On Pain Pills, Social Views Thereof, and House, MD.

[fireborn]

I very seldom post much in the way of fannish ideas, ideals, or navel-gazing. It's not so much that I don't participate in fandom, both in the broader sense of SF/F/H fandom, which I'm undeniably active in, and in the more modern online usage which involves the fic and the icons and the vids and the meta and the communities and mailing lists, which

Comments

One little correction

[octoberdreaming]

Hubble is being scrapped because we lost a shuttle and NASA has done nothing to reorganize/restructure according to the recommendations of the independent investigation committee from that incident which uncovered many other structural problems within NASA. NASA has not shown a strong administrative capability in the budgeting department, and thus they have not merited enough of a budget increase that would allow another repair mission to Hubble

Re: One little correction

[octoberdreaming]

Credentials: I have worked for NASA in public relations, and most of my engineering friends now currently work for NASA, including on the Hubble project. Aerospace engineers, orbital mechanical specialists, those kinds of people. They give me the inside scoop on what's going on. I also do not spout off inaccurate or unchecked facts

Wow! I'm pissed off! This happens most rarely.

[glaed]

Jeeesus Christ. Now, I don't take pain pills because I'm not in pain, I'm in 'general ugh' which is different, and I've never knew that attitude existed until you wrote about it. But-how the hell is that episode going to make any sort of point

Re: Wow! I'm pissed off! This happens most rarely.

[fireborn]

Now, I don't take pain pills because I'm not in pain, I'm in 'general ugh' which is different, and I've never knew that attitude existed until you wrote about it.

Oh yes. It's really quite remarkably existent, in fact--I mean, there's an actual phobia word for a doctor's fear of prescribing needed pain medications. (Opiophobia.) And then I remember running across a story a few years ago about this woman trying to get Congress to be saner about pain medication restrictions for people with chronic conditions, which she had a nasty one of herself, and then killing herself like a week after she sent this letter.... Hmm. **googles "killed herself after sending a letter to congress opiates" and is startled when what she wants is the first result**

I *can* imagine myself doing something like that, because if my mind is being messed around with I like to know about it. I haven't watched the show, but I can imagine a snarky independent character like that doing it too. But I wouldn't do it like House is doing it-on a specific time period and

Re: Wow! I'm pissed off! This happens most rarely.

[terrycat]

Oh yes. It's really quite remarkably existent, in fact--I mean, there's an actual phobia word for a doctor's fear of prescribing needed pain medications. (Opiophobia.)Interesting. I never really put two and two together and noticed this. Looking back, it does explain a lot

[fireborn]

My mother is terrorized by this issue. She already has self-esteem problems, and fights depression as well as FMS. She worries every time her doctor suggests a dosage increase that she is "becoming addicted." She understands the difference between her body getting used to the medication & physically needing more to produce the same stabilizing effect and true psychological addiction, but she just doesn't have any confidence in herself. She undermines her own physical need because everything she sees and hears is telling her that it's not ok.

**nods** My sister went through something similar last summer--when she had that ghastly fall that broke her ankle in three places and required the surgery and everything? Between her views and her husband's, she not only severely stinted herself on the pain medication she needed, but she also tried to return to work to soon. It nearly drove her into both physical and mental breakdown, extended the amount of healing time she needed, and resulted in her being put on antidepressants

[brennye]

Hola!

I'm not sure if you remember me or not, but we used to bump into each other often at the Mercedes Lackey boards on AOL a few years back. I think the SN I was using then was either Brattye or Brennye. Imagine my surprise and delight to see your name pop up in metaquotes and it was the same Fireborn I thought it was

[fireborn]

I'm not sure if you remember me or not, but we used to bump into each other often at the Mercedes Lackey boards on AOL a few years back. I think the SN I was using then was either Brattye or Brennye. Imagine my surprise and delight to see your name pop up in [info]metaquotes and it was the same Fireborn I thought it was.

