Princes Death was drug overdose

I feel for people who live in chronic pain. I hope that there are new, more effective and safer options in the near future. I think that it is important to realize that the precautions for getting drugs are there to protect patients (and doctors). It seems that even people here who are taking the meds don't understand that it isn't just "drug addicts" who are abusing the meds. It is often those who start off taking the meds (and continue) for legitimate reasons but take more than prescribed or mix medications that shouldn't be mixed.

What he ODed on was Fentanyl. It's not your "typical" opiate...it's a patch (can also be given translingually) that's given to cancer patients and end-of-life patients. One patch is a 3-day dose. His OD was either accidental or the result of taking higher and higher doses looking for relief.

Either way, it's a damn shame.

It hurts me to think of how private Prince lived his life and now has so many details made public (his weight,scars etc). I so hope it helps people that have chronic pain instead of making it harder for them to get the care they need.
He was not a druggie, just someone with horrible pain and too many in his inner circle trying to please him instead of getting him help when things got really bad.

Prince did not have to live with chronic pain. I've read articles that said he refused joint replacement due to his religion-JW. But there are hospitals and doctors that specialize in bloodless surgery. If this is true, it's sad that he didn't do a little research on his options.

   We understand, trust me. Wander into one of the chronic pain posts & you'll see. 

   I receive a certain amount of pain medication a month. It's up to me to mangage those pills, even though how it's prescribed, it's considered an 8 day supply, clearly says so on the label every month.

  I am in the process of getting permanent upper & lower dentures. 3 weeks before my appointment to get 6 teeth pulled, a tooth went nuts, needing a root canal. Had to play the waiting game. Had to make a decision about 1.5 weeks out, my life or go thru those pills quicker than normal. I stood at my sink one afternoon, & knew I was done, so done suicide or go thru the pills was my only option. That left me with no pain pill coverage after the teeth were pulled, & I assure you, healing from that isn't fun. So I gambled, & it's a shit situation to be put in.

 My medical history is truly a horror story. Starting with a brain tumor at 5, that caused Orbital Cellulitus that I was not supposed to survive. Had a gigantic dermoid cyst that left a lot of damage behind to major organs. Gall bladder malfunctioned, didn't have gallstones, but my perverse body had 2 bouts of kidney stones while the gallbladder was getting diagnosed. I've had over 30 Root Canals in a vain attempt to save my teeth, which caused a raging case of Trigeminal Neuralgia. Have been diagnosed in the last 5 years with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sjogrens Syndrome, Raynauds Disease & Ulcerative Colitis. The Rheumatoid Arthritis is attacking my heart muscles, despite the best attempts with medication to get it under control.

That's just the "big" things I've been thru. I assure you, there is literally not a place on m body that something hasn't happened to it. I fought and fought and fought being on monthly pain medication. As I've added more and more issues, I gave in. There was no quality of life, & suicidal thought's were my constant companion.

 I didn't want this life. I would give up those pills in a heartbeat to have a somewhat normal life. I do not ever have a pain free day, I simply have pain managed days.

 And yes, people like me see the signs coming. That's part of the reason I'm getting the dentures, to control the Trigeminal Neauralgia. A disease you do not ever want (it's causes electrical shock like feelings to bounce around your brain, fun). So as a person who has legitimate, documented pain, is doing what they can to mitigate the pain, because the writings on the wall. Abusers of opitiates have made it so we won't be getting pain relief.

 Sorry for the forever long post, but I think it's so easy to say you feel sorry for chronic pain people. What you may not understand, is the mental, emotional toll it takes on us. 

 I think Pridemom said it best, Prince died from chronic pain.

 ETA- I'm 43, just to give an idea that in an ideal situation, I'm supposed to be around for awhile yet.

Some time ago, when my pain was ramping up and becoming chronic, I had A. Very. Bad. Pain. Day. It was so bad, I could barely see straight for the pain. I was alone in the house for the weekend. The only thing in the house at the time, or so I thought, was Extra Strength Tylenol. I THOUGHT I took 3 of them. In reality, I took three Tylenol PM. They are a different color, entirely from Extra Strength Tylenol. I know this. I KNOW this. And yet, in the throes of my pain, I took the wrong medicine and too much of it, really. The good news was that it did knock me out and so while I was asleep, I was pain free.

The bad news is that I took the wrong med and too much of it. What if I had kept taking more of that pill, trying to get relief? What if I had added another pill or two or five to try and get relief? What if I had small children at home at the time and was passed out from taking the wrong pill? And so on.

It scared the shit out of me and made me realize who very easy it would be to accidentally OD on pain meds.

So yes, IMO, Prince died of complications from chronic pain. 

I know nothing about Prince's personal life and he seemed to prefer his privacy. He could or could not have had an addiction to pain killers. I think there may have been an issue, if someone was flown from CA to MN for an intervention. If that story is true.

I thought something similar.

I'm confused by the title every time I see this thread.

Grammar rules truly do make things easier to read and understand.

  I hope you get relief. Clearly there are people who have a legitimate need for the medications. 

It seems to me a lot of the issues aren't people in chronic pain who need the medications to be able to function daily, but rather the easy flowing prescriptions for patients that had pain that was more temporary, but then get hooked and pursue the drugs (or turn to heroin - cheaper and easier to get) even after they don't truly need the meds to manage pain. I was listening to an interview with a former heroin addict who wrote a memoir. She initially got hooked on pain pills when she had her wisdom teeth out and she had a pretty horrible spiral into heroin, living on the streets, prison, etc before getting clean. When she had a c-section in the hospital, the doctor gave her a pretty large prescription for pain pills - no look at prior history, no talking to her, no warnings or info about using the pain pills, etc. It took her half an hour to get the prescription changed to a smaller amount of pills and she knew what she was getting into so could manage the pills and pain without getting hooked again. Now, I don't think prescriptions are happening like that now, but I think this experience was pretty common before the current opiate epidemic became more common knowledge. Prescriptions for pain pills after surgery, injuries, etc is fine - but it seems doctors need to have more discussion with patients before sending them off with a bottle of pills. Maybe that happens now - but I don't think it was happening before.

I do see your point. I injured my back last summer and I was told it would take 18 months for it to get better. I'm not positive it will be at 100% though. The pain management doctor prescribed me a lot of pills. I thought it would be 30 at most. I guess I thought it would be like regular prescriptions like adderall where it is only 30 days.

Spelling rules are also wonderful.

But it wasnt the flu, it was an overdose.

I feel badly because in the end such an original artist turned out to be just another cliche.