I was thisclose to throwing something at the tv screen! Why did you walk away from Housethere at the end, stupid Wilson? He needed a hug, dammit. *cries*

Woobiest House yet. Poor thing. *sniffle*

I thought that they did a good job with this ep, it could have been a very dangerous one for everyone. I liked what they did, and gah! Lotsa H and not a lot of C!

Maybe Wilson didn't know what to do...so he just left. It must be odd to hear someone admit that they have a problem, but not change. Especially for Wilson, because he so desperately wants House to stop.

But should House really stop is the question. I mean he was right, he takes hte pills and htey help him do his job and get rid of the pain, I know it's not "normal" but should he really stop taking them? I know that if my doctors ever told me to stop taking my headache pills I would laugh at them (I have a constant 24/7/365 headache that gets better and worse at certain times) I know that I'm "addicted" to painkillers, well not as strong of painkillers as House, but still. I shouldn't stop because if I did I would not be able to function. So does function determine addiction or does addiction determine function?

I know a lot of deep thoughts right after the House High, but gah!

Still, he could at least have just stood there by him for a while. You don't necessarily have to say something to comfort someone, sometimes it just matters that you're clearly *there* if you know what I mean.

Hugs would have been better. House really needs more hugs, I think. That's half his problem (the leg is the other half, of course :( )

I think that's the main question. It's a grey area for a lot of people. Can a person really be addicted to painkillers completely (or anything really) but have it not be a problem? (as House put it)

For me I say yes. If someone has problems with pain, and has to take medicine just to function, I don't see that being a problem. House is an addict, he said so himself...but the man is in pain. He's not taking them for the buzz.

But some people don't see it that way. If you're an addict, you're an addict no matter what the reason.

Hopefully this episode opened some eyes...

I think it comes down to picking the lesser of two evils. Yea, being addicted to anything sucks, but if there's absolutely no othe way you could function without the pills, go ahead and take them I say. Our culture has such a paranoid attitude about drugs and drug use that it's gotten to the point where taking anything is frowned upon and I think that's not necessarily a good thing. I can't say for certain as I'm not a historian, but I think a lot of it has come straight out of the "war on drugs" bullcrap (that hasn't done jack squat to end the illegal drug trade in this country, only made it ten times more dangerous and drain the gov't's coffers). You get that hokey DARE program in elementary school, PSAs with your saturday morning cartoons, from the time you come out of the womb, you've got "drugs are bad!" hammered into your head. Of course, that doesn't stop people who want to abuse illegal recreational drugs from doing so, but it's bred this idea that there's no legitimate reason to take even prescription painkillers for any reason.

But, well, that's our government at work for you...

Couldn't agree with you more.

People now a days have forgotten what pain medicine is for....pain. Sure loads of people are misusing it, getting high, buzzed or whatever. And sometimes it gets so bad that they pull it off the shelves i.e. oxycontin.

But the only thing that ends up happening is the junkies buy it off the streets, while the people who actually need it are left out in the cold.

If you are in pain, take medicine. It's easy as that. And if anyone gives you crap...hit them...so they are in pain, too. Just kidding ;)

Huh. Guess that makes me an addict as well...never thought of it that way before...

Great episode!

I think people would be surprised at how many functioning addicts there are in the world. I agree--if you're in pain, take something! House has obviously figured out how to take enough to control the pain without affecting his performance as a doctor. There was a certain sadness at the end--like he felt defeated by this little white pill and his pain and he's definitely someone who doesn't like to lose and losing to himself has to be very depressing for him, like he has no control over his own body. The scene where he breaks his own finger just tore me up--that he was in so much pain he would actually create a greater pain to take his mind off his leg made me get teary-eyed. It's amazing how much you can like a character that should be unlikable! Kudos to HL for the great job he does!

I can say that I'm not usually bothered by such things, but when House broke his hand, I flinched. I knew what was coming, but I still flinched.

That was a great scene. It really give us, the viewers, a look into the kinda pain House is dealing with. That breaking his finger(s?) would make him smile.

That's pain that some people can't even imagine.

