Author Topic: Rush admits pain killer addiction (Read 2457 times)

wklink · « **Reply #90 on:** October 13, 2003, 02:20:15 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by FUNKED1
Medicinal heroin = morphine, demerol, etc.
It's not unheard of for heroin addicts to get their first "taste" during hospitalization.

Not quite. Morphine, Heroin and Demerol are all IV narcotics but their chemical structures are different. Other IV narcs include drugs like Fentanyl (one of the most addictive drugs regularly used-100X more powerful than morphine), Sufentanyl (even more powerful), Remifentanyl and Alfentanyl. There are basically two classes of the narcotics based upon the chemical structure. Morphine and Heroin fall into one class, Demerol, Fentanyl, etc fall into another class.

Believe it or not Demerol (trade name meperidine) was created by the Germans in the 1930's as a synthetic atropine. It was found later that it did have some atropine like effects (increased heartrate, dry mouth) but made people high and had pain relief qualities like Morphine. It later was refined and is still used to this day, although not as much as it used to.

Percocet and Oxcycontin have the same basic medication for pain relief-oxycodone. It is similar in structure to codeine which is similar to morphine. It is a very powerful pain medication and is very addictive, like all opiate narcotics.

BTW, Heroin is used medicinally in some countries, I believe Great Britain and a lot of European countries use it. It isn't used in the US mostly because of the social stigma. I can imagine going in to a room and telling a patient, "Time for your Heroin shot".

As for Rush... I am a conservative and a Rush listener for probably seven or eight years. His addiction is sad, it is always sad, but he really never tried to stop it either. If he had gone out and admitted it, got cleaned up years ago, or even recently, without having his hand forced I would probably forgive him, even support him. He didn't and defending him for comitting a felony, one he knowingly did, is pretty hard to do IMHO.

I am still a conservative BTW, and I wish him luck. I might listen to him again sometime but he has to earn my trust back now.

Udie · « **Reply #91 on:** October 13, 2003, 02:27:15 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by MC_Honky
You should have checked your'self into a hospital. Never never go cold Turkey with a Benzo drug- your very lucky to be alive. You had a full seizure? That is usually the first step before things spiral out of control. Tapering for about six weeks -min- would have eased your suffering. Cross medicating with a longer acting Benzo like Valium would be even better. You need a good Doctor for this ..one who specializes in Benzo detox. Again- your lucky to be alive. Did you detox at home?

BTW- 8 mg a day is a pretty damn high dose. I've heard of 11-14mg habits but I've never seen them.

Hehe i was 8 to 12 mg's a day there for the last week or 2. Believe me had I known about the detox thing I never would have started taking them. When he prescribed them to me I told him "I have an addictive personality, I don't need anything physicaly addictive" He told me "don't worry" and that was it, this is why I still may take him to court over it.

I had no clue I was chemicly/physicaly addicted to the stuff. I thought it was all in my head so I just quit. Took 3 days before my brain siezed up (3 days of hell in which I thought I had lost my sanity for good, remember I had no idea I was in withdrawal

) I had the siezure at work. It was a grand mal. My co-workers said I stood up and said "I have 2 house plans to draw" (I did that for a living for 10 years) and then I fell over into the siezure. They said I turned grey and foamed at the mouth. I was out for 10 or 15 minutes. The paramedics woke me up with a valium IV. Talk about wierd! When I told the emergency room doc about the xanax and how much he knew right away what it was, this was after the $1800 CAT scan

I went home for 3 days and realized I couldn't beat this by myslef so I checked into rehab and saved my life. Scarey part is that I have had urges for that buzz again......

[edit] about the detox, I was stupid. I didn't take any benzo meds to taper off, even at rehab. They told me too, but after the siezure I wanted NONE of that poison in my body. My 3rd day there they freaked out when they checked my blood pressure in the morning it was like 140 over 120 or something. They all started scrambling around me, which caused it to go up even more when I freaked over the sudden activity. They gave me 2 diferent types of benzo's (can't remember which) and a dose of phenalbarbitol. LOL I was buzzed out and couldn't walk for the rest of the day. That was the last drugs I put into my body, cept for a couple doob's I've smoked since....

I know I never want to go through that again........

wklink · « **Reply #92 on:** October 13, 2003, 02:31:38 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Udie
^ it won't last 30 days. The people I saw go through oxicotin withdrawal lasted about a week. My xanax withdrawal lasted abot a week for the primary withdrawal then about 2 or 3 days for the secondary withdrawal about a week after the first. Symptoms vary from person to person though. Every square inch of your body hurts.

Different class of Med Udie.

