armybrat said:

I'm so sorry for all of you who are suffering from severe pain and illness.

mailaccount63 said:

armybrat said:

True.

As I understand it, it is quite basic. Prince's condition cannot be slotted into 'drug addiction'. It was dependence on legally prescribed medicines to control chronic pain and not addiction to illict drugs to get high. It is quite easy to say things but knowing people with acute pain, I can say with responsibility that at times there is no way out except painkillers to maintain a certain kind of quality of life. Prince perhaps tried to keep a bold face for all his fans, tried to hide his pain and keep performing, but I do not blame him, I blame the people around him (if any) for failing to take stock of the situation in due course and at the correct time. This was one negative fallout of the fact that he was pretty much alone at this stage of his life, company could have eased this grave problem. Most of the click-hungry websites have not been able to discern the basic difference between dependence on medicines and drug addiction. I am proud of the fact that Prince was an advocate of healthy living and an intoxicant-free life, the medicines that he used towards his end were perhaps not optional and his accidental death becomes even more tragic because he was a clean man, and hence more shocking to the world.

[Edited 6/5/16 2:07am]

Excellent post, Casibrooke. About 10 years ago, my cousin had a hysterectomy because her endometriosis was so bad - she says it was the best thing she ever did.

Your cousin probably had adenomyosis too (they're frequently found together) - a hysterectomy is rarely a cure for endo. It is comprised of lesions all over the pelvis (sometimes throughout the entire body / on all organs) and they can survive, causing pain and scarring, even without the female reproductive organs. Usually only excision (cutting out) of the lesions helps - but there are very few surgeons able to do this properly so sufferers are often condemned to a life on the strongest painkillers. It's a hideous disease, not helped by all the myths and misinformation surrounding it.

Sorry to derail - I'm involved in a campaign for better awareness / education on the topic so I couldn't let these posts go by without commenting.

[Edited 6/5/16 13:08pm]

GustavoRibas said:

Blakbear said:

Because he was 55 when this started happening. 55 i very different than 45, or even 35. I'm 40, and I can tell you that I can't do what I used to do at 30. I'm trained as a veterinary assistant, but oh my god, the last two years I worked as an assistant? Noooope. I felt it more, even though I'm still quite capable of doing the work because I'm skilled. I also can't eat like I used to -- I can't eat nuts anymore at all, because they make me ill, except peanuts. I can't eat eggs anymore. Meat, period, is starting to be too much for me, and I am godawful tired most of the time these days. SO in my definitely non-medical opinion, he just plain got old, and the things he used to be able to do or handle became too much. His whole system was simply different, because he /was/ basically a young-ish senior citizen. You've got natural aging going on there along with chronicc, exhausting pain, and whatever else was wrong with him (I'm betting he probably was sicker than he would let on, personally, be it the flu or whatever else).

- Yes, it´s true, but he didnt turn 55 overnight. He had a healthy diet and such. My point is that everything seems to have happened SO fast in the last 2 years that it was strange.

Except it does when you've had a very physical career. I mean, the man was jumping off five foot risers in heels for 20 years. You don't escape that unscathed. That kind of thing ages the body faster than you might imagine, and a perfect diet doesn't get rid of that.

Prince was most likely in excruciating pain . I feel bad when I see this being dubbed OD from recreational use. The truth is we will never know the circumstances or just how much he suffered... at least in this life. There are great people on here... but Last night I watched PR blu ray and it was nice to celebrate his life more than focus on his demise. No one can judge and this is about as much "closure" as we'll get. Live 4 Love

2freaky4church1 said:

TurnItUp said:

Blakbear said:

GustavoRibas said:

- Yes, it´s true, but he didnt turn 55 overnight. He had a healthy diet and such. My point is that everything seems to have happened SO fast in the last 2 years that it was strange.

Except it does when you've had a very physical career. I mean, the man was jumping off five foot risers in heels for 20 years. You don't escape that unscathed. That kind of thing ages the body faster than you might imagine, and a perfect diet doesn't get rid of that.

Prince didnt do nearly enough recovery/rest to offset the extreme physicality of his profession. It's not just the dancing folks, the act of learning/playing/practicing all those instruments is another kind of phyiscal repetitive stress -

It's like he was jimmi hendricks - carl lewis - muhammed ali and barishnykov at the same time.

