Linda Intervention (Actiq Addict) Update

[Dhedmo (OP)]

A & E's Intervention introduced some memorable people, but two really stand out in my memory.
The first was Linda, who was gobbling down fentanyl lolipops like they were...er, candy. Here's her original appearance:
http://www.aetv.com/shows/intervention/video/linda

I was wondering how she was doing, and came across this:

The guy she's posing with is Paul Vasquez, the former MMA fighter famous for the "Double Rainbow" youtube video.
(Apparently a comicon celebrity)
Here's Linda's Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/lindaintervent


The other was Allison, hooked on Dustoff and other inhalants:

She looked so far gone, it was really great to see this:
https://twitter.com/allisonmfogarty

Then again, there are those who didn't make it. At least 18 people featured on the show have died.
Here's the first part of a two-part youtube tribute:

and the second part:

[Daughter of Dionysus]

Yea T.V rehabs kill more people.
Dr Drew the way he was giving
Mike Starr subs
Every once in a while
If you are clean
Then you will get a buzz.
Like Pavlovs dog.
What rehab doctor doesn't know that the only way subs work for
Maintenance is to keep dosing them.
Not once in awhile.
Feel sorry for these people
Who get sucked into this.
They don't even split the profits
That they make off of sick people.
That is twisted
I refuse to watch these things
I don't want that blood on my hands

[Dhedmo (OP)]

@DoD: I was really surprised that these two, of all the troubled people on that show, are doing so well. Apparently, at least.

OTOH, I didn't want to make it seem like it's all happy endings. It's not. This is The Game, right? So I had to add the RIPs.
A couple of the deaths might be natural (unknown causes, and they didn't look too healthy to begin with). You gotta wonder, w/r/t the suicides, whether being on the show helped or exacerbated their situation.

[Z]

I think the craziest was the woman who had kept her stomach feeding tube for years after she was supposed to have it removed.  She would blend up handfuls of pills and inject them in the feeding tube at once.  They showed her chewing on food and spitting it in cups all over. 

I think she said she was unable to swallow or something g else that seemed made up.  Went to a different clinic for a different pain script every day.  I think they showed her hitting up a couple places back to back.

It wasn't the most far gone, but for some reason it just combined to make some real out there behaviour.  The woman was just nutso, and seemed like she wouldn't be around long.  It was very tragic.

[corlene]

You don't want to live with a feeding tube. The way her shit leaked and looked totally fucked up is not how they work.

She had some sexual trauma that made her puke tho.

I remember that episode and she was bolusing hot coffee and it leaking all up and around her stoma, that shit was foul.

As for the drugs being put in, she had a g tube which goes into the stomach. If you wanna get more outta ur drugs u need a j tube to let it fully absorb right in the intestines.

[DeadCat]

Yea T.V rehabs kill more people.
Dr Drew the way he was giving
Mike Starr subs
Every once in a while
If you are clean
Then you will get a buzz.
Like Pavlovs dog.
What rehab doctor doesn't know that the only way subs work for
Maintenance is to keep dosing them.
Not once in awhile.
Feel sorry for these people
Who get sucked into this.
They don't even split the profits
That they make off of sick people.
That is twisted
I refuse to watch these things
I don't want that blood on my hands

You and me both, sister.

I find Dr. Drew to be a particularly sanctimonious ass. I haven't watched more than a little of any of those Interventioon or Rehab shows because I fundamentally disagreed with the recovery industry's premises: that individuals are "sick" and our society is "healthy"  and abstinence (from unsacntioned drugs) is a necessity sobriety is all. That is not human nature. That being said if it (abstinence) is what works for you, it works for you and good for you.

Meanwhile the "Health Care Industry" (which does not promote wellness find sicknesses for the pills they sell us through the insurane industry we are now frced to buy into) keeps 70% of Americans on prescriptions, many for "depression" yet those same "medicines" are KNOWN to trigger suicidal and homicidal ideation, and these are occurring increased rates along with SSRI use.

[EMC]

The Linda lady had some mental issues as well no? She was  irrationally scared of electrical fields IIRC. And had a younger brother she basically treated as a slave.

[candy]

I remember Linda. She apparently had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and complained of severe pain.
In one part of the episode, they show her dancing and stretching, twirling that Actiq lollipop.
She claimed certain colors caused her pain, plants, grass, all sorts of shit that would not affect you in any way at all.
She had some deep emotional issues. Addiction was just a symptom of her world.
She needed to be hospitalized, which I believe she was as part of the intervention. 

Crazy shit. I have a neighbor who uses those Actiq suckers and she came over once while I was outside doing some yard work and explained to me what they were.
I didn't ask her what she was sucking on, but she wanted me to know.  I already knew what it was, but she just stood there twirling her sucker just like Linda and explained the pain scale to me. If I had to guess, that wasn't her first sucker of the day.

The chick with the Dustoff was pretty crazy shit. I hate to say it, but my boyfriend and I could not stop laughing.
I know it was not cool to make fun of someone with emotional problems, but some of the shit she said was hilarious.
I think they said she would have burns on her fingers when the can got really cold. Had a guy she fucked for money to get the duster.
You don't see that very often. A chick with an older friend whom she provides pleasure for in exchange for that poison.
Nice to see she is doing OK now.

[Smacky-Doodle 2.0]

I remember her too, she was funny.

I enjoy getting a peek into others' depravity.  It's cool to know that she is doing better.

Love me some lozenges, I've only had the pleasure a handful of times, GOTTA  have the 1600s tho, or its just a tease.

[Zoops]

Yeah that Linda and Allison chick were the most over-the-top next level crazy people ever on Intervention.