Someone alluded to the seizure risk of Xanax. It is similar (as I am sure you know) to Ativan, Valium, Librium, Versed...

Basically benzos work to slow down nerve stimulation in the head. Without getting into acronyms like GABA things like ligand gated chloride channels they basically work by attatching to a port on a nerve and make it harder for the nerve to fire.

Opiate attach to a receptors in the spinal cord and brain (there are some in the body too but lets not go there) and basically work to deactivate nerve cells conducting pain messages. I being very simplistic with this, it is very complicated and a lot of it I don't remember anymore. In the brain it causes the release of (I think) seratonin which gives the high. People get used to this release and crave it after a while.

It takes a long time for that to wear off.

In your case these receptors tend to get used to having the Benzo around and the cells get real excited when they are cut off. Excitable brain cells tend to fire off causing seizures. That is why valium is one of the drugs of choice for actively seizing people, it shuts down the excitability of nerve cells.

I am sure I made that a lot more complicated. Basically, the recovery time for one class of drug can be a lot longer than for others. That is why a lot of times Heroin is really hard to kick, even though it doesn't cause the awful symptoms that a Benzo withdrawal can.

Udie · « **Reply #93 on:** October 13, 2003, 02:37:58 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by wklink
Different class of Med Udie.

Someone alluded to the seizure risk of Xanax. It is similar (as I am sure you know) to Ativan, Valium, Librium, Versed...

Basically benzos work to slow down nerve stimulation in the head. Without getting into acronyms like GABA things like ligand gated chloride channels they basically work by attatching to a port on a nerve and make it harder for the nerve to fire.

Opiate attach to a receptors in the spinal cord and brain (there are some in the body too but lets not go there) and basically work to deactivate nerve cells conducting pain messages. I being very simplistic with this, it is very complicated and a lot of it I don't remember anymore. In the brain it causes the release of (I think) seratonin which gives the high. People get used to this release and crave it after a while.

It takes a long time for that to wear off.

In your case these receptors tend to get used to having the Benzo around and the cells get real excited when they are cut off. Excitable brain cells tend to fire off causing seizures. That is why valium is one of the drugs of choice for actively seizing people, it shuts down the excitability of nerve cells.

I am sure I made that a lot more complicated. Basically, the recovery time for one class of drug can be a lot longer than for others. That is why a lot of times Heroin is really hard to kick, even though it doesn't cause the awful symptoms that a Benzo withdrawal can.

Didn't complicate things for me

One of the patients at the rehab was/is a tenured professor at Texas aTm, his field of study? Drug addiction

he was there for alcoholism. We spent many hours discussing this very topic

He was under the impression that I had totally closed my GABA receptors, causing the siezure. He also told me that long term abuse of alcohol does the same thing as benzo's. He had also had a grand mal siezure, due to his alcoholism though.

The time comment I made was based upon what I saw at rehab. There was a guy there who had shot heroine for 20 years and had been on methadone for the past 5 years or so. His withdrawals lasted about 1.5 weeks, and let me tell you he was in hell 24/7 during that time. I learned a lot about this crap real quick, just wish I had studied it in August instead of the night I had the siezure.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #94 on:** October 13, 2003, 02:43:49 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by _Schadenfreude_
Out of curiosity is a 28 day programme realy enough for an addict to change?

28 days is just detox. After that he needs a recovery program, 12 steps, etc.

DmdNexus · « **Reply #95 on:** October 13, 2003, 03:27:13 PM »

He can recover with the other drug users in federal prison.

It's a simple program - a Job with UNICORP for the next 20 years. They'll even teach him how to earn an honest buck using his "LABOR" not his "BLABBER" - a trade skill like stamping out state license plates, sewing American flags, making tents for the U.S Army...

What a patriotic experience that will before him - to serve the America he once dodged serving.

What's that smell? A whiff of Poetic Justice, I beleive.

And he get's 3 square courses of HUMBLE pie every day.

Perhaps he'll learn a little compasion from his fellow man... and then again perhaps if he doesn't keep his fat mouth shut it just might get beat into him.

drone · « **Reply #96 on:** October 13, 2003, 05:13:23 PM »

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Originally posted by Ripsnort
I've always said Rush was only entertainment...so, being in the entertainment business, does this surprise anyone? Its full of drug addicts.

Maybe so Rip but thats stereotyping and a load of crap---I know several "jobs" that have rampant drug abuse and ALL jobs that have some.....
Well hell just ask your former president --Mr I didnt inhale---lol

Furious · « **Reply #97 on:** October 13, 2003, 05:36:11 PM »

I am certain that at some point somewhere in the world the supply of peanuts has run short.