.

[Edited 6/5/16 10:50am]

CasiBrooke said:

lwr001 said:

Bot that I know off. It used,in hospitals only. A veteran friend of mine died in the hospital the same way

I have 2 Autoimmune diseases, one of which is stage 3 Endometriosis. I Just recently turned 38 & from age 12, at the onset of my first menstrual cycle, I have suffered from often debilitating pelvic pain which radiates into my lower back & down my thighs. Endometriosis is an incurable disease & I went undiagnosed for 25 years. In my teens, with every period, I would suffer, often missing school for 1-2 days a month. The pain often left me bedridden & my heating pad was a crucial neccesity. For years, everyone (family, friends, doctors, nurse practitioners) dismissed my pain..."Oh, it's 'just cramps.' All girls have them. You just have a 'low tolerance' to pain." I was given Ibuprofen and/or Midol. That stuff did not touch the pain I was having. From age 18 to about 26, I enjoyed a reprieve from the agony, as I took birth control pills & during those years, the pill worked well for taking reducing my pain from a 9-10 out of 10 to a moderate 3-4 out of ten (with added Ibuprofen). Unfortunately, from my late 20s onward, due to complications from my other Autoimmune disease (Hashimoto's Thyroid Disease) & hormonal changes, I became unable to tolerate the pill (and I've tried several different brands/types; I just cannot take the pill. Starting about 9 years ago, I began having that same horrible cramping, burning pelvic pain that I recalled from my teens. Only now, instead of just 3-5 days a month, I have this pain 85% of the time. I've tried a number of treatments, including surgery. I still rely on my trusty heading pad. But the fact is, I require narcotic opioid/opiate pain medication most days. Over the years, I've tried & taken tramadol (useless for me), Codeine (helpful on days when my pain is more moderate), Hydrocodone aka Vicodin, Norco, Lortab, etc (can be effective but the Acetaminophen in these pills is unnecessary & seriously dangerous to me, considering I take 2 tablets every 4 hours), Percocet (Oxycodone with Acetaminophen; about 1.5 times stronger than hydrocodone & effective for my pain, but again, the APAP is toxic & I must be mindful, as my Mom nearly died last August from years of Autoimmune Liver Disease. I witnessed what liver failure did to her body & life. It was HORRIBLE. Thank God & the anonymous family who donated to my Mom the liver of their dead 14 year old son. It saved Mom's life! But autoimmune disease is hereditary, at least in my case. My Grandma, Mom, 2 cousins, 1 Aunt & my brother all have at least one autoimmune disease). I began to seek out a specialist in the treatment, surgical intervention, pain management & research of Endometriosis. I wanted a real advocate for this disease. I wanted to finally, after so many years of ignorant doctors treating me like a "drug seeker," with their condescending attitudes, insisting that this pain is "all in my head," trying to push me to submit to treatments that would be detrimental to my physical & mental health...again, there is no cure & that includes the ignorant, old school suggestion that having a hysterectomy would cure me. After years, so much pain, so much adversity & psychological torment & feelings of hopelessness, I found the right doctor for me. I found him just over 1 year ago. I have tried Fentanyl for my pain. To my knowledge, as Fentanyl has a very low oral bioavailability, it is only available as patches (transdermal absorption), "lollipops" (sublingual absorption) & intravenous administration in hospital settings. I think there may also be a nasal spray, as well, but it's relatively new. For me, the patch just wasn't a good fit for my needs. It didn't really manage my pain as I'd prefer & thus, I am now taking what I feel works best for me (Oxycodone instant release tablets, without the Acetaminophen). Because of my pain levels, as well as years of on & off opiate treatment, I have a rather high tolerance, so the dose that is currently & effectively managing my pain & improving my quality of life, might sound outrageous to some people. To summarize, I am curious as to how P overdosed on Fentanyl, if he was using the patch, lollipop or nasel spray as directed. The patch is the most common, and it's an extended-release mechanism. Patches are typically applied & the drug is slowly released over the span of 3 days, at such time, it is removed & replaced with a new patch. I'm concerned that he was somehow granted IV Fentanyl, for personal use, without the supervision of a doctor. That should never happen. I hope that we will learn more details, as if P was given this medication to use in a manner that is only appropriate for hospital settings, the doctor or doctors who prescribed it should be held accountable. I apologize for writing so much. I just wanted to offer some insight into opioid/opiate medications, from someone who suffers chronic pain & must take these narcotics to have a normal, improved quality of life. When people don't know about these medications, combined with the media sensationalism & the stigma attached, they make often extreme assumptions about these drugs. I feel compelled to be a voice for those of us who suffer from chronic pain. The majority of us are NOT "addicts." Statistics have backed this up, time after time.

