I was reading just recently

of Rush Limbaugh's reported addiction to prescription pain killers. And

I am reminded of the various pains that lead so many to become slaves

to pain killers of a thousand sorts. From drugs and alcohol, to sex and

food, we reach for anything we can find to alleviate our pain.

I don't know when and how it

happens, but in the search for such pain relief there are those who eventually

trade their souls and families and even their very identities for such

relief. Oh, they don't know they are doing it. They don't have a clue

what artificial pain relief costs.

In the case of legally prescribed

medications, it is not ethical, in my opinion, for doctors to opt to write

a prescription instead of addressing the real issues behind the need for

the pain killers.

Now, this is where I know I

could get into trouble. But, seems like I've done a lot of stepping out

over the years onto limbs of various strengths. And God only knows how

many times I have butted into affairs or circumstances that may be no

direct concern of mine.

So why do it? Two things come

to mind.

One -- I cannot live with regret.

I can live with just about anything else. Other emotions may take their

occasional toll, but nothing gets to me like regret.

Two -- I have to look in the

mirror. When applying my makeup, no matter how hard I try to look only

at the face on certain days, I see the eyes. I see the soul. I see the

heart of me. Yeah, the mirror can be either my best friend or my worst

enemy on any given day.

So, when I see a need that

I believe I can meet, or help to meet, then I remember what it feels like

to regret not acting and I also remind myself that sooner or later I'm

going to be looking in another mirror.

Therefore I'd like to ask doctors

to spend more time with patients who hurt. I want them to listen. I want

them to care. I want them to stop writing so many prescriptions for pain

killers and tranquilizers and sedatives and other mood-altering drugs.

I want them to stop passing their patients off to other professionals

or organizations so liability can be shared in case everything goes wrong.

When a patient first begins

to fall apart emotionally or physically the family doctor is usually the

first person to whom that patient turns for help. And drugs have become

big business as a way to move more patients through an office faster.

In fact, there may not be a bigger business in America. And I'm talking

legal drugs, folks, not the illegal street variety.

We Americans are a spoiled

people. We have things to do, people to see, places to go. We do not have

time to be brought down, slowed down, or even influenced by our pain.

So we turn to anything we can to alleviate any pain that dares to slow

us down or stop us from achieving all our goals and being all we want

to be. And, oh yeah, we also reach for drugs or alcohol or sex or other

potential addictions to relieve the pain of not having goals.

So, just now instead of sitting

around thinking that somebody ought to do something. I am reminded that

I'm somebody and since I have this little forum, I'd just like to ask

any doctor who might be reading these words to think twice the next time

he is about to write a prescription for a pain killing or mood altering

drug.

Is big business really the

best treatment option for your patient? In the long run? In the light

of eternity?

We who are somebody (that's

you and me!) should not moan and groan about how somebody ought to do

something about some thing and be unwilling to be the somebody who will

do the some thing.

The Rush Limbaughs, Liz Taylors,

Betty Fords and so many other celebrities who have become addicted to

legally prescribed drugs aren't even a drop in the bucket when it comes

to looking at the magnitude of this problem. Yes, it's time somebody did

something...

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