Here’s an all too typical exchange between D.F. Rogers and myself.
***On Wed 5:47p Dec 10, 2008 Doug Pratt wrote***
Who’s this in the attached picture? You know who it is. You do. But you’re so stunned, so shocked, you don’t want to admit it to yourself, let alone tell me you know who it is.
***On Wed 5:52p Dec 10, 2008 Dennis Rogers wrote***
Ozzy Osborne after a face-lift? A female Ozzy Osborne impersonator?
***On Wed 5:53p Dec 10, 2008 Doug Pratt wrote***
Not even close, flyboy! Into the garbage chute with you.
Hi Jean! Wow! You really had a bad experience! Withdrawal can be lethal if not done correctly. Even the codeine cough medicine I was just on I took myself off as I came to the bottom of the bottle by tapering very carefully and even then I had that “just not right” feeling. The prescribed amount was for 4 days but since my cough and wheezing were so bad I took it for a few more days by the advised “as needed”, or once or twice a day rather than the label maximum 3 times a day.. It made me so drowsy that at 3 times a day I’d be a zombie. I have been watching VH1s Dr. Drew show, not to expect to see celebrities spoiled, etc., but to see how they handled withdrawal and to learn what caused their addictions. Some were addicted to alcnhol and/or illegal drugs, but some used prescription drugs. The model/actress Amber was addicted to so many pills and she had a really bad withdrawal. While watching the show you do come to see the celebrities as real people.
Here’s my favorite sleazy Hollywood movie about steroids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o7LJPP42TI&feature=related
Joan, yes, getting off benzos (in ANY form) is extremely nasty business. Your description of it is spot on. Six months to day after 9/11, in a typical manic phase, I flushed all my meds (including Klonopin, a long-acting benzo) and went into total withdrawal. My husband decided he wanted me clear-headed like I was the first few days, but then the insomnia and anxiety got so bad. I went nearly six weeks with little or no sleep. It was only after I developed a racing, irregular heartbeat that I finally talked him into taking me to the ER. The doctor agreed to put me back on. He was an idiot to let me stop all my meds cold turkey. I could have died if I had been on higher doses. I don’t remember much of the experience, except I lost nearly 20 pounds in a month, and have never been more terrified in my life. Exercise is the best antidote for anxiety.
And Doug, remember: “If the eye offends thee, pluck it out! 😉
After I was left for blind by an eye surgeon I was, to say the least, extremely anxious. The surgeon who saved the sight in my left eye gave me a prescription for Avitan, and I took one, but it made me feel so weird I didn’t take another. I figured because I didn’t have to function anyway at that point — couldn’t drive, couldn’t work, couldn’t run — I could live with the anxiety.
HI Doug! I know the addictive/withdrawal syndrome well. I had been taking daily a medication called Ativan (a benzodiazapine–very addictive medication) to control anxiety and panic attacks for almost 2 years and when I was able to go off of it I tapered it as you’re supposed to but I still went thru withdrawal and stayed awake for 2 weeks straight! What happens is that you go off of it and, as my doctor, (and I just heard Dr. Drew of VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab” also say), you become so acutely aware of your feelings and emotions that you feel like you could jump out of your skin. Now I take a new medicine called Effexor XR that controls the chemical imbalance causing depression and anxiety. When I am able to go off it and taper it, it would be less likely to cause a drastic withdrawal.
I assume Jerry Lewis was taking oral Prednisone, for his lungs, from his many years of smoking. Oxygen will come next, if he isn’t already on it.
After the big surgeries my left eye endured, I was on Prednisone drops for months. My eye got addicted to the stuff! When I was finally on a taper-off schedule, my eye felt like it wanted to crawl out of my skull, and I’d have sneak an extra drop or two. Such a bizarre sensation, having my eye hooked on a drug.
Hi Doug! Getting older changes your body and so does steroids prescribed for health reasons, and other medicine. Jerry Lewis had the swelling effects he had to suffer with, never mind his illness, from the medicine he was on. I feel sad and sorry for people whose illness, medicines and treatment have affected and changed them. My sister works on reports of adverse effects of GSK medicines for the FDA on approved and experimental medications, and so many patients already ravaged by illness, mostly cancer, are also suffering awful side effects.
Hey, everybody gets older. Linda Rondstadt has tipped 200 pounds at times. Stevie Nicks is back out touring, now that she has her weight down again.
Hi! I thought of Ann Wilson of Heart, but she has been heavy since the 80s. Carrie Fisher had been on TCM with Robert Osborne on a movie discussion show “The Essentials”, but since Rose McGowen has been on there with Robert awhile, I hadn’t seen Carrie for awhile. God bless her, and you too Jeanie! Bipolar Disorder is a very tough illness, much harder to control than depression and generalized anxiety disorder, like I have.
Wait! I started to look it up and then I remembered. Excellent clue. I was doing something else while it was on, but glanced over and couldn’t believe my eyes. It’s CARRIE FISHER, bloated and looking terrible! God bless her. Lots of antidepressants and antipsychotics, such as Depakote, make you gain weight no matter how little you eat or how much you exercise. Been there, done that. I DO remember her saying she’d undergone shock therapy recently. Yes, they still do that, under heavy sedation. It causes temporary amnesia. Thank God I’ve never needed it! She’s promoting her new book (and she’s written quite a few), “Wishful Drinking.”
Post the tape! As one who knows, I can tell you she’s in a hypomanic state at the moment. I love how she describes being bipolar as “WEATHER!” Great analogy. She’s very funny and entertaining here. Naturally, I’m funny and entertaining when I’m hypomanic. I’m the mother all of Molly’s friends like the best! A sample quotes: “Your mother is so funny. Is she an actress?” “She should do stand-up comedy!”
The important thing with the illness is not to dwell on not having the bod you once had because the meds ARE life-saving, if necessary, evils. Luckily, none of the ones I take cause weight gain too badly. Hopefully, Carrie doesn’t think about how fantastic she looked in that slave girl outfit next to Jabba the Hut, which is probably what she feels like now when she’s down. God love her, and remember, she used to be married to Paul Simon, who always seems depressed himself.
Wait! It’s the “Today” show set! I’m off and doing my research…
I already have! Use the Force.
Give us a hint!