People need to hear experiences like yours. Too many people assume that if a person is on pain meds long term that makes them an addict.

tmo1965 said:

I suffer from chronic pain syndrome due to osteoarthritis and migraines. Every day I am in pain. I have had every drug imaginable shoved my way both opiates and non opiates. The drugs only dull the pain. Due to Prince's hip replacement I am sure he probably had osteoarthritis and chronic pain syndrome. Besides surgery there is nothing that can be done except prescribe drugs. I have taken Fentanyl for migraines and it did nothing for me. During migraines I experienced so much pain I would forget when or how much of a drug I have taken. Oxycodone is very strong and taking that scared me. After a few days I felt no pain. When you have chronic pain and suddenly it is gone that is a big flag. Prince is teaching us a lesson. Be weary of how you treat your chronic pain.

allmusicfan123 said:

I'm so sorry for all of you who are suffering from severe pain and illness.

Thanks. As a chronic pain sufferer I appreciate your empathy. Not much of it on this thread right now.

ou812Ewokadoodle said:

I suffer from chronic pain syndrome due to osteoarthritis and migraines. Every day I am in pain. I have had every drug imaginable shoved my way both opiates and non opiates. The drugs only dull the pain. Due to Prince's hip replacement I am sure he probably had osteoarthritis and chronic pain syndrome. Besides surgery there is nothing that can be done except prescribe drugs. I have taken Fentanyl for migraines and it did nothing for me. During migraines I experienced so much pain I would forget when or how much of a drug I have taken. Oxycodone is very strong and taking that scared me. After a few days I felt no pain. When you have chronic pain and suddenly it is gone that is a big flag. Prince is teaching us a lesson. Be weary of how you treat your chronic pain.

Back problems and migraines here too. Almost every day I have to figure out what I'm going to take. Sometimes I just sit on my bed and cry. For mild pain I try to go without but like you said, sometimes the pain is severe and you have to be careful to keep track of how much medication you've taken because you could forget very easily.

Excedrin doesn't always help and even with those you have to be careful because of your liver, just like percocets. I don't use percs often but I have some and I will sure as hell take them when I need to. I tried Tramadol for 1 day, but that stuff made my hands and feet numb so I tossed it. The big problem is that we cant take away what we have until we have something to replace it with so that people don't suffer excessively.

The biggest blessing are those few days when I don't have to take anything. I never had fentanyl and heaven forbid I hope I never need it. People who don't deal with chronic pain management every day don't understand. My heart goes out to Prince and anybody else in that situation because it's not a simple problem with a simple solution.

SheLovesMeNot said:

TurnItUp said:

I agree with everything except the big C. We don't know because no medical records have been released, so you yourself don't know if he had it or not and it would'nt be stated in an autopsy or the toxcology reports. I believe he took painkillers in the past, but no I don't believe that he was an addict because he would've fallen apart and it would've showed along time ago. I believe it's gotten worse in the last 1-2 year period and especially recently I believe the chronic pain is from what I said above (he's not gonna tell anybody) and the recent passing of Vanity and no closeness with his family.

That's my theory and I'm sticking too it!

[Edited 6/4/16 9:22am]

[Edited 6/4/16 9:25am]

If Prince had Cancer or any other life threatening terminal illness he would've made up a will and had it be known to one he had trust. One thing Prince was, is loyal. He was very loyal to those loyal to him, his resident staff, his long time friends and his charities. Prince had hip pain used painkillers to manage, became depended on them fell into a depression, the painkillers no longer worked so he was introduced to something he had no knowledge of. He died in an elevator that speaks volume, wearing the same close as the night before, this is not Prince to go to bed wake up in the same street clothes he rode to the store on a bike with. I believe he administered, got on the elevator to do his thing whatever it was he was doing to do...the drug hit him hard he went down and stop breathing. No drug that powerful would be prescribed to an ambulatory person who's knowingly still on a stage performing!

