Rush limbaugh has relapsed says addiction doctor

  Rush Limbaugh recently bragged about surviving the wild night-before and his imbibing of "adult beverages" (his trademark euphemism for alcohol).

We were shocked: a drug is a drug,right? And Rush (KTTH m-f, 9-12p) has been in rehab three times for abusing the strong opioid pain killers, Vicodin, and OxyContin prescribed for a back injury. 

His on-air monologues and callers-in conversations since his hiatus for rehab have been dotted with     (pic thanks to the Jerk Store Called) references to his drinking. In an April 20 conversation about drinking while dieting, he revealingly told a caller: "Besides, who wants one glass of wine? That's silly. One glass of wine, one of anything?"

We didn't have to swing that proverbial dead cat to find a doctor who'd go on the record that Rush's alcohol use is a relapse of his drug addiction.

Dr. John Patz, a family physician and board-certified addictionist who runs Seattle's Ballard Recovery Services, said, "Oh yeah, that's a relapse. You can't get your brain high on one substance and be in recovery from another."

He uses the ever popular "changing seats on the Titanic" cliché.

"I've never seen anyone successful with that. It leads you relatively fast," he says, "back to your drug of choice."

Dr. Patz says there's a direct correlation between drinking and opiate dependancy. And Big Pants' experiences and education in drug treatment drilled that into him- in other words, he knows what he's doing.

"He's just testing the waters with alcohol."

"Distortion of thinking," says Patz, "the most notable- denial- is a hallmark feature of addiction."

It's no easy task to kick it, says the doctor, it's a fatal disease. With alcohol, about 40% are able to get into remission, but with opiates only about 20% are able to achieve complete abstinence from opiates in their lifetime.

"You've got this double whammy with the pain pills- not only do you have the underlying brain disease of chemical dependancy, but you have the opioid physical dependence.

There are changes in brain chemistry as a consequence of chronic use that are still not completely understood. "They may be irreversible," says Patz.

"When I started this work I always knew that people who had alcoholism really liked pain pills," he says. 

True addicts get an exaggerated high when they drink. Take the opiates away, they'll often substitute alcohol, says Patz; "That tends to be really messy too, because they then tend to use a lot of alcohol."

The booze could get the Big Mouth into trouble. "Alcoholism is a lot harder addiction to mask than opiate dependency. "People can seem OK on opiates, but it's really hard to look good on alcohol in public."

Anyone who takes opiates on a regular basis will become physically dependent on opiates; but about 15% of them will become addicted, exhibiting addictive behavior around their use.

"There's a difference between physical dependence and addiction," says Patz. "The line between them can be a little gray at times."

"I see the occasional person who's not addicted but merely physically dependent and comes off of opioids. Can that person resume normal social drinking? Maybe- but it's a slippery slope.

Rush is probably a true addict. That he's been to rehab three times- the last time for 5 weeks, (most treatment is for 21 days or less) according to Patz, "is not a good sign."

"An individual resuming drinking after a history of opioid addiction is triggering their meso-limbic dopamine system- using alcohol to trigger the endorphin system. The chances of relapsing back to his drug of choice is very high."

And oh yeah- being obnoxious and self-obsessed is also a symptom, and a major hurtle to overcome in recovery.

"I'm not a psychiatrist," says Dr. Patz. "but my guess is that he has something along the lines of a narcissistic personalty disorder- the world revolves around Rush.

That's not the kind of patient who humbles himself in treatment and says 'I'm powerless over drugs.'"

Comments

[Duffman]

Who cares!

[Brian]

Duffman !!!!!!!!!! you doA man!

[mrogi]

Rush has got to be the greatest broadcaster in the history of radio. No any other talk show host can attract and hold an audience of 20 million listeners on a daily basis even when bombed out of his skull on drugs.

[Mark Wygard]

It's always so amusing to see the Big Fat Hypocrite get his butt in a sling. He eats and drinks and uses drugs just like the liberals he's always trashing. Like Rosie O'Donnell, he never fails to get into embarrassing situations that get him into the papers.

[sparky]

sounds like he will become another Mama Cass...

[Andrew]

"People can seem OK on opiates, but it's really hard to look good on alcohol in public."

Doesn't this discredit the entire article? It's stating that if person is performing A they will exhibit behavior B. There is no B, and yet it would have us believe he's performing A.

This might be worth going over again if ever the day comes he stumbles around drunk in public, at which point you won't need a quack to tell us he has a problem.

If we're going to hate on Bill Frist for giving Terry Schiavo a full medical checkup thousands of miles away then we can't endorse doing it here.

[Tommy008]

Rush is obviously a narcissist. Duhhh Who knew? .........I'm now graduating up into "Blatherwatch Senior Fellow" status, so Shiers and Monson will no longer have to cringe everytime they log onto Blatherwatch. Simply have bigger and better things to do than publicly spank those two assclown creeps- like revise and prep my novel for publication. I'll still be posting episodes of the Dillard Montrose melodrama , from time to time. One final note- Dave Ross'es lame, naive, uninformed and enthusiastics agreement with corporatist Bush'es Chamber of Commerce immigration amnesty plan is really the last straw. He's really out of it. It's time for Ross to retire to NPR, or some station in Eugene, or in some other silly city in America. Or maybe he can strap on a bowtie and convince Charles Osgood to retire early. Wait a minute- when was the last time Osgood was heard on KIRO?

[coiler]

Andrew, Rush is fame game, ok? Frist meddled in a private family matter for political gain, ya know?

[sparky]

Maybe his butt cyst is hurting him again...