How does this apply to me laughing at you though?

Sixpence · « **Reply #98 on:** October 13, 2003, 05:59:34 PM »

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Originally posted by Saurdaukar
No, that would have been responsible.

When you get caught you are held accountable. If he had not been caught, would he have tried to get help, or just keep on deceiving everyone? He has been lying and deceiving for seven years, I do not see anything honorable about that.

Udie · « **Reply #99 on:** October 13, 2003, 07:17:35 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sixpence
When you get caught you are held accountable. If he had not been caught, would he have tried to get help, or just keep on deceiving everyone? He has been lying and deceiving for seven years, I do not see anything honorable about that.

Ya know when it is most people fess up? It's when they get caught. Why else would the confess? Honor is just about the only reason. When it comes to an addict and his addiction, honor has no roll in that what so ever. A man's character can be judged by what he does when he is busted. Some will lie, even though everybody knows they're lying and even though they know everybody knows, cough cough cough Bill Clinton. Others when busted will accept their fate and fess up to it, which is the first LARGE step to beating addiction. I surely hope you never get addicted to anything and have to go through the hell that is withdrawal/recovery. Notice how he didn't ask for forgiveness and instead asked for prayers. I think that's because he knows what he's about to go through.

MC_Honky · « **Reply #100 on:** October 13, 2003, 07:28:05 PM »

Udie,

Well said- I went through Ativan withdrawal 2 yrs ago. It was worse than anything I could have imagined. I was barfing and dry heaving for 1 week. I had electric shock sensations all over my body. No sleep for first 3 days then only like 2 hrs a night after that. Night sweets-bizzare dreams. My hair turned grey. I had anxiety so bad I wasn't able to leave my bed. I was taking half your dose Udie and I had a Doctor taper me. I can't imagine what you went through. You have my respect Bro. I thought I was a though dude but withdrawal brought me to my knees the first night!! It's like your brain chemistry just explodes and you got no control over yourself. Feel sorry for Rush...

Udie · « **Reply #101 on:** October 13, 2003, 07:43:09 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by MC_Honky
Udie,

Well said- I went through Ativan withdrawal 2 yrs ago. It was worse than anything I could have imagined. I was barfing and dry heaving for 1 week. I had electric shock sensations all over my body. No sleep for first 3 days then only like 2 hrs a night after that. Night sweets-bizzare dreams. My hair turned grey. I had anxiety so bad I wasn't able to leave my bed. I was taking half your dose Udie and I had a Doctor taper me. I can't imagine what you went through. You have my respect Bro. I thought I was a though dude but withdrawal brought me to my knees the first night!! It's like your brain chemistry just explodes and you got no control over yourself. Feel sorry for Rush...

Dude I was a freakin basket case. I was certifiably insane, no question about it. Before the siezure it was mainly just anxiety, very very bad anxiety. The night before my siezure I couldn't watch that Harry Potter movie, it was too intense

After the siezure the physical part hit. EVERY fiber in my body hurt. I'm sure the siezure caused some of it but it stayed in my muscles for about 2 weeks. I didn't sleep from the friday after thanks giving until that sunday night at about 3 am. Then I didn't sleep monday night either. My damn brain was going 10000 miles an hour and I just knew that I had poisoned myself from the ammount that I was taking.

My rational for rehab was quite simple. I knew I was crazy and I knew I had done it to myself. I just didn't know if it was going to stay or go away. So I decided that the only thing I could do would be to take medical leave from work (good timing since they saw the siezure) and go into rehab for a month. I figured if I was still crazy when I got out that I would have committed myself to the nuthouse for good.

Thankfully for me I found serinity there

which in turn saved my life, I'm sure. The only thing to get in the way of that serinity have been traffic and the O'club, go figure

Also, please don't admire me. What I did was completely and utterly stupid and I'm lucky that I didn't win the Darwin award. One for taking as much xanax as I did and two for quitting the way I did, by refusing to taper even though I knew I litterally could die if I didn't. I took the xanax to stop worrying about everything, and I worried about EVERYTHING. Now the only thing I really worry about is how many years that siezure took off my life. It aged me I know that. I can still feel the affects almost a year later.

It is cool talking with somebody who's gone through benzo withdrawal though. You know what I'm talking about I'm sure brotha

Ozark · « **Reply #102 on:** October 13, 2003, 08:14:31 PM »

.... if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.

DiabloTX · « **Reply #103 on:** October 13, 2003, 08:15:54 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Ozark
.... if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.

*smacks the record player.

Ozark · « **Reply #104 on:** October 13, 2003, 08:22:22 PM »

LOL!!

Please don't spit my bait out.