I agree with almost all of what Turnitup had to say, we do not know if there were any other underlying conditions...because it was the Fentanyl itself that caused death, not anything else, and all we are told is the exact cause of death. The family of course does know everything.

I disagree with the bolded statement above simply because he's been a multi-millionaire for many years, yet it appears he did nothing in terms of a will (or at least nothing has come to light yet). Given we have no idea when we will leave this place, he could have gotten into a plane crash, car crash, etc....and he apparently didn't think he needed to even put a preliminary will/trust in place. Because of that, I don't think we can just assume that if he may have had a life-threatening illness he'd have done anything differently. A great number of people do put off making a will....it's that mortality denial thing and not wanting to think about death.

Mumio said:

SheLovesMeNot said:

TurnItUp said: If Prince had Cancer or any other life threatening terminal illness he would've made up a will and had it be known to one he had trust. One thing Prince was, is loyal. He was very loyal to those loyal to him, his resident staff, his long time friends and his charities. Prince had hip pain used painkillers to manage, became depended on them fell into a depression, the painkillers no longer worked so he was introduced to something he had no knowledge of. He died in an elevator that speaks volume, wearing the same close as the night before, this is not Prince to go to bed wake up in the same street clothes he rode to the store on a bike with. I believe he administered, got on the elevator to do his thing whatever it was he was doing to do...the drug hit him hard he went down and stop breathing. No drug that powerful would be prescribed to an ambulatory person who's knowingly still on a stage performing!

I agree with almost all of what Turnitup had to say, we do not know if there were any other underlying conditions...because it was the Fentanyl itself that caused death, not anything else, and all we are told is the exact cause of death. The family of course does know everything.

I disagree with the bolded statement above simply because he's been a multi-millionaire for many years, yet it appears he did nothing in terms of a will (or at least nothing has come to light yet). Given we have no idea when we will leave this place, he could have gotten into a plane crash, car crash, etc....and he apparently didn't think he needed to even put a preliminary will/trust in place. Because of that, I don't think we can just assume that if he may have had a life-threatening illness he'd have done anything differently. A great number of people do put off making a will....it's that mortality denial thing and not wanting to think about death.

And Prince did think about death, "We all gotta die some day" and other various lyrics. Also, recently, when asked about the vault, he stated, "One day, someone will release them. I don't know that I'll get to release them." To me, that implied that he didn't know who would get to release them, who would be in charge of his estate after he passed, so that his not leaving a will was done purposefully and with forethought. He knew that when he passed he would not be concerned about his legacy, about what occured after his passing, so there would be no sense in worrying about what might happen to it during that time. We all know his stance on contracts and a will could be seen as a sort of contract. His not leaving a will has not surprised me in the least.

babynoz said:

ou812Ewokadoodle said:

I suffer from chronic pain syndrome due to osteoarthritis and migraines. Every day I am in pain. I have had every drug imaginable shoved my way both opiates and non opiates. The drugs only dull the pain. Due to Prince's hip replacement I am sure he probably had osteoarthritis and chronic pain syndrome. Besides surgery there is nothing that can be done except prescribe drugs. I have taken Fentanyl for migraines and it did nothing for me. During migraines I experienced so much pain I would forget when or how much of a drug I have taken. Oxycodone is very strong and taking that scared me. After a few days I felt no pain. When you have chronic pain and suddenly it is gone that is a big flag. Prince is teaching us a lesson. Be weary of how you treat your chronic pain.

Back problems and migraines here too. Almost every day I have to figure out what I'm going to take. Sometimes I just sit on my bed and cry. For mild pain I try to go without but like you said, sometimes the pain is severe and you have to be careful to keep track of how much medication you've taken because you could forget very easily.

Excedrin doesn't always help and even with those you have to be careful because of your liver, just like percocets. I don't use percs often but I have some and I will sure as hell take them when I need to. I tried Tramadol for 1 day, but that stuff made my hands and feet numb so I tossed it. The big problem is that we cant take away what we have until we have something to replace it with so that people don't suffer excessively.