*raises hand* Um, another functioning addict here. This is like a Narcs Anonymous meeting. :D

If I don't take my pills I can't leave my house and would have to move back in with my parents or something degrading like that--seriously, this has happened once already--and in short, I would have no life. They let me do my job--I hate to echo House but it's inescapably true. They're narcs so they also get me (slightly) high (they were the drug of choice among teenagers where I went to college according to my sociologist friend's survey). If I went off them I'd go through withdrawal (again, gah). But luckily I'm not dealing with pain and probably won't ever need to raise my dose, so no building up a tolerance or anything and no reason to go off them. However, I still dislike it, the dependence of it, that I'm tied to them for life, and my friends get an earful whenever I'm drunk enough to bring it up. We always come to the same conclusion: I'm an addict, but I don't have a problem, so I shouldn't feel bad. And yet I still feel bad. Stupid D.A.R.E.-induced guilt!

But about the ep. I'm actually surprised House made it the whole week. Testament to his will and ego and to the fact that he's a fictional character because withdrawal is alot worse than what they showed. Twas a good episode, though. Gonna have some fun with it tonight. Yay fan fic!

Sy
functional addicts of the world unite!

Oh yeah, and that thing about inflicting worse pain on yourself to make the other pain go away works really well. I go for the fingers also, though not with a heavy object.

Word to everything you said, sy_dedalus. The whole concept of physical/mental addiction is really tricky, and I was slightly disappointed that they didn't deal with it more. It was there... I mean, House realized it at the end. But I don't think it was clearly made, especially to those who don't realize what it's like to try to go off their meds for a week because they're stupid like that. (Sorry, getting defensive. But, as a person who tried to do this, it is stupid. And I only made it 3 days.)

I didn't like the way they handled the "addiction" concept either.

So at the end, is House saying "I'm addicted" in the sense of "I take Vicodin to control my leg pain, and if I don't take it I get sick, and I'm fine with that"?

If that's what he's saying, I think Wilson's accepting that, and I say more power to you, dear Dr House.

I calculated that from what Cuddy said, House was taking double the recommended dosage of Vicodin. So how much of that is for physical pain and how much is for other kinds of pain? We don't know.

And what's been going on in the last few years that he's been using so much more?

Maybe it's time to stop blaming the leg and the drugs for House's negative personality changes.

Yeah I made it 6 days without meds, and that was during a "good week" heh.

Also I don't know about Vicodin in particular, but my pain meds say take every 6 hours or "as needed" so...who knows what's the standard dosage.

I have to take anti-depressents every night before bed. I have a condition that needs medication. I function a lot better with them. I have trouble dealing with stress. My Grandmother did, too. So does my Uncle. I guess it runs in my family.

Awesome episode. B) Kudos to the writers. I'm glad to see my faith in them was justified. (Hey, and I still have all my hair and nails--*yay* for that strategy... LOL) B) And major props to HL--I knew he would rock this ep and he did. He nailed the performance. (Just like House nailed his poor fingers. *oooouch* LOL) Everyone else was very strong in the ep, too. And, *we* rock, because, collectively, we had what would happen in the ep pretty much 'down' before we even saw it.

I have some trouble, too, with the definition of "addict," though. House proved that he could go without taking the drugs. He'd be completely incapacitated by pain, useless as a diagnostician and there wouldn't be much left of his fingers. LOL But, he could do it.

It would be absolutely idiotic, though, when he can take the meds and do his job. But, as the just-before-the-tag scene with Wilson touched on, what's it doing to the rest of his existence? Is it the meds that have impacted his personality, etc., or is it psychological, etc.?

I'm sticking with my theory that as horrendous as the pain in House's leg is (Helllloo... broken fingers = ahhhh... pain relief *yikes*), the pain in his mind, emotional life and soul is probably infinitely greater. I think that's where a lot of his 'personality changes' and such are originating, not from an 'addiction' to the Vicodin. Now, some pills can have 'soul numbing' effects (as was touched on with Luke's Mom in "The Socratic Method"). But, Vicodin seems to just target House's pain and let him 'function' at work. Although, it’s true, as Wilson makes him face, he's not 'functioning' particularly well in the other aspects of his existence, beyond basic care and maintenance type stuff. House does his work, he takes care of his basic necessities, but his emotional life is a mess.

