Emotional Michael Medved Devotes Hour to Rush

Michael Medved Show 870am KRLA

[Cinnamon Girl]

Michael started his show by saying how sad he is for Rush's addiction, and that he is praying for him and cares about him. He said if any liberals think this is the end of Rush's career they are dead wrong.

[restornu]

I like both Roger, Walter, Tom etc.

From Walter I learn a lot about what makes the economy tick and how it has been corrupted.

[PISANO]

I do think Rush will measure his words more carefully moving forward. Instead of denigrating those who run into problems, I'm sure he'll be more measured in his response as he should be

Statements like this mean NOTHING in the real world. Only in the looking glass world of Lefties does ONE have to be a virgin in order to speak out against promiscuity. This kind of thinking has produced a PC nation of effeminate males, afraid of criticism like yours, while constitutionally protecting the murder of babies.

[myrabach]

This is the part that bothers me about the pain killers and addiction... Rush is going for 30 days to treat his addiction; however, what is being done about the cause of his addiction? He will be in pain from his back... that's the difference between those addicted to pain killers and those crack heads in the street...

There is a need to be free of persistent, intense pain in order to function to one's fullest capability. Rush is not just going to be fighting addiction, he is going to have to learn to live with the pain as well.

My prayers to him and to the countless people in the same boat. Take a pill and make the pain go away... how many can walk away from that?

[BobS]

"A happy caller is on right now telling Michael that Rush is going down, and that his addiction is the equivalent of Dr. Laura having an affair."

I hope someone makes a point of listening to the "liberals" for the next week or two for their reactions. And just listen to their seething hate that could kill you and me in an instant. This is the reason for the second amendment.

[Petronski]

I meant to say that Michael sounded like he WAS fighting back the tears.

I read you often enough to have paused only a moment before realizing "Nah, that's a typing error."

[sbnsd]

Does anybody else dig the work of Mark Levin?

I "dig" Mark Levin. He's great. He has his own talk show on WABC. Too short, though. He relayed a personal story about Rush today on his show that just brought tears to my eyes. I hope he can sub a few times in the next month.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

So do I. I think Medved is probably the smartest guy on the radio. (He's a little bit sexist at times, but other than that, he's awesome - the guy is a walking, talking encyclopedia of American history.)

[onyx]

I think you're right: Michael is likely the smartest show host and we have some brilliant ones.

[altura]

I agree that Hedgecock is the best and Williams the worst.

I really like Walter, but he is just not a good talk show host. I enjoy him for maybe 20 minutes.

[altura]

Thanks for clarifying ... I was wondering what you meant.

[altura]

I'll admit I didn't know much about Oxycontin until this Rush situation came up.

Is it similar to Vicodin, or another family of drugs.

Does it create a high or what? I mean I really love having Advil in the house when I get a migraine, but I don't think longingly of Advil when I don't have pain.

[altura]

Hold on Now, one of my favorites.

[LoveBushLongTime]

I have a feeling Rush's handling of his addiction will have far-reaching effects to those in his audience with addiction problems, whether it involves pills or not. Heck, I'm thinking about quitting smoking, just so I can go through this with him. That's how much I love the guy.

Maybe we should all give something up as a token of our support to Rush.

[slimer]

Opioids like OxyContin and heroin block pain messengers to the brain and central nervous system. They also increase the amount of dopamine in the brain which causes increased feelings of pleasure and euphoria.

Consequences result as the body seeks a balance and compensates for the increased dopamine and increased pleasure. Tolerance develops when the body compensates and the individual soon needs more and more OxyContin to get the same pleasurable feelings that one or two doses used to provide.

OxyContin addiction creeps up on the individual until acquiring the drug becomes a full time obsession affecting friends, family, career, kids, finances and possibly involving the police.

Most people who suffer from chronic pain do not experience a high or buzz when taking narcotic pain medication as prescribed. As a matter of fact, it tends to energize you because pain wears you down and zaps your energy. When a chronic pain sufferer experiences pain relief they are able to do more because the pain is supressed.

The problem is that the body builds up a tolerance to the medication and then you need more to achieve the desired effect - not a high - just relief.

Of course some people do take the drug in order to experience a high but I don't think that this is what Rush was doing. He started out like many with a legitimate need for pain relief. People are not aware of the addictive nature of this drug until it is too late. If you have never been addicted to anything before you have no reason to think that you will get hooked.

It happened to me and I believe that this is what happened to Rush. Incidently, it happens to a lot of people.

[Luke21]

I'm a sober recovering alcoholic about to celebrate 14 years off the bottle. I now work in the counseling field with my people. Alcoholics and addicts are some of the most talented and wonderful people in the world. Most, but not all of us were born into toxic environments, or raised in them. Many of us had a biological propensity toward becoming addicts. There are many reasons for addiction. That's not the point here.

It's a badge of honor to be in recovery. Rush's secret life has injured him in many ways, but if he does this thing and gets clean, he can not only become better than ever, but will eventually be glad his illness became known.

We who he has touched should remember the dark days after Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, when the Democrats and the media held all the cards and were getting ready to slam dunk socialized health care down our throats. Rush was the only, lonesome voice of conservatism in those days. I will never forget him for that. The day Clinton was elected, he closed his show saying, "Courage!!!" He had it. We needed it. He will be back.

[ConservativeMan55]

Bump for later reading.

[ladyinred]

How can you think less of someone who gets addicted to a drug that was prescribed by a doctor because he is in pain? Geeze, it's not like he took LSD with the guys to trip out or was passing the pipe at parties! I hope you never get in such pain that you need help, you may change your tune. This stuff is powerful and it happens more than you think to ordinary people!

[dennisw]

Then why is Rush Limbaugh even bothering to get off the pain killers by going to rehab? Sure he used them to kill pain but he also got off on them to a certain extent.

[PhilDragoo]

I fell on my back on a construction site in 1985 and wore a back brace for several months.

I took ibuprofen in the form of advil and could not get out of bed, had to roll over onto the floor on all fours.

The pain was such that I stood at a drawing board doing estimates for the homes we were building rather than be onsite working.

It eventually subsided but what if it had not?

I take it Rush had a couple of herniated discs with considerable pain. Surgery failed to relieve the pain.

The prescribed pain medication is an opiate derivative.

You say "he also got off on them to a certain extent"--

Do you know a lot about "getting off" on drugs?

Do you know from addiction?

The main thing is Rush came out in front of God and everybody and he's going to rehab.

McCain sought to destroy the reporter who outted his wife's drug problem.

Betty Ford required a family intervention.

Clinton has never quit cocaine; when he od'ed Hillary threatened the emergency room doctors they'd never practice medicine again if they blabbed.

Rush got in to a common trap and is getting out with uncommon forthrightness.

[dennisw]

I support Rush 100% in getting off of these pain killers. I base my comments on a neighbor who has pain from various work place injuries. He is still in  construction and was taking oxycotin (and similar stuff) for it. He was also taking this stuff to get high..... not all the time but there was that factor. 

He is a much worse example than Rush but I couldn't tell where the legitimate pain killing ended and the getting high began. I have had to interact with him when he was flying on this stuff. Plus he never could get enough legitimate pain killers for his pain. He had to go out and score some on the street. How come doctors wouldn't give him and Rush enough for their pain? If Rush was solely taking this stuff for real pain why didn't he simply go to a doctor and get a legitimate supply for his legitimate pain?