The biggest blessing are those few days when I don't have to take anything. I never had fentanyl and heaven forbid I hope I never need it. People who don't deal with chronic pain management every day don't understand. My heart goes out to Prince and anybody else in that situation because it's not a simple problem with a simple solution.

Everyone thinks that taking a pill will cure everything. It won't. If you have chronic pain deal with it and move on. You will have bad days and good days. On the good day do everything you can, live every minute. If you see someone take a handicapped parking place and they look fine....don't judge because it may have taken them hours to get out of the house.

SheLovesMeNot said:

You can't take a person who's been drinking alcohol for years, then one day have an accident while intoxicated kill not only themselves but possibly another and not call them an alcoholic. It is what it is. He was depended on drugs and like Elvis, Michael and the many more rockstars accidentally took his own life. Every drug addict has their excuses and reason why they do what they do...doesn't make them bad people it's not like they grew up wanting to be addicted...shit happens! This is why one must not judge others in their weakness. [Edited 6/5/16 11:53am]

Forgive me, this isn't aimed solely at you, but I would really urge all of those making comments like the above to be aware of the subtle but distinct difference between being dependent on a drug to lead a normal life - and an addict, seeking to recapture an 'abnormal' feeling / sensation, or 'high' over and over again.

We don't call diabetics dependent on insulin to lead a normal life 'addicts', nor do we call them 'weak' so it's vital that we don't use those perjorative terms for people with chronic pain conditions, who similarly rely on prescribed pain medications to lead a normal life. There really IS a difference between dependency and addiction and it's SO important to appreciate that.

In addition, I'd just like to say that people who are forced to endure horrific, ceaseless pain every single day are FAR from 'weak', believe me. The vast majority of them exhibit huge amounts of strength and resilience just masking their pain, putting a smile on their faces and going out of the door, knowing that to do otherwise will leave them open to all sorts of misconceptions - as are being exhibited all over the media right now.

ou812Ewokadoodle said:

babynoz said:

Back problems and migraines here too. Almost every day I have to figure out what I'm going to take. Sometimes I just sit on my bed and cry. For mild pain I try to go without but like you said, sometimes the pain is severe and you have to be careful to keep track of how much medication you've taken because you could forget very easily.

Excedrin doesn't always help and even with those you have to be careful because of your liver, just like percocets. I don't use percs often but I have some and I will sure as hell take them when I need to. I tried Tramadol for 1 day, but that stuff made my hands and feet numb so I tossed it. The big problem is that we cant take away what we have until we have something to replace it with so that people don't suffer excessively.

The biggest blessing are those few days when I don't have to take anything. I never had fentanyl and heaven forbid I hope I never need it. People who don't deal with chronic pain management every day don't understand. My heart goes out to Prince and anybody else in that situation because it's not a simple problem with a simple solution.

Everyone thinks that taking a pill will cure everything. It won't. If you have chronic pain deal with it and move on. You will have bad days and good days. On the good day do everything you can, live every minute. If you see someone take a handicapped parking place and they look fine....don't judge because it may have taken them hours to get out of the house.

Tell me about it....ever sit on the side of the bed for a while before you can even get up and start moving?

I mentioned on another thread, I've done acupuncture, physical therapy exercises, Tiger Balm, Ben Gay, TENS unit, ice packs and heating pad besides the meds.

Thank you for sharing your story.

ou812Ewokadoodle said:

babynoz said:

Back problems and migraines here too. Almost every day I have to figure out what I'm going to take. Sometimes I just sit on my bed and cry. For mild pain I try to go without but like you said, sometimes the pain is severe and you have to be careful to keep track of how much medication you've taken because you could forget very easily.

Excedrin doesn't always help and even with those you have to be careful because of your liver, just like percocets. I don't use percs often but I have some and I will sure as hell take them when I need to. I tried Tramadol for 1 day, but that stuff made my hands and feet numb so I tossed it. The big problem is that we cant take away what we have until we have something to replace it with so that people don't suffer excessively.