I'm in a smaller, but similar boat to House. ;) I take pain meds for chronic pain. I don't *have* to take them. But, if I choose not to, then I'm incapacitated for several hours at a time and pretty much 'out of it' for concentrating on anything else. If I take the meds, I can get on with my life and suffer much less pain. I'd love to not need the meds at all. I use every other method of pain management at my disposal *first,* before taking any meds. But, if all else fails, then I do take them. Does this make me an "addict"? Depends on your definition of "addict," I suppose.

Is there a 'sliding scale' for addiction? LOL Because, I've seen enough alcoholics and serious drug addicts to know what the far end of that scale is like. People who will not (or perhaps cannot) quit taking whatever substance or doing whatever behavior is killing them. Should we throw people who take pain meds for chronic pain into that same boat? You tell me. LOL Is an "addict" an addict if they could quit taking a substance, but their lives would be miserable and unlivable not so much because of craving or being physiologically/psychologically dependant on the addictive substance, but because of their chronic pain?

There’s lots of stuff to think about with this ep. But, it's definitely going to be one of my favorites. :)

Hugs,
Sanlin

I liked that the writers didn't handle the addiction issue as something that is always black or white and I think that was very brave of them. Judging from past postings on the Fox message board about House's use of Vicodin, I'm sure there will be alot of messages about this episode accusing the show and the network of being irresponsible for even daring to suggest that there's such a thing as a functioning addict. I'm sure they would have prefered that House have some great ephiany about how his addiction was worse than the pain and that he was stronger than it but the reality is, it's rarely that cut and dry. They've left the issue open so I wouldn't be surprised if they came back to it next season in some form or another.

I think the make-up people deserve a round of applause too! They really made HL look like death warmed over towards the last. Coupled with his performance, it made House's pain really come to life. I hope the Emmy people take notice of his performance and remember him in September.

When he clunked that on the table I thought OH SHIT This is gonna hurt BIG!!!! I mean not that it wouldn't hurt with a lesser object (he did have lots of other thingsto choose from) But Damn!!!!

Back to the original question, I think Wilson walked away becasue he knew he would just provoke House into building up those walls again. he needed to let him alone to contemplate his decision. He knows House well enough to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em so to speak.

Here's another specualtion question.

Do you think that Wilson going through Cuddy will come back and bite him later if House ever finds out about it?

Interesting. I'd think yes and no. At least House would expect that kind of behaviour from Cuddy... the taunting, the bet. (Although he bets with Wilson, too... hmmm.) However, House may be upset that Wilson wasn't ready to confront him himself, and felt the need to use a middleman. Wilson and House are pretty good at reading each other.

Somehow, I may think that House may figure this out pretty quick (or heck, may already know). The way Wilson got defensive and accusatory at the end, and the way he was trying to help at the beginning seems to suggest that he was involved, and to someone like House I'm sure he'll pick up on that.

I think they'd work through it, if it ever came up again, but I honestly don't think it will.

Even if it did come out, Wilson seemed pretty damn sure that House wouldn't believe it anyway.

[QUOTE]

not sure how to work this quote thing yet so...

That's why I question if this will come back to bite him. He seems so sure that House would never believe it and he knows House pretty well. So will House fell betrayed by this? I think so. I think he places a lot of trust in Wilson and to have him go to Cuddy and set this up would be a breach of that trust.

Not that I don't see it as possibly the only way to have accomplished this. I'm sure Wilson had tried every way he could think of prior to going to Cuddy but I think if House finds out he'll feel betrayed.

And I don't even want to imagine what would happen if House feels like the only friend he has is against him :(

Perhaps it was one of those 'risks of friendship' Wilson was willing to engage in in the hopes of helping his friend. But, too, if they're such good friends why didn't Wilson know the extent of House's pain and too, the extent to which Vicodin is a necessary component of House's ability to function? Does this speak to areas of their friendship that go undiscussed?

-Pradon

I don't feel Wilson wants him to quit altogether. He knows the pain is an issue. He just thinks that House is starting to abuse it. That he is becoming too emotionally dependant on the Vicodin.

