Rush Limbaugh

First off, let me state plainly that I LIKE Rush Limbaugh. So, you may end up rolling your eyes over this post if you don't like him.

I'm a politically conservative man who votes in all elections, local and national. Lovely Wife does too. Most of my adult life I was registered as an Independent, and I have in the past voted for Democrats who were conservative. But over time, even conservative Democrats came to almost always vote along with the party on things way too liberal for me to support. So, I started registering as a Republican a few years ago.

Now to Rush. I see so many on the liberal blogs and web sites that I visit daily to see what the left is thinking and saying, and I see the snide comments about his drug addiction. This from people who usually want drugs legalized and at the very least want to cut addicts and casual users a break.

But not Rush. They have jumped on his situation with both feet and it saddens me that those who would normally be pointing at Republicans and shouting "hypocrite!" are themselves exposing their own hypocrisy.

I have had four back surgeries. The last two within ten months of one another in 2004. As a last resort I had two disks removed and the vertebrae around the disk spaces fused.

Folks, for the past few years I have had pain in my back and legs that I wish NO ONE would ever have to feel. And I am a person with very high pain tolerance. What I deal with every day of my life would have many people waving a white flag and going on total disability. I'm not patting myself on the back, because I have no idea why I have high pain tolerance. I AM thankful for it though.


I have been taking Lortab, which is a narcotic pain medicine, for over two years. I am at a point now, where I use Tylenol and Ibuprofen as much as I can, never exceeding the label dosages. But about once, maybe twice a week I get in pain debt such that I cannot work or can barely function and then and only then I take the Lortabs.

I go days, sometimes over a week without using a Lortab. I am in no way addicted to them. But if I didn't have such a pain tolerance as I am fortunate enough to have, I could see myself giving in to the pain and just popping back the Lortabs like the Dr. House character on the show House does. Because they work, people. They work really, really well.

So yes, I like Rush Limbaugh and have listened to his show from time to time for over fifteen years. I haven't agreed with everything he says. But I can sure identify with a man with chronic back pain becoming addicted to pain medication. Because narcotic pain medication gives me the ONLY true relief from constant pain I've had for years. I've just taught myself to deal with a certain amount of pain, and when the level rises above what I can deal with, I take Lortab. And it truly helps.

Hats off to Rush Limbaugh for the classy way he has dealt with his situation. I can totally relate, I'm just lucky that I'm not anyone that people care to know about.