time. But there are still alot of unanswered questions. Did Rush share his addiction with the doctors who treated him for his hearing loss? Who was supplying him with his pills all this time? Was it a doctor, or a pusher? How long has this addiction been going on?

Was Rush's behavior Illegal? Well, it's possible he procured his pills illegally, but what's more important and telling about his addiction is that he's already admitted having been to rehab twice and is now on a third attempt at getting the monkey off his back. It isn't illegal what Rush did to his body, his mind, his reputation, and more than likely, to his personal relationships...but it ought to be.

How much more proof do these people need? Rush isn't a child, he went into this, and continued his pill-popping, knowing full well that painkillers can be addictive, and that he could be ratted out at any time. If he did indeed procure these drugs through nefarious means, then shame on him, and if the story of having his housekeeper as his supplier pans out, it shows just how desperate he was to get these pills. If all this is true, it appears that Rush repeatedly took the chance of being outted to a hating press just to feed his addiction. Perhaps one of the side effects of long-term use is the dulling of one's common sense, not to mention ignoring the difference between right and wrong. The possibility exists folks, that a drug-controlled Rush refused to believe that his addiction would ever come to light. And, the longer he was able to get away with it, the safer he felt in continuing with things the way they were. Afterall, why tackle a problem if you can keep it hidden from everyone. Hopefully, the publicity this has brought will force him to have to finally deal seriously with his problem.

It cannot be forgotten that Rush lied to himself (and his fans) for quite a while about his addiction. What's even worse, is that it's possible he's lied to his wife and close friends all this time as well. If true, his addiction may have permanently scarred some of those relationships, but that's something he'll have to live with. I wish him luck...he's going to need it.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

One study by the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles that found at least 48 patients who abused drugs such as Lorcet, a mix of acetaminophen and hydrocodone, had been treated for sudden hearing loss.

One good thing that can come out of this is that the public is being warned about possible hearing loss if they take these drugs.

[PJ-Comix]

Have you checked out Dr. John Sarno? He has healed many people of severe back pains including Howard Stern, Anne Bancroft, and John Stossel.

[Catspaw]

He admitted he had taken pain killers which were prescriped by his doctor.

Yes, he said this is how he started taking the opiates. Because of the legal exposure, he didn't say whether his addiction was from drugs that were legally prescribed by a physician or whether he had gotten them from illegal sources.

[ovrtaxt]

I'm a former drug addict and dealer, many years past now. But it wasn't prescription drugs I was into. I only pray that Rush will draw closer to the Lord through this process. IMO, after having seen MANY cases of addiction cured, Jesus Christ is the only One who can really fix the problem at it's source.

I don't usually preach on FR, (in fact I usually just make wiseguy cracks about liberals), but this is an area of personal, intimate experience for me, in my own life and in helping others.

And for you folks dealing with chronic pain, He can heal your body too. I trying not to sound like so many 'religious' posters sound, but it's the only truth I can completely depend on after many years of testing it and living it. I pray and hope that Rush will get his edge back in all this.

[Renfield]

A few years ago I had a herniated disc in my back that became a ruptured disc. I had to have emergency surgery because I couldn't even roll over in bed without screaming. I have stared into the gaping jaws of Hell, and I know what you are going through. Fortunately my surgery worked, although I had to read the book "Pain Free", by Pete Egoscue, to complete the process and get well (my recuperation wasn't working well until I got that book).

Before my surgery, as the pain increased, I was prescribed mild pain relievers, then Percocet, then Demerol, then Oxycodone, and then finally Morphine. Towards the end, nothing worked, even in massive amounts. Pain that morphine won't touch is REAL pain. On the morning of my surgery, before being taken to the hospital in the ambulance, I took enough Demerol to have killed an average person, but I was still fully conscious and in terrible pain. I remember the horrified look on the face of the ER nurse when I told her how much medication I had taken. She said I should have been experiencing convulsions or respiratory paralysis at that point. But when you are in truly extreme pain, very large doses of synthetic opiate pain relievers don't have their normal effects--they are diminished.

I didn't get addicted to any of that stuff. A few weeks after my surgery, the pain had subsided enough that I only needed aspirin or acetimenophen. I was glad to be rid of the drugs because of their unpleasant side effects. But then, I'm not the addictive type. I could easily see how people with long-term chronic pain, and especially after failed surgeries, could feel that they could not get along without stong narcotic pain relievers. Truly intense pain will fixate a person's mind like nothing else.