PeteSilas said:

Selena4641 said:

babynoz said:

I wish we could stop the tabloid and internet madness because it's already getting pretty sickening.

I was a Mortician, which involves Embalming, placing Decedent's in Caskets, dressing them and picking up Decedent's from where they died. I'm not trying to gross you out, but that was my job. Literally picking up dead weight, even with help on a call, is hard on your back. I'm sorry you have pain. It sucks so bad. There is a newer drug now, called Butrans. This would've been perfect for Prince, I think. It's a patch you wear and change every 7 days. It's mainly like a Suboxone patch, it contains Buprenorphrine, but it doesn't contain an opiate blocker like Suboxone does. It does stop my pain, and since its a patch, you can't really abuse it. I guess you could abuse it if you changed it every 3 days instead of every 7 days, but I've been using it for a while now, and I don't have much pain. Just some breakthrough pain sometimes. My Suboxone doctor transitioned me from Suboxone to Butrans because I was still in pain but couldn't take pain pills anymore. I dread when Prince's COD (Cause of death) is released. The Tabloids are going to go nuts calling him a Junkie, if he did OD. I hate TMZ with a passion, but everytime they break a story, they're usually right. They were right about Britney Murphy passing, Whitney, Michael Jackson and a few others. They even have a tip line on their website so people can call in tips. The only magazine I have about Prince passing is People magazine, but I've had a subscription with them for 2 years.

Thank you, I always mistakenly thought that morticians had a bunch of assistants like the ME's do.

I am being extememly careful because I have read about the dangers of over medicating and the horrors of withdrawal that you described and it scares me so much. Tbh the liver damage scares me just as much as the opiate.

Most days aren't bad but once is a while I can barely move. It's good news that there are finally some alternative meds.

I shudder to think of what spin the tabloids will put on the story.

oh, and don't get me started on my love for Little Richard, i'm welling up now thinking "how did he outlive Prince" and how I always wanted to meet him before he passed. Wonderful man, god willing, I'll get to see him. But yes, the story is in his bio of quitting cold turkey. As far as I know, he never looked back, in fact, he had a harder time kicking rock and roll because he always went back to singing it.

Selena4641 said:

PeteSilas said:

if this all turns out to be true at least it'll put all the other nutty rumors to rest. I still don't understand how he could be so productive on all this shit. I've known some pill poppers/heroine addicts and they are just a mess. I don't understand this. How did he hide it? Also, if the rumours are true that he sent someone in to get his pills, i'll bet they are wishing they could take a boat to siberia right now because they have alot to answer for. I don't really understand addiction, i'd rather die than take the shit to begin with. I hate taking whatever medicine i do take and in fact, after Prince I'm just sitting through a horrible migraine at this minute rather than take the pain pills i have. I should just throw them away, i don't use them much anyway. this is all so confusing, Prince was always so in control, I guess it's ironic, Little Richard decided to go cold turkey when he was on heroin and cocaine, he did it overnight. High achievers like them can do those kinds of things, so I don't see why prince couldn't, just ironic. Sam Cooke died by drinking too much and getting involved with a hooker who tried to run off with his clothes, by most accounts, Sam was always in control and rational, the entire reason he even hired hookers was to avoid the headaches of possessive groupies. Thinks have a way of just turning out fucked up sometimes. I think most of us can say that we love Prince inspite of it all and wish he would have understood that it wouldn't have been the end of the world if we all found out about his problem.

Little Richard must have the strength of a superman if he kicked it cold turkey. I thought I was going to die when I was in withdrawal. Some people don't withdraw as bad as others. I've known people I used to buy pills from, and they would be totally fucked up and nodding off mid sentence, but would have very light withdrawal symptoms. Little Richard eats at the Sonic my daughter worked at. She said he is so nice and funny, and a good tipper. If I hid my addiction from my husband, and two daughters who were teenagers at the time, Prince could have hid his easily. He wasn't like a normal person with a job and family. I don't mean that in a a mean way, I'm just saying, he lived in a huge home, had no spouse or children, just employees. Hiding it from the public probably was more difficult. All he would have to do is take a pill or pills before whatever he was doing, a concert, a talk show etc, and he would be ready to go. He probably was tired of the monkey on his back, like I was and wanted to stop, but couldn't do it like little Richard did. Plus Prince wouldn't look fucked up in public if he was just taking a little more than prescribed. I saw someone take 10 Lortab 10 milligram pills in one setting, and she just looked sleepy. It just depends on your tolerance level, and if you truly are taking them for pain or if your taking them to achieve being high and fucked up. My husband can take one Percocet, and he gets all sleepy. When I took them they gave me lots of energy, but not a high feeling, if that makes sense. [Edited 5/4/16 2:40am]

I guess that's true. I read a great book by Bill Russel where he speaks of a woman he loved and how she died of a heroin overdose and he reflected and thought how strange it was that a person could hide so big a part of their lives. However, I'm going more off the guys like Elvis, Michael and Whitney. All of them were obviously on stuff, they'd deny it (or in michaels case, go to rehab) but it was plain as day. Elvis had many interview and performances where he was slurring and his eyes were half closed. I can't think of any performer who really hid it. Hell, Marvin gaye was crazy by the time of his final tour, thinking someone was out to kill him, telling people "i'm surrounded by evil".