The biggest blessing are those few days when I don't have to take anything. I never had fentanyl and heaven forbid I hope I never need it. People who don't deal with chronic pain management every day don't understand. My heart goes out to Prince and anybody else in that situation because it's not a simple problem with a simple solution.

Everyone thinks that taking a pill will cure everything. It won't. If you have chronic pain deal with it and move on. You will have bad days and good days. On the good day do everything you can, live every minute. If you see someone take a handicapped parking place and they look fine....don't judge because it may have taken them hours to get out of the house.

No one has ever said that taking a pill will cure everything. It doesn't, most especially chronic pain. "Deal with it and move on" is a very naive statement. When my pain is severe enough, not only can it be debilitating, preventing me from being able to do even the most basic thing, such as walking, not to mention earning a living. And this pain can go on for days/weeks/months, especially if it is the result of a new blood clot. There is no "deal with it and move on". The medication I take during those times helps me to be able to function, to do those things I need to do that I would not be able to do without them. It enable me to still be able to provide for my children, pay my bills, buy food, without them, I would not be able to do any of those things. There was a time when I was on full disability because I could not function, however, once my pain was under control, with the help of those medications, I was able to get off disability, return to school, get a Master's degree, and go back to work to be a functioning member of society. No, it doesn't cure my chronic pain, but it sure does make it less than what it would be so that I can "move on."

Dibblekins said:

Dibblekins said:

SheLovesMeNot said:

You can't take a person who's been drinking alcohol for years, then one day have an accident while intoxicated kill not only themselves but possibly another and not call them an alcoholic. It is what it is. He was depended on drugs and like Elvis, Michael and the many more rockstars accidentally took his own life. Every drug addict has their excuses and reason why they do what they do...doesn't make them bad people it's not like they grew up wanting to be addicted...shit happens! This is why one must not judge others in their weakness. [Edited 6/5/16 11:53am]

Forgive me, this isn't aimed solely at you, but I would really urge all of those making comments like the above to be aware of the subtle but distinct difference between being dependent on a drug to lead a normal life - and an addict, seeking to recapture an 'abnormal' feeling / sensation, or 'high' over and over again.

We don't call diabetics dependent on insulin to lead a normal life 'addicts', nor do we call them 'weak' so it's vital that we don't use those perjorative terms for people with chronic pain conditions, who similarly rely on prescribed pain medications to lead a normal life. There really IS a difference between dependency and addiction and it's SO important to appreciate that.

In addition, I'd just like to say that people who are forced to endure horrific, ceaseless pain every single day are FAR from 'weak', believe me. The vast majority of them exhibit huge amounts of strength and resilience just masking their pain, putting a smile on their faces and going out of the door, knowing that to do otherwise will leave them open to all sorts of misconceptions - as are being exhibited all over the media right now.

Thank you.

benni said:

Mumio said:

I agree with almost all of what Turnitup had to say, we do not know if there were any other underlying conditions...because it was the Fentanyl itself that caused death, not anything else, and all we are told is the exact cause of death. The family of course does know everything.

I disagree with the bolded statement above simply because he's been a multi-millionaire for many years, yet it appears he did nothing in terms of a will (or at least nothing has come to light yet). Given we have no idea when we will leave this place, he could have gotten into a plane crash, car crash, etc....and he apparently didn't think he needed to even put a preliminary will/trust in place. Because of that, I don't think we can just assume that if he may have had a life-threatening illness he'd have done anything differently. A great number of people do put off making a will....it's that mortality denial thing and not wanting to think about death.

And Prince did think about death, "We all gotta die some day" and other various lyrics. Also, recently, when asked about the vault, he stated, "One day, someone will release them. I don't know that I'll get to release them." To me, that implied that he didn't know who would get to release them, who would be in charge of his estate after he passed, so that his not leaving a will was done purposefully and with forethought. He knew that when he passed he would not be concerned about his legacy, about what occured after his passing, so there would be no sense in worrying about what might happen to it during that time. We all know his stance on contracts and a will could be seen as a sort of contract. His not leaving a will has not surprised me in the least.

Glad you understood my points benni

benni said:

ou812Ewokadoodle said:

Everyone thinks that taking a pill will cure everything. It won't. If you have chronic pain deal with it and move on. You will have bad days and good days. On the good day do everything you can, live every minute. If you see someone take a handicapped parking place and they look fine....don't judge because it may have taken them hours to get out of the house.

