Prince: death by ignorance and fear

I dunno, but it’s weird. Too many Real_Names.

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Thank goodness the attitude that taking antidepressants is “using” is no longer the norm. The first time I got sober 30 years ago that was the typical response, now not so much… I had been sober the second time for 5 years when I developed a debilitating, chronic illness and required pain medication just to function. 5 years more and 13 surgeries later my condition can be managed without opiates. The hard part is getting off them. I’m in the process of withdrawing from prescribed methadone. Had I known then what I know now, I would have insisted on another drug. I stopped my morphine a couple of months ago but the methadone is in a whole other ballpark. Opiates were not my original drug of choice by any means but now it will always be part of my story. Even though I needed it and was prescribed it, I misused it at times during that 5 years. I will be reintroducing myself…

Anyway, yes Prince was an addict, understandably so and understandably secretive about it. It’s hard enough for a person not in the spotlight to get clean. The way I see it, he died from untreated/ improperly treated chronic pain with a side of being in a country that doesn’t get it when it comes to addiction and/or pain management. Thanks for this article. I’m Sarah and I’m an addict. And you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny…

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Him wearing high heels 24/7 probably did more to his condition of nonstop pain than did his JW nature.

Alternatives do exist.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/3949830/

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A bunch of new users, and yet the thread remains generally civil. It’s like that “Mirror, Mirror” episode of Star Trek, but in reverse.

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You mean, we’re the evil universe.

Huh. That explains the goatee.

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OMG, I am the Evil Mister.44?!

This makes my secret urges to take over the world make more sense.

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What, exactly, is the the point of your baseless speculation? And furthermore, how does it relate to the topic of hiding a prescription drug addiction?

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Wrong. Multiple sources, which you can find with minimal effort, report that he had the surgery in 2010.

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You make a lot of excellent points. I am pleased that someone has finally said it, unfortunately not enough of this thinking is out there. Much of the problem is words like “addict” and “clean and sober” - for me this conjures up those addicted to drugs to get high not someone with a dependency on medication to relieve chronic pain. I dunno, guess it’s just semantics but I think dependency explains it better, maybe it’s just me. I don’t think Prince took pain meds for the high.

My heart aches for Prince, he would hate all of this. All those speculating based on what they read on TMZ, Daily Mail, National Enquirer or Media Takeout have no clue about the man!

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I had to stop after the first couple of paragraphs…sorry for not reading the whole thing but he did follow all the proper protocol for trying to fix his issue and resolve the root cause. Double hip surgery in 2010 and obviously the healthcare system has failed him because they can’t figure out what to do to alleviate pain. All they know how to do is feed people all of the drugs made by the big pharmaceutical companies. Write them a script and send them on their merry way. The pharmaceutical companies aren’t smart enough to figure out the workaround and not prescribe something to someone that is going to kill them. The docs are in a very hard place because they want to help their patient but they have no other alternatives. The government keeps the pharmaceutical companies in business. In Prince’s case, he did not want to be addicted to opiods and led a very clean and healthy lifestyle not drinking, swearing or taking recreational drugs. The only problem he had was trying to fix the pain he had from his hips. I would bet a lot of money that if any one of us were in his situation and couldn’t get help from the healthcare system and our pain was so bad we would seek alternative ways to try and get rid of our pain. Don’t blame Prince. He was not weak and was very health conscious. Everyone do some research (which is what I did) to find out about the real Prince. This was one of the most beautiful people to every step foot on this planet. Love and healing to all experiencing the same type of issue and I hope your struggles are few.

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I know, that’s what’s making it so weird. :wink:

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The “BIG PHARMA WHAT DO DOCTORS KNOW ANYWAY??!!” aim of this post is not helpful, painkillers are used because we do not currently have a successful enough alternative.

We are all “stupid” when it comes to every function of the human body, but we are omniscient beings. That we do not know everything is a part of science, it has nothing to do with seeking profits.

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I already have a goatee, what does that make me?!

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In need of a trip to the barbers is what, hippy.

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Thank you for this.
I kept wondering how no-one had reached out to help him before this happened.
Now I understand the media would have had a field day with this, and this makes his passing even more heartbreaking as there could have been a way to resolve this…

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Very well-written article. You were very fortunate to work for Prince. That would have truly been a dream come true for me! Prince’s sudden passing came as a shock wave to his millions of fans around the world. None of us were prepared for this. The way he died makes it even harder to accept. I miss him, immensely. There is a lot of misinformation out there concerning his death and that leaves us not knowing what to believe. Only Prince and God truly knows how he was feeling and what he was going through, because he obviously did not want to share his pain with anyone. When I think of the circumstances surrounding his death, it breaks my heart. The fact that Prince was not getting the help and treatment he needed could be the fault of his own or the doctor’s. We know Prince was a private Man, and we have to respect that and let him rest in peace now. I just wish he reached-out to someone sooner. He left us much too soon and I feel his death could have been prevented. He had nothing to be ashamed of, he was in pain and needed help. His fans would have supported him and loved him if he got the help he needed. The bottom line is, we will never have all the answers. It’s hard to accept he is gone. He was so deeply loved. He has eternal peace now and no more pain.

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I think you know the answer…

Off topic, know any Soldiers of Fortune? I have, uh, some landscaping I need done.

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Excellent article! For more on the important role medication-assisted treatment should play in treatment of people with opioid addiction, please read this valuable post from Kelly Pfeifer, MD, of the California Health Care Foundation: If Addiction Had No Stigma, and Treatment Were Widely Available, Would the Outcome for Prince Have Been Different?

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Funny story. I almost never use Apple News on my iPhone but I pulled it up yesterday and read this article and said to myself, “that’s a damn good article, I wonder if BB has posted a link to it” only to scroll to the very bottom and see I was already reading the BB article.

I felt like a dumbass.

It seems as if this article has got some pretty wide exposure (and deservedly so!) and like the other site regulars I’m quite happily surprised this thread hasn’t turned into a shit show… so, yeah. Welcome, newbies and thanks for contributing!

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landscaping, or… _man_scaping? !!!

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