Recent criticism on TV of people with chronic illness taking painkillers

Sorry Marji. I can't even comment. I no longer watch television much because we are one of the "old geezers" who still use an antenna and an older TV. The stinkin set up for using those boxes with multiple tv's and with VCR/CD players was insane . . . add to that, they go blank if the tuning isn't crisp and I have to use three remotes now to deal with the mess. It just isn't worth it . . . but I've been blessed in that I no longer have to listen to the biased media giving their extreme views of everything!! I think we'll just go off into the sunset with no television . . . cause this chick won't spend $$ for cable!! Sorry . . . I couldn't resist . . . and I am sorry for MJ and his family that their loss is SO public and critical. Blessings!

I pity his children more than anyone else. How sad. I know the point of your topic was drugs and chronic illness. I also decline to comment, but I digress...I'm with Rosie on tv. Don't have one, wouldn't have one. MY PERSONAL OPINION is that they have heavily contributed to the moral decay of our nation! Judy

Or Korea?

That is good. I wish my docs felt that way. I just heard one commentator say that no one should be on that many pills and medications and I wonder what they would think about our medicine cabinets! And some of the drugs, once you take them, your body gets used to them and you can't stop it. Like my diuretic. Even if it was neglible if I needed it in the beginning, I sure do now and can't stop it after so many years. These meds seem to have a snowball effect.

And for simple vitiligo treatment, to darkenmy white patches I had to put a strong steroid cream anda Rituxan based cream called protopic on a third ofmy body twicea day and then I was supposed to layunder lights whch I could not do due to the sun sensitivity. Putting the creamson took hours and I got side effects and I had to wear gloves, it was a real real pain. some people then have to drive to lay under special lights too. So then I said, why not just make me all white, but the doc said the side effects from the pills were bad and often you don't go all white and it can affect you eyes.

I can' t blame any dark skinned person with significant vitiligo for going all white. Noneof the alternatives are good. And the drug they giveyou to bleach you is a strong form of quinine type drug, sort of like plaquenil, and we know what large doses of that can do to some people. Some docs also use steroids for vitiligo.

im glad to hear some one is standing up for ending suffering. I'm afraid our right to be sick and pain free is really going out the window, yet at the same time they are loosening laws about ending your life. My question is: why is the person suffering and is there anything they can do to stop the suffering. I guess some feel it would be easier and more economical to get rid of all the sick and disabled. I'm afraid we are moving in that direction, you know, the big emphasis on work, only people who work get this or that kind of help, as if people who can't work are useless. Forget retiring.

Unfortunately, they are underprescribed to people who need them, like people with liver disease who cannot take non-narcotic meds, and overprescribed to some people the docs must KNOW are either abusing them or selling them. No one stands up for the underprescribed people. That makes me mad, like some people deserve to suffer, and others get way too much, more than they could ever safely take. I'm sure MJ had quite a tolerance built up over the years.

When I was in the hospital, Imet a woman addicted to methadone so badlyshe started to die when they brought it below a certain level. The doc told me she would be better off had she been addicted to heroin, he could have gotten her off that. Some people do develop tolerances to drugs an probably need injections, especially if they are doing a dance tour. But I think that being overmedicated is dangerous because you can't tell if something is reallywrong, like peritonitis or appendicitis. In England, they maintain addicts because they realize how terrible methadone is. here, the drug company that makes methadone profits off of turning addicts from bad drugs to worse ones.

If the man was dying though, I do believe he should get whatever made him comfortable. They didn't seem to day whether that was the case. But I just dont think we can probably judge. I feel bad the kids were around the drugs, if they were abused. I just dont want some busybody telling me that I deserve to suffer because my liver cant tolerate most non-narcotic meds.