No one has ever said that taking a pill will cure everything. It doesn't, most especially chronic pain. "Deal with it and move on" is a very naive statement. When my pain is severe enough, not only can it be debilitating, preventing me from being able to do even the most basic thing, such as walking, not to mention earning a living. And this pain can go on for days/weeks/months, especially if it is the result of a new blood clot. There is no "deal with it and move on". The medication I take during those times helps me to be able to function, to do those things I need to do that I would not be able to do without them. It enable me to still be able to provide for my children, pay my bills, buy food, without them, I would not be able to do any of those things. There was a time when I was on full disability because I could not function, however, once my pain was under control, with the help of those medications, I was able to get off disability, return to school, get a Master's degree, and go back to work to be a functioning member of society. No, it doesn't cure my chronic pain, but it sure does make it less than what it would be so that I can "move on."

You understand the problem. The pain never goes away. There are times you just have to take something to get relief. I can not stand up for more than 30 min due to back pain. I take opiates daily and still there is no relief. My spine looks like Richard IIIs. I have had migraines for the past 44 years and some that has lasted 7 days. I do what I need to do just like you but sometimes I just have to get on with it to work. The point I am trying to make is you have to be careful when taking opiates because you don't know when you have a tooth ache, you don't feel pain that could be cancer and you can become injured and not know. Pain is a signal that something is wrong and by blocking the signal you might not catch something untill it's too late.

babynoz said:

Dibblekins said:

Forgive me, this isn't aimed solely at you, but I would really urge all of those making comments like the above to be aware of the subtle but distinct difference between being dependent on a drug to lead a normal life - and an addict, seeking to recapture an 'abnormal' feeling / sensation, or 'high' over and over again.

We don't call diabetics dependent on insulin to lead a normal life 'addicts', nor do we call them 'weak' so it's vital that we don't use those perjorative terms for people with chronic pain conditions, who similarly rely on prescribed pain medications to lead a normal life. There really IS a difference between dependency and addiction and it's SO important to appreciate that.

In addition, I'd just like to say that people who are forced to endure horrific, ceaseless pain every single day are FAR from 'weak', believe me. The vast majority of them exhibit huge amounts of strength and resilience just masking their pain, putting a smile on their faces and going out of the door, knowing that to do otherwise will leave them open to all sorts of misconceptions - as are being exhibited all over the media right now.

Thank you.

I can't say how it's just killing me to see things all over the internet making out that Prince was an addict. Unfuckingbelievable.

Pince was not a Saint. Prince was not a Sinner. Nuff said. Amen.

Mumio said:

benni said:

Mumio said:

I agree with almost all of what Turnitup had to say, we do not know if there were any other underlying conditions...because it was the Fentanyl itself that caused death, not anything else, and all we are told is the exact cause of death. The family of course does know everything.

I disagree with the bolded statement above simply because he's been a multi-millionaire for many years, yet it appears he did nothing in terms of a will (or at least nothing has come to light yet). Given we have no idea when we will leave this place, he could have gotten into a plane crash, car crash, etc....and he apparently didn't think he needed to even put a preliminary will/trust in place. Because of that, I don't think we can just assume that if he may have had a life-threatening illness he'd have done anything differently. A great number of people do put off making a will....it's that mortality denial thing and not wanting to think about death.

And Prince did think about death, "We all gotta die some day" and other various lyrics. Also, recently, when asked about the vault, he stated, "One day, someone will release them. I don't know that I'll get to release them." To me, that implied that he didn't know who would get to release them, who would be in charge of his estate after he passed, so that his not leaving a will was done purposefully and with forethought. He knew that when he passed he would not be concerned about his legacy, about what occured after his passing, so there would be no sense in worrying about what might happen to it during that time. We all know his stance on contracts and a will could be seen as a sort of contract. His not leaving a will has not surprised me in the least.

I don't think that any of us can say what Prince would or wouldn't do, because none of us knows, just like many of us thought that Prince would never do drugs, let alone die because of them. We can't say that he wouldn't have just not written a will or whatever, because honestly, none of us knew the man (his death is proof of that) and can't say what he would or wouldn't do.