House: Detox

[trishkit]

I've commented in other places about my thoughts on this episode, but I just had to say a couple of thinsg here:

First of all, you know you watch too much Stargate when you and the surgeon say "Ya think?" in unison when the nurse said they would have to cancel the surgery.

Secondly, these people are all doctors - what the heck do they want House to do? He obviously has too much pain to function without painkillers, why try to take him off them? Is there some other way that he could be dealing with the pain that we are not aware of? As House himself says, he is addicted, but what are his other options? Sure, the drugs are probably changing his personality and isolating him from others, but there is no perfect solution for someone in his situation.

House's life sucks, and he is doing the best that he can. I think that he is on the road to improving his quality of life by taking on more cases and there is nothing wrong with encouraging him to become more involved with the human race. But if he has to be on painkillers then he has to be on painkillers. Sure, they will probably end up killing his liver, but I cannot fathom the concept living with constant pain. The whole perception that he has to come off of the drugs because he is addicted bugged me. Of course he is addicted, how could he not be? But what are the options? What do people in real life do in this situation?

This was a painful episode to watch. Hugh Laurie is an amazing creature.

Comments

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

There are actually other options. There are non-narcotic meds that regulate your pain receptors (Neurontin), there is the fact that often the pain feels worse after you are hooked on Vicodin so you end up taking more to manage the pain, it sounds cliche but meditation really does help.

Now, I take Vicodin when the pain is blinding. But the Neurontin keeps it from happening all the time. (And this is for a very similar leg problem.)

[trishkit.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for this information!

That Neurontin sounds like a wonder drug. And I am a big believer in meditation.

I am so glad to hear that you seem to have a system that works for you!

I really wish that someone on the show had pointed this out (well, they did, but they weren't very clear).

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I loved the episode, but kinda got ticked that his choices were Vicodin or nothing.

Neurontin was developed for epilepsy. It finds the nerves that are over-shooting the impulses, and slows them down. I wouldn't be able to do what I do without it.

[trishkit.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I loved the episode, but kinda got ticked that his choices were Vicodin or nothing.

That's why I was so annoyed at the whole situation. Ill-informed people like me didn't know that there were other options, so I got the completely wrong impression about the behaviour of the other doctors. Just goes to show (once again) that tv is for entertainment purposes only!

I am continually stunned and amazed at the human body and the methods we have developed to deal with it.

[m-butterfly.livejournal.com]

Neurontin also doesn't exactly work as advertised--about half the people I've known who have tried it have gotten jack out of it, and might as well have been drinking a glass of water, and half the people I know who are on it successfully end up constantly in a brain fog as an unavoidable side-effect, which is hardly a condition House would be able to stand.



Seriously. Just because there are other options that work for some people, don't automatically assume they'll work for everyone. Or that they haven't been tried--because the show hardly gave us any information there.

[trishkit.livejournal.com]

It figures...oh well, thankfully it works well for at least some people!

I agree, I can't see House (or anyone) tolerating anything that impairs his mental functioning. I don't know anything about pain or pain management, so I am very curious to see what options are out there. It has been a real eye-opener, to say the least. The writers haven't really talked about pain management methods on the show, but then again it's not really their job.

[m-butterfly.livejournal.com]

True... but the problem is, a lot of people off the show don't realize how much they don't know. Then again, hell, neither do a lot of people who have chronic pain. I seem to remember someone making a comment on moonlash_cc's journal about... oh hell, I can't properly paraphrase this, so I'm just gonna dig it up.

*does so*

Okay, here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/moonlash_cc/43227.html?thread=334555#t334555).

Still, I have to say overall I'm pretty impressed by how the fandom did handle this whole discussion--I was originally terrified of bringing it up myself, and then in part appalled by the show forcing it, because it's been my experience that people almost never discuss this stuff rationally. I was consequently surprised in the best possible way by how, for the most part, people did.

[trishkit.livejournal.com]

I'm always painfully aware of how clueless I am... ;) Thanks for linking to that comment - I do remember reading it. I guess that I just want to believe that there actually IS a solution out there. That's why I was so horrified by the fact that no one on the show seemed to offer House any alternatives. It seemed as if they weren't taking his pain seriously, which is one of the big issues for pain suffers anyways, from what I understand.

Hmmmmm, now I wonder if it is possible that they did that on purpose?

It has been fascinating to see how people have reacted to this show. Yes, HL is unbelievably fantastically amazingly good, but the idea of having a chronic pain sufferer in the lead is also very compelling. I think the concept of pain is something that gets everyone's attention, regardless of if they suffer from it or not. Even if we aren't in pain, we are aware that we easily could be, and the impulse to avoid pain is something that all living creatures share.

My small experiences with short-term pain have only made me wonder at how people in a long term or chronic situation can cope. I am in awe and am very grateful for all of the people who have been sharing their experiences and giving us their perspectives.

And, because it can never hurt to state the obvious, House is hot.