[mrogi]

Any talk show host who presumes to know how to run the country is full of shit. A blow hard on the radio has no security clearance. They have no access to the tons of classified documents that contain information vital to making an informed decision on domestic or foreign policy. Limbaugh and Randi Rhodes are rodeo clowns feeding you histrionic rhetoric on a daily basis...desperately hoping that you will stay tuned to the station long enough to hear the commercials.

[nevets]

I agree 100% mrogi.

[howieinseattle]

just replace the "r" with a "b."

[howieinseattle]

just replace the "r" with a "b."

[joanie]

This is for that ass-backwards nevets:

check out "The President Has Gone Insane" and "Lieberman Confronted By Troops In Iraq: ‘When Are We Going To Get Out Of Here?’"

Why, there's even a cute little picture of soldier Lieberman for you, Steve.

[joanie]

when was the last time Osgood was heard on KIRO?

I'd forgotten about Osgood. I thought Dave took over for him once already. Hmm, wonder why they took him off - if they did.

I like Ross but he can be terribly, terribly simple sometimes. "just form a union" "Just quit patronizing that store" "Just vote 'em out"

If things were only that simple . . . he must have grown up Ozzie and Harriet. That's the only thing I can think of.

[nevets]

"he must have grown up Ozzie and Harriet. That's the only thing I can think of."

I can agree with you there Joanie.

And them two links, you can do better than that Jennifer Loven gal can't you and who is Rico who posted that Liebermann bit.

[mrogi]

Dave Ross and Charles Osgood were both spawned from the same womb of lukewarm tapioca broadcasting.

[mercifurious]

Duffstuff:
Who cares!

*Hand in the air*
I do I do.

Here's why:

A.) Further documentation of Rush/wingnut hypocrisy: I don't have a single beef with anyone who enjoys a drink, etc. now and then. BUT once that individual (myself included) starts making statements like this:

“Kurt Cobain died of a drug-induced suicide, I just – he was a worthless shred of human debris.”
~The Rush Limbaugh Show, 9/7/94]

or this:

"When you strip it all away, Jerry Garcia destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he's being honored, like some godlike figure. Our priorities are out of whack, folks."
~ABID. 8/20/95

Or THIS:

""Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be
convicted and they ought to be sent up."
-ABID. October 5, 1995

...THEN, that person's actions should be archived, copied & re-copied, mirrored & re-mirrored

...So that every time that the big fat fuck opens his big fat fuck mouth, his words & actions repeatedly bite him on his pilonidal cysted, draft-dodging ass.

B.) It's called "Blatherwatch" (in case you hadn't noticed). Not "Duffman's off-subject Drudge/WND/Hillary sieg heils & brain farts".
Bla'M is calling a blathermonkey on the carpet. (ie, BW's job description)

Note: With all this time posting here, why don't you start your own "Duff's (Bull)Stuff" Blog?

Until then, enjoy some nice Acidophilus

[Andrew]

I'm getting tired of pointing out hypocracies of radio personalities. Just now I heard Bill Schwarts say "FOR MONTHS YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD MORTGAGE COMPANIES SHOUT! AT YOU!" I'm coming to realize that hypocracy is part of "the product".

If you were call out Monson on his hypocracy he'd probably say "hypocracy is one tool among many tools in my tool box. Beside faux outrage, inflammatory extremes, selective observation, specious argument and the dump button."

The nature of their business model do is hypocrtical. Dave Ross comes on acting effervescent, as if he's intelectualy stimulated by the few current events per day, and of course he can't always be. He can't come on and say "Cruised Drudge, took notes, it's all shit. Open lines. I didn't even want to wake up today but my Mercer Island mortgage bill and car payment are very demanding." So he pretends he's something he's not and we pretend he's honest.

[mrogi]

Anybody stupid enough to listen to Dave Ross deserves the daily dose of crap he dishes out.

[Duffman]

He commands big bucks for his daily dose (as you call it); so tell me WHY is he so popular?

[cowpotpi3]

You can pretty much put any radio host's name into Mrogi's opinion. Doesn't make it valid.

[Duffman]

10-4, figured as much!

[Fremont]

Love that caustic cuppa acidophilus, MF.....LOL!

[Duffman]

Yeah..that's pretty funny; way to go! :-)

[nevets]

Lets see how far Joanie will go to deceive everyone. We will take a look at her link above.

Lieberman Confronted By Troops In Iraq:By Think Progress' Nico

And the real story,

Lieberman Confronted By Troops In Iraq:By McClatchy's leila Fadel

and compare an item which Joanie's link referred to. The Questions.

Nico of Think Progress writes:

"In response to their questions about leaving Iraq, Lieberman said it would be a “victory for al-Qaida and a victory for Iran.”

But yet Leila Fadel of McClatchy's article says:

"The soldiers smiled and greeted him, stood with him for pictures and sat down to a lunch of roast beef and turkey sandwiches. It was unclear if they ever asked their questions.

"As Lieberman walked out, he said that congressionally mandated withdrawal would be a "victory for al-Qaida and a victory for Iran."

So where did Nico get that "questions" were actually asked? Out of his Ass is where it came from because Nico knows this is the type of shit Liberals and sometime Independents like Joanie want to refer to as real news.

Joanie, the only one you are really deceiving is yourself and your friends here.

[Meth addiction treatment]

addiction is a chronic neurobiologic disorder that has genetic, psychosocial, and environmental dimensions and is characterized by one of the following the continued use of a substance despite its detrimental effects, impaired control over the use of a drug, and preocupation with a drug's use for non-therapeutic purposes.

-jomie-