Paula Abdul has shocked precisely no one whatsoever by admitting a pain killer addiction. Little Miss Perfect, who made a big fuss when accused of acting kind of like a drunkard on TV, is not so perfect after all.
The lop-sided media darling says that her recent wobbly behaviour is due to a dependence on medication, which I guess makes her either a liar or someone who was in mega denial for a significant period of time.
It’s not known just yet what American Idol’s official position on this is, but it’s going to be something neat, pooped out and contrite for sure. Abdul also divulged that she was in a rehab facility in November 2008.
Abdul says she checked herself into the La Costa Resort and Spa, in Carlsbad, Calif., last Thanksgiving to help beat her use of medication. “I was freezing cold, then sweating hot, then chattering and in so much pain, it was excruciating,” she says. “But at my very core, I did not like existing the way I had been.” (via People)
Evil Beet were quick to point out that the announcement coincides with the release of the horror that is a new Paula Abdul single. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is worse and more upsetting news.
I hope that Paula’s still on drugs, she’s only entertaining that way and gawd knows Paula still sounds like she’s hooked.
She still has that crazy eyes, rocking back and forth thing that makes me a little uncomfortable.
know how they say any publicity is good publicity? i find t rather conenient that this comes out the same week she releases a new single. hmm..
I bet the single still tanks
I’m sure they gay guys will still go get it. I wasn’t impressed with it myself, and I tend to like her music
*scratches head*
In the UK, do they refer to drugs that need a physician’s prescription as “over the counter” – as in they’re kept out of the reach of the public and have to be handed “over the counter” by the pharmacist? Because in the US “over the counter” means you can just walk in and buy them – Tylenol, Advil, aspirin, etc. Trying to figure out how she could get addicted to over-the-counter stuff.
(And now I’m trying to figure out why we use “over the counter” to mean the exact opposite of what it seems like it *should* mean…)
I had a friend who had RSD, and man, that shit will FUCK A BODY UP. She had flares sometimes so bad that she was literally crying all day long, nonstop – and that was WITH the OxyContin and the Fentanyl patches. It was unreal; she was suicidal for months because she didn’t believe the pain would ever stop and no amount of medicine they could give her, short of IV morphine, could even take the edge off.
I feel for Paula – but I’d have a lot more sympathy if she’d been honest from the get-go. Conventional wisdom says you can’t get “addicted” if you take pain meds as prescribed, but (1) that’s not always true and (2) even if you don’t develop a *psychological* addiction, you can still become *physically* dependent and have the type of detox experience she talks about. It doesn’t *always* indicate abuse or irresponsible behavior – she could have done a lot to raise awareness if she’d been honest from the start. Of course, if she’s *acting* like she’s got something to hide, then probably she’s got something to hide, so…
Yes, it’s a fairly generic term here and the health system in no way resembles the US one. I use it to mean little more than where it is physically kept in the store (behind the counter where the public cannot pocket it, next to the throat drops).
It’s not a strict term, per se, and does not necessarily relate to a prescription (this along with drug availability/ branding and use could vary to some extent too). The general idea is that the person behind the counter would have to then check amount you could physically access and advise per the label – verbally.
I’ll edit it out in a second…
The UK definition makes much more sense, actually. I guess I was in a US-centric mindframe when I read the article the first time because I thought, “What?! Paula’s saying she got the DTs from ADVIL, and expects us to believe that?!?” Took me a minute to shift gears, and then I wasn’t sure if I was shifting correctly.
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I have a chronic pain condition myself–lucky me–so I know a bit about this stuff. Pretty much everyone (personally, I believe it’s everyone) who takes narcotics regularly for an extended length of time will become physically dependent on them. If you take them for a week or two after surgery, you’ll be fine. If you take them for six months due to a severe condition like cancer, you’ll become physically dependent. There’s a difference, however, between being addicted and being physically dependent. Research has shown that people who take painkillers to alleviate chronic pain by and large do not get addicted to them, although they will be physically dependent and must be tapered off when it comes time to stop taking them. People who take narcotic painkillers on a regular basis for other reasons, even if they started out to alleviate pain, will become addicted. Such as people who take oxycodone “to take the edge off” or to sleep or to get high.
The question is, was Paula taking them for her RSD, or was she taking them for other reasons? I’m not an Idol fan, but I’ve heard how spacey and odd she can be, so I assume she’s been taking them in higher doses than she should have been. People who are on the correct dosage of painkillers don’t appear spacey or stoned. I hope Paula deals with her issues, and I hope her RSD is in remission or whatever it might be. Because if it’s not, what else can she do for the pain but go back on painkillers? It’s a difficult problem.
Pencils – welcome back nice to see you around. Sorry to hear you’re suffering
Lastly, thank you for the input and for sharing your story.