I have ankylosing spondyitlis and take panadol with codeine but am really careful. It is hard enough to walk a bit when I am in alot of pain but even with all those pain killers have no idea how he pulled off all that dancing? How awful but I guess the alternative was to give up performing and that would have been no quality of life for him. I can so easily understand how the addiction would happen. I dont think anyone who has never had severe chronic pain can judge as it is terrible, especially for a performer. I have no idea how people cope with severe pain and no meds.

i worry about my brother, he takes too much codeine, i keep telling him and he keeps calling me an asshole, it's really hard to change people. Then, you're talking about Prince, a guy who's pretty much had things his way most of his life. Stars don't always attract the highest caliber of people, this is why I mentioned elvis' infamous "memphis mafia" even though those guys were known as scumbags and lowlives, they still had the balls to tell elvis he was destroying himself. Hard to believe no one in P's camp could do the same. I remember richard pryor saying that his drug dealer quit selling him drugs, now how could Prince be surrounded by more apathetic people than that?

I think it is quite clear now that Prince did die of an OD. And whatever illness he had in the past few months wasnt anything like cancer or AIDS. Rather it was withdrawal symptoms. I can imagine Prince trying to kick his habit on his own. No one around him knew of his habit, he wasnt going to see no doctors about it, the world will never know about this. I think Prince ws trying to beat it for quite a while and probably, understandably, kept falling off the wagon. Very few people ever beat this kind of addiction on their own. Unfortunately, a cycle of cold turkey followed by falling off the wagon over and over again messes up the chemistry in the body and, combined with the lack of sleep, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration and lack of nutrition, it makes you very ill and weak. Perhaps, even though help was on its way the following day (if he even knew that), he fell off the wagon for the last time and his body could not handle it.

Perhaps Prince's problem wasnt his addiction to the Percocet, instead it was his insistence on trying to come off it himself without anyone's help. The Percocet itself may not have even been an issue and he just decided enough was enough and he wanted to stop taking them.

I think it may be as simple as that, Prince had an image of total control, he probably couldn't fathom people seeing him as a helpless addict. Elvis had the same problem and died from it too, he could not face the fact that he was hooked, a common junkie even though it was plain as day. Addicts are wierd, might sound harsh but I try to keep way away from them, their whole thinking becomes centered around their drug, with all it's attendant rationalizatons, all the projections they have to do on other people, it's just all screwed up. It makes people crazy. i lost one of my best friends to pot, so I don't have any patience for people saying 'it's just a plant" or whatever. i saw that man change 180 degrees from a patient, caring generous sensitive person to a paranoid, guilty, obsessive and just plain fucking wierd stranger. I think major self-loathing is a part of the deal and when they can't contain that, they end up alienating everyone, further reinforcing their condition.

[Edited 5/4/16 3:29am]

Eileen said:

funksterr said:

The Sheriff's office made very strange comments, imo, during their press conference, about Prince always being a private person and how they would also protect his privacy during death. I dunno if Andy Taylor and Barney Fife got what it takes to investigate what happened to him. I just get the impression they were initialy starstruck to the point that they didn't get serious with the likely criminal aspects of his death until days after the fact.

Those comments make perfect sense to me. They made it clear that the press wasn't going to get morbid, descriptive details about what was found in the elevator and that they weren't going to offer up speculations that could be tossed out as clickbait headlines.

Andy Taylor was smart.

This was also my understanding. Thought it quite respectful even.

morningsong said:

babynoz said:

I know....it seems that this was very preventable.

Very. It even makes the question why was he alone even more pertinent. People knew his status.

This. This right here. He OD'd on the plane, everyone got a real scare, Prince did not want to stay at the hospital because of all the media attention that would have drawn and probably people convinced him that he must start a treatment. All this would make perfect sense. Arranging for treatment takes some days, specially when it comes to a known person like Prince, in order to keep it relatively secret. So why, WHY, was he left alone on that night or any other night after the plane scare? WHY?

That's why Sheila E and Kravitz mentioned they knew what it was, because it was obviously known amongst his closed ones. And that's why he was able to keep it a secret from everyone else, cause it's not like a drug addiction, you don't walk around looking high, you simply look efficient and functional.