House isn't very forthcoming with inforamtion on his emotional pain even to Wilson. I think Wilson may guess at some of it but regardless the Vicodin isn't the answer for the emotional pain and he sees House using it for that. I think it was just an attempt on Wilson's part to get House to realize he was abusing it and maybe get him to open up on the emotional front.

That's why I think it would be such a blow to that trust if House ever found out. How can you expect someone to open up their innermost emotional pain to you if you can't trust them to deal with you in an up front fashion?

Doesn't this raise the question on how Wilson's deception would even get out in the first place? Would guilt make Wilson confess? Would Cuddy rat him out? Could even a third party find out and tell House him or herself?

I thought House's last line was very significant. He said he took the Vicodin because "It helps me work AND relieves my pain," not "It helps me work BECAUSE it relieves my pain." He also told Cuddy that the Vicodin didn't make him high it made him "neutral" which to me means numb. I would bet he's never been to any type of emotional counseling to deal with what happened to him. The emotionsl numbness he gets from his meds keeps him from facing the emotional toll his infarction has had on him. He would have to feel betrayed by both his profession and his body and maybe even his own abilities as a doctor--he's been able to diagnose and treat all these other people, why couldn't he figure out what was going on with his own leg? I think eventually there'll be an episode where he goes for some sort of counseling, although I pity the poor shrink who has to coax him out of his shell! I just hope the writers don't do something like have him make a mistake because of the Vicodin and he's forced into rehab; I think that would be tougher to watch than "Detox."

I've been thinking about what House's reaction would be if he found out Wilson was the one behind the detox scenario. I relate it to my sister's ongoing 12+ years of backpain so severe she twice overdosed on pain medication and spent years trying to find a doctor who would prescribe meds that would allow her to function at a level of normalcy. The culmination of so many years of pain has made her a BIG advocate of self-medication (i.e., if you're in pain, medicate) and she doesn't have patience for ANYONE to try to tell her anything different. She knows that very few people can understand her pain, and if someone, even a family member, were to approach her or go behind her back (bad move) to inform her that her method of self-medication is incorrect or bordering on addiction she'd tell them to go to hell. That said, yes, I think House would be pretty pissed off if he realized his friend didn't have a grasp on the extent to which his pain defines and controls him and the extent to which he, in kind, must respond in order to function. I don't get the impression that House is shy when it comes to expressing his feelings about his pain; all you have to do is ask and, by god, he'll let you know, or he'll let you know where to go.

-Pradon

This was such a good ep. I totally agree with you about the "thought police" as I've come to call them, trying to make people think that any use of painkillers on a regular basis makes you an addict. All this is doing is making honest people suffer due to the few true addicts who take pills for the "high." Emotional pain is debilitating as well, but there are many new non-narcotic drugs that can help that. People in physical pain have a right to pain relief, and should not be treated as if they are somehow "faking" just to get a high. And try getting a prescription for pain if you have a mental illness. Another example of the "thought police" (along with the PC crowd) trying to lump all people into huge categories. What happened to individualism in America?

Okay, I'll get off the stump now.

Did anyone else feel a little cheated that not one of the Ducklings, Wilson, or Cuddy even attempted to give House a little TLC? I thought that was so cold. I came away feeling a little like maybe he was right to keep them at a distance. I know he pushes people away, but dang, did they even look at him? Poor guy. I thought the show could have had a little scene where it looked liked someone cared that he was in such incredible pain.

But, I still love this show!

Oh there were lots of anxious looks, mostly them looking at each other, thinking, um, what are we going to do? not wanting their heads bitten off for offering help -- he snaps "I'm fine" at them several times.

Foreman offers some serious TLC in the form of the bottle of Vicodin.

Cam is pretty gentle when she urges House back to the office during that horrific "Who's Jewels?" scene in the hallway.

Cuddy offers House a hand up when he's knocked to the floor. (He ignores her.)

And Wilson! He had the most effective TLC of all -- he not only arranged for the massage therapist, he taped up House's hand -- and without giving him guff either about his DIY pain control or about wanting it taped instead of splinted.

House isn't a cuddly guy in general, and when he's in such severe distress, obvious displays of sympathy and pity are just going to irritate him even more. Perhaps the best TLC they could have given him was just accepting that he wasn't ready to accept help.