Not What The Doctor Ordered

Four million people in the UK have an addiction to opioids. Only these aren’t the usual class A varieties we maybe familiar with. They are not the drugs whose vice like grip is reported as ruining people’s lives, destroying communities and killing young people; No, these are the lesser know, but socially accepted prescription variety.

The fact is that in the home of the ordinary everyday person a secret resides.

Many people begin taking opioids after injury, operations, for illness and untreatable conditions; but then this normal and everyday action slips suddenly into an addiction.

Why?

What is it about these ‘safe’ prescription medicines that are leading ordinary everyday people into the territory of the shunned drug addicts of the world?

What is it that makes these painkillers so tempting to our brains?

What is it that allows these drugs to grab hold of people to a point that before they realise it, their addiction is entrenched just like any other ‘junkies’? 

Well, opioids, from codeine to diamorphine (which is basically heroin); all act on the central nervous system. They induce a miraculous feeling of well-being; banishing anxiety, inducing a sense of security and easing pain. It is these facts that have made these drugs, these legal class A drugs, popular for many decades.

Just ask the Hollywood film and television industry; they are no strangers to the short lived delights these little pills have to offer.

In fact many of these seemingly innocent painkillers people take everyday are actually so powerful that some of the brands have been affectionately labelled as “hillbilly heroin” (in America).

Yet, the demand for these opioids is still as fresh as the poppy they all originate from.

There has been no slow down on prescriptions; in fact from 1999 to 2008 dispensed opioids have increased from 6.2 million to 14.8 million. Those number equate to a lot of possible future addicts.

Yet, what other options are available for pain relief via the NHS??

Well, not much – either take these drugs or be left with run of the mill Paracetamol, Ibuprofen and Aspirin.

So before we condemn people for taking these heavy duty painkillers think about it; which would you choose if had to,  heroin based pills or excruciating life impairing 24/7 pain??

Not much of an option then.

It is either no pills or take heavy duty painkiller prescriptions and run the risk of becoming a junkie (albeit a self respecting and socially adept junkie).

So is this what the doctor ordered??

Or are the patients to blame for their own addictions by demanding these drugs, when it is made clear often enough they can produce addictive side effects?

What is the solution when this acceptable addiction spirals out of control???

With addiction creating such bad press and negative ideas/stereotypes how does someone exactly admit to the whole world, the world that thinks they are an upstanding and level headed person; that they are in fact addicted to drugs????

What help is out there for these ordinary people hooked on such drugs???

Do they ever receive the help they require or is it merely a case of having to continue to mask their addiction to save face??

What do they do when the pills eventually run out???

OPINIONS PLEASE!!!!!!!

What are your thoughts on prescription medications?? Help or hindrance?

Are these potentially lethal drugs too often dished out like party favours without real pause for thought?

Are patients to blame for demanding the drugs in the first place??

Who is really monitoring the intake of these drugs; GP or patient??

The 15 Minutes Of Fame – Blessing Or A Curse?

It was Andy Warhol who said that, ‘In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes’. He had a point, and didn’t realise then, just how ‘on the money’ that statement would prove to be.

What got me thinking about this today was JK Rowling’s new book, ‘A Casual Vacancy’. It has been released to cool reviews, not received perhaps as well as everyone hoped it would be. I’m not so surprised by this, I mean Harry Potter’s shoes are very large to fill, but it is how everyone seems so saddened by the news that makes me wonder. Poor JK, I mean her ‘15 minutes’ of fame were probably as big, and far reaching as anyone’s ever could be; if this book disappeared into obscurity tomorrow she won’t be hard done by exactly!

Yet, this ’15 minutes’ gang are all over the world, in one form or another. They pop out of the wood work on a near constant basis. It seems the whole of the entertainment industry is littered with one hit wonders, actors and the like, who have been discarded, ousted from their thrown of omnipotence. They lament for a moment in time they have lost, and feel angered that re-gaining their crown is being denied them, by new talent. Yet, aren’t they the lucky ones? Why do they see their one moment of world glory as not being enough? There are others who have never been given the chance to stamp their mark on the world. Isn’t it just greedy, clinging onto fame, to keep perusing fame and fortune when they have already had their taste? They have already been given the gift of their ’15 minutes’, what more is there to have?

Surely anyone with half a brain knows when it is their time to move out of that spot light and say, ‘OK, I had a damn good run, I’m thankful’, no, they keep on and on trying to claw back what they once were? Why?
Is fame like any other bad habit or addiction? Is it that once you have tasted it, you become a new person, and that person is someone who cannot stop wanting more and more, regardless of the cost to your self-esteem and reputation? Why then doesn’t this fame and fortune come with heavy health warnings, making those that dare to venture further guard against their mental health?

Look at Lyndsey Lohan and Britney Spears; it’s over and yet they refuse to see, and people merely encourage false hope to mock them! It is sad.

I believe the ’15 minutes’ stretches to us mere mortals too. Aren’t we all at some point famous for 15 minutes, not world-wide granted, but in our own way we make headlines with those around us. Isn’t there something we did so well no-one could then replicate our successes, or could they, as we are all replaceable and pervious to the change of opinions and attitude. One minute we are flavour of the month and next, everyone is avoiding us.

None of us can be ahead of the game all our lives though, there comes a time to graciously step aside and let another shine. Yet, some of us seem more able than others to admit it’s over, concede, leave when the leaving is good and maintain our dignity. Aren’t those who are remembered the best and for the longest those that depart quickly; Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Bruce Lee. No, I don’t imply we should have to die young to be iconic, just accept that we have given our best and that was good enough. No one wants to be remembered as a ‘has been’ after all.

This says it all……

Copy Right Notice:
© Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

‘What Dreams May Come’

When I dream I enter a vivid and fantastical world, where anything, quite literally, is possible. I see scenes played out in places, with people, characters and ‘things’ I don’t even recognise; the colours and images are wonderful, delicate, intricate and complex, as are the languages and actions. It’s as though my brain becomes home to a tiny film production company overnight without my knowledge! My dreams could rival any Hollywood blockbuster, and I just wish I could record them to show to everyone else! I look forward to dreaming, I love the experience. I was under the impression that everyone’s dreams were in the same type of quality, and had the same weird scenarios playing into miniature films like me; yet, apparently not.

I couldn’t imagine going to sleep and merely dreaming about the mundane or constricting my imagination to only what I know such as; work, home, friends and family. I mean that would be severely boring and uninspiring!!!! If I wasn’t flying through the sky, being a vampire, running and fighting Zombies and Demons, climbing mountains, meeting aliens, spaceships landing in my garden and being a professional singer I’d not want to go to sleep again, it would disappointment me beyond belief!

What are your dreams like; weird and wonderful or run of mill?

What do you think your dreams say about you and your life?

Feel free to leave your comments.

Copy Right Notice:
© Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Bex Houghagen and The Savvy Senorita with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.