PeteSilas said:

I think it may be as simple as that, Prince had an image of total control, he probably couldn't fathom people seeing him as a helpless addict. Elvis had the same problem and died from it too, he could not face the fact that he was hooked, a common junkie even though it was plain as day. Addicts are wierd, might sound harsh but I try to keep way away from them, their whole thinking becomes centered around their drug, with all it's attendant rationalizatons, all the projections they have to do on other people, it's just all screwed up. It makes people crazy. i lost one of my best friends to pot, so I don't have any patience for people saying 'it's just a plant" or whatever. i saw that man change 180 degrees from a patient, caring generous sensitive person to a paranoid, guilty, obsessive and just plain fucking wierd stranger. I think major self-loathing is a part of the deal and when they can't contain that, they end up alienating everyone, further reinforcing their condition.

[Edited 5/4/16 3:29am]

So now he's just a "common junkie"?

morningsong said:

jtfolden said:

Well, the reason he was alone seems obvious to me... Prince wanted it that way. It's incredibly frustrating and infuriating and beyond tragic but I think it really is as simple as that. He was a grown man used to having complete control over his life. No one was going to be babysitting him unless he wanted them to do so...

Sorry no disrespect. But I want to hear it from those that were involved. Because I'm sorry I'd of gotten the roledex, and called somebody in his circle. Fire me. But somebody's staying. There's been one scare in less than a week and now somebody drove him to pick up more.

that's exactly it. i would never hsave let him go, even if it meant hiding ouraside his door to monitor him, or monitoring security video, or getting the hospital to move into paisley park... it's ironic that if a serious stalker fan had somehow gained access to paisley, there would have been someone there to help him

paulludvig said:

morningsong said:

babynoz said:

He never should have left the hospital in Moline in the first place.

To know that was the warning shot.

he was afraid TMZ types would harass him... probably always saw their fins sticking up out of the water at his concerts....

XxAxX said:

morningsong said:

jtfolden said: Sorry no disrespect. But I want to hear it from those that were involved. Because I'm sorry I'd of gotten the roledex, and called somebody in his circle. Fire me. But somebody's staying. There's been one scare in less than a week and now somebody drove him to pick up more.

that's exactly it. i would never hsave let him go, even if it meant hiding ouraside his door to monitor him, or monitoring security video, or getting the hospital to move into paisley park... it's ironic that if a serious stalker fan had somehow gained access to paisley, there would have been someone there to help him

I agree with you, but also hindsight is 20/20 and he was probably only 12 hours from getting help. And sounds like he went to the doctor on Wedsnesday so wasn't crazy to think he would almost certainly make it through one more day before the doctor arrrived from CA. They still should have played it safer, but I can see how they just wanted to believe it would all be ok.

XxAxX said:

morningsong said:

babynoz said: To know that was the warning shot.

he was afraid TMZ types would harass him... probably always saw their fins sticking up out of the water at his concerts....

Yes his celebrity and natural desire for privacy may be what ultimately killed him. He should have at least called 911 instead of getting in that elevator, but maybe he just didn't want that in the news, etc and thought he could make it downstairs and somehow to find help.

JellyJam said:

So very sad. Cue endless ghoulish articles and character assassination. This in Slate is likely to be one of the rare voices of sanity: http://www.slate.com/arti...=503436061 Rest In Peace Brother.

Yup. This makes sense.

FunkiestOne said:

XxAxX said:

he was afraid TMZ types would harass him... probably always saw their fins sticking up out of the water at his concerts....

Yes his celebrity and natural desire for privacy may be what ultimately killed him. He should have at least called 911 instead of getting in that elevator, but maybe he just didn't want that in the news, etc and thought he could make it downstairs and somehow to find help.

it's so tragic. so classically tragic. i hope he is at peace now

JellyJam said:

Ingela said:

paulludvig said:

wow

Yeah wow. Why pretend you've never heard that at least a few times here over the years when you knew dam well. Just cut the crap

"Many have publicly speculated such" suggested you had heard it somewhere else than here.

beacheemom said:

I've heard numerous times Prince did not use cell phones. Do you think he went to elevator to push the fire button for help or something to call for help? I don't know... it just came to my mind..does any button in an elevator reach 911? Just a thought that may not make sense but glad to this place to ask. I hate to think of the thought but I can't help it. In order for me to move on I'm just going to have to know what happened.

Yes I have thought from the start that he didn't have a phone or didn't want to call 911 and have the media attention around that. So I figure he got in the elevator to get downstairs and find help or get to a phone or something.

JellyJam said:

JellyJam said:

So very sad. Cue endless ghoulish articles and character assassination.

.

Yes this is going to tarnish Prince's legacy, but I suppose it doesn't matter. I mean it won't hurt it at all with us or people out there who are smart and care what the truth is, but people are going to get confused and think he was a drug addict popping pills to get high and feel good and doing cocaine and whatever else. .

.

But whatever and the truth will be the truth and the rest can dissolve with his guitar underneath the sea..