Oh wow. That has to have been at least three or four years ago, maybe more. **laughs** I guess my remarkable consistency in screen names has paid off, huh? I do remember you.... Or at least those screen names are both familiar to me.

**thinks back to that period in her life**

This feels very Jack Sparrow of me, but I never flamed you, did I? (I was a great deal more... explosively tempered then. Not that I still don't manage it now, but I have, impressively, actually mellowed a bit.)

re: House. I have the same reservations about the next episode that you do. I enjoyed his attitude of never being apologetic about anything, including his Vicoden. I don't have time to watch much in the way of entertainment these

[brennye]

Oh wow. That has to have been at least three or four years ago, maybe more. **laughs** I guess my remarkable consistency in screen names has paid off, huh? I do remember you.... Or at least those screen names are both familiar to me.

**thinks back to that period in her life**

This feels very Jack Sparrow of me, but I never flamed you, did I? (I was a great deal more... explosively tempered then. Not that I still don't manage it now, but I have, impressively, actually mellowed a bit.)

LOL, no, you didn't flame me at all. We used to have fun with Qatmom dancing around the circles of semantics. Unfortunately, I'm not as consistant with names as I once was, but they're usually gryphon based.. that much I can claim. :)

I'm going to be miffed because I was enjoying it so much, and it's the only show they brought on this season I can say that of (having escaped the heroin-like addiction of Lost, thankfully). In fact, it is the only show every person in this house watches and likes, even my father. And that's so rare we should be

[no_detective]

*flaunts icon*

As someone who grew up with a mother who happens to be a nurse yet discourages the use of meds even during very painful periods (and for about three years, mine would regularly land me in the hospital to receive a shot of painkillers so I could uncurl from the fetal position and go about normal life) - I hear you.

And I'm terribly sorry that you had to deal with the Addiction!Drama social prejudice as well at such a vulnerable age; I sure as hell hated every minute of it. I almost started believing in god in my late teens, because damn - I really wanted to hate someone or something for what was happening to me, apparently just because I was a woman. Terribly unfair business, pain. The way people treat pain sufferers - even worse. Now I'm a well-adjusted atheist with a somewhat bitter outlook on humanity. And I take painkillers whenever I feel like I need them. No apologies

[fireborn]

As someone who grew up with a mother who happens to be a nurse yet discourages the use of meds even during very painful periods

My mother is, thankfully, remarkably sane. Which is good, because if she wasn't, I'd probably be crazier than a bedbug by now. In fact as far as PMS goes, when I started my monthly joys she's the one who went out and got a bottle of "PMS support formula" full of vitamins and supplements to get you through that period (pun not intended) with minimal suffering and explosions. We spent several years in constant argument about my actually taking them, though. I didn't want to at all--every year I have one completely psychotic bout of PMS, and the rest of the time I'm fine, and I hate taking pills. She found that one bout traumatic enough that she was in favor of me taking them all the time to just be on the safe side. This was mostly resolved by my eventually starting to have psychotic bouts of other things, which meant that even if I did take them she'd still be getting regular DRAMA, so she gave up and we

[fireborn]

Thanks for posting, btw. I've been trying to discuss the issue of pain with fellow House fans, but it's always a can of worms - how do you address a real issue in chronic pain sufferers' lives in a sensitive manner, while speculating about the emotional intricacies of a fictional character? A fair share of toe-stepping is pretty inevitable with such a personal topic. So I'm tremendously glad you're up for discussion. *g*

If you're worried about being sensitive, you've already won most of the battle, I'd say. The ones who piss me off are always the ones who don't pause to consider if they might upset me at all. Or the ones that believe I deserve to be upset, because I'm being stupid or lazy or something and need shaken out of my incorrect viewpoint. **rolls her eyes** Anyway, when I first got on LJ I used to be more hesitant about discussing this stuff, and only would with a friends-lock, but as time has gone on (and looking at my calendar, I joined in 2001; ye holy fucking gods, where did the years go?) and I pared away the more

[no_detective]

Hurray for rock-throwing friends! Everybody needs those