🚀 go-pugleaf

"Peter H. Proctor" wrote
> "Ann" wrote:
> >"Peter H. Proctor"  wrote...
>
> >>....  Rush should have been able to get his chronic
> >> pain adequately treated _without_ breaking any laws...
>
> >I wonder if he was taking both legally prescribed and illegally obtained
> >painkillers.
>
>       Doubtful.  Althought they have significantly less morbitdity and
> mortality than alternative analgesics,  few doctors will use opiates
> to control chronic pain for fear of legal consequences.    Rush got
> hoisted on his own petard.

> >  It seems unlikely he could have gotten through the hearing
> >loss testing without someone noticing he was on something.
>
>         Not so.     Opiates have very little effect on behavior in
> tolerant individuals.   People on methadone mantenance take literal
> "killer" doses of a powerful opiate.  One could be working next to you
> and you would never know it.

I wasn't thinking of his behavior.  Given his on-air personality, I'd expect
him to get a lot of latitude.  And balance/gait problems are "normal" with
inner ear problems.  But what about more subtle indicators like his pupils,
breathing, etc?  His history of unresolved back pain was a risk factor for
addiction.

>         BTW,  his mysterious hearing loss was likely due to taking too
> much hydrocodone plus acetaminophen,  which is ototoxic.

Exactly!   The hearing center that treated him had done work on drug-induced
hearing loss.  I wouldn't have expected them to unilaterlly release the
information that Limbaugh's hearing loss was (possibly) caused by drugs ...
but not that they'd insist on an AIED diagnosis either.

> > (But not necessarily what or how much.)
> >Although he has never been in a treatment program before,
> >he reportedly has detoxed (at least) twice.  Why?

> Opiate withdrawl results in a flu-like illness for a few days.   It is
> the easy part.  The hard part is overcoming the psychological factors
> like conditioning.  This is made even harder by the chronic pain.

Events indicate that his intent was to hide his addiction as long as
possible.   Why take the risk of being found out for, as you say, the "easy
part" ... unless he was facing surgery,  drug testing, etc. and had to get
clean?

I'm not blaming the MDs ... they couldn't force Limbaugh into treatment.