Linda was talking about "electric fields" and shit causing her pain and would go into this pathetic little act she had to trigger an emotional response in her parents, crying and whining like a baby.  When the family confronted her, she sprinted like an Olympian down the street! (talk about chronic pain, lol). That one made me cringe to watch.

Her parents finally called bullshit on her during the show. I was thinking "finally-damn!"

[DeadCat]

One thing that bothers me about shows like that is their tendency to examine only extreme (therefore) entertaining cases, which by default paints ALL (us) drug users with the "nuts"/"sleazy"/"depraved" brush. That does a huge disservice to the peole who are chipping and experimenting or causally using while maintaining an otherwise "normal" life.

It distances moderate and occasional users from their friends and like entertainment that paints Black men as pimps, dealers and criminals always with the threat of violence present.

It reinforces the "all or nothing" approach to drug use; anyone who picks up that first bit is stepping off into a spiraling decsent that will end in death or jail or if lucky, recovery and lifelong meetings. But in truth MOST people who stop, stop on their own w/o attending perpetual meetings or beign hospitalized.

Sure it's funny to watch the wacky chick inhale Dust-Off and do goofy things but that laughter is ultimately at our own expense.

[dizzle]

"please spread rep around before hitting deadcat again"


great post man...

[Zoops]

One thing that bothers me about shows like that is their tendency to examine only extreme (therefore) entertaining cases, which by default paints ALL (us) drug users with the "nuts"/"sleazy"/"depraved" brush. That does a huge disservice to the peole who are chipping and experimenting or causally using while maintaining an otherwise "normal" life.

It distances moderate and occasional users from their friends and like entertainment that paints Black men as pimps, dealers and criminals always with the threat of violence present.

It reinforces the "all or nothing" approach to drug use; anyone who picks up that first bit is stepping off into a spiraling decsent that will end in death or jail or if lucky, recovery and lifelong meetings. But in truth MOST people who stop, stop on their own w/o attending perpetual meetings or beign hospitalized.

Sure it's funny to watch the wacky chick inhale Dust-Off and do goofy things but that laughter is ultimately at our own expense.

I agree, very cogent analysis. This show is a piece of shit really, the way they treat addicts and alcoholics. But you have to admit, most of the people on there are definitely out of control with their drug use and/or drinking. It's just the way it's handled that butters my toast. I mean someone drinking himself to death needs some kind of attention, no question about that, as does a woman inhaling dust off to the tune of 6 to 8 cans a day.

Someone using drugs, any drug, even dust-off in a manner which does not negatively affect their life does not need an intervention, though, I'm sure we can all agree. It's that area where it's a judgement call as to whether they need some type of "attention" (I just call it that) to address the negative impact that it has on their life where it's messed up if they get an intervention, or get court-ordered into treatment.

For example, our dear member Griffin, who got a raw deal for having his methadone in the wrong bottle, was court-ordered to take "drug classes" (which are a complete waste of time and money) or some shit. That's just wrong headed and stupid.

When someone just assumes that any drug user needs "treatment" simply because they use drugs - that's messed up. And decriminalization (as opposed to outright legalization) does not address this problem, it actually makes it worse - more "treatment" instead of incarceration would lead to more and more people getting caught up in the snake oil treatment industry.

And don't think for a minute that if you got a citation for heroin possession (let's just say for example) under a decriminalization regime, that if you were ordered into treatment and blew it off, that you wouldn't run into significant legal troubles including the possibility of incarceration.

Yeah, decriminalization doesn't really appeal to me because it would increase the amount of court-ordered treatment.

[Griffin]

I totally agree, there was someone on intervention taking methadone and catching all kinds of shit for being on it. He was prescribed to it but he was abusing it a bit, but not really going over board. His whole family totally nagged on him for taking it, and forced him to get completely off of everything. I think he was using benzo's as well but am not real sure. He was a good candidate for medication assisted treatment because he relapsed pretty quickly after getting clean.

He was scripted the done from a doctor for pain because he was shot a few years ago. The pain didn't really seem to legitimate but I think the methadone was probably a lot better than seeing him die and/or catch more charges and lose custody of his kids because he couldn't stay clean. If he would of gone through a clinic and been on one dose daily or two instead of taking 10 mgs at a time throughout the day as needed. His family would probably still give him shit for being on it but wouldn't think sense he is taking some every few hours he is abusing it.

I actually had my xanax and bystolic my blood pressure meds in the same bottle. Which is what got me charged with felony possession and felony intent to distribute because I had just filled them so there were 30 days worth of each. I was going to see my family for a few days and figured I might need some because I would be sleeping on the couch or on the floor. I hadn't taken any in at least a month when I got pulled over and given the DUI and stupidly I thought I couldn't get a DUI for just methadone.

I figured if I had xanax in my system they would be able to charge me for a DUI but I knew I didn't sense it had been a while sense I had taken it. They didn't find that until I was already arrested in the back of the cop car when they destroyed my car searching it. Either way it was bullshit because I was on state probation at the time and had been taking 3 Uas a month there and one a month at the clinic.

I hadn't failed one a UA in over 2 years. If my probation officer would of said hey you can't drive if you take these medications I would of saved up the extra scratch to fly instead of risking revoking my probation because I had less than a month left when I got arrested. I mean my PO knew I had been driving and taking those meds the entire time I was on probation. My clinic and my primary care doctor both knew I drove. Unfortunately they use cops and judges to decide medical issues. This country has a completely fucked up view and stigma attached to drug use and even prescribed medication especially opiates and methadone.

The fact that they are forcing me to pay for a breathalyzer and take drug classes along with a $4000 fine when they have proof that I haven't taken anything(including alcohol) in over 2 years is what is horse shit. Someone is staring at my dick when I piss I have to do at least one a week and haven't failed any. No reason to punish me for taking medication that keeps me clean 18 hours before driving.