Obituaries for 2017

[verga]

I had my own personal experience with legitimate pain meds. I decided to try getting off, BEFORE my Doctor or PA even hinted about it.

I find the side effects of the drugs, to be worse than the pain. So for several subsequent surgeries, I got off the drugs asap, as in 2 days or less.

So I restate, I do NOT think our medical professionals do a very good job, managing pain meds.

We have a family friend, and their son died from the Tylenol in his pain meds. Did he REALLY need those pills, for years?

I had hip surgery this time last year. I have a prescription for pain meds. I will take maybe one every month or so, the rest of the time it is either Advil or "suck it up buttercup". I saw what my uncle went through 30 years ago for a shattered knee. Not happening to this bright eyed boy.

[sneakypete]

I have no idea, where you got the idea that "everybody who takes them needs to get off."

But people that no longer need them, get strung out on them, cut off by their doctors, and turn to deadly Heroin.

@truth_seeker

Heroin is no more deadly that most other drugs. What makes it so dangerous is varying purity. Even people who have been junkies for decades will step off the planet if they buy a batch that is pretty much uncut. This is why junkies in the Netherlands almost never OD,and why most of them hold jobs. The purity of the free heroin they get from the government is consistent,so they know how much to take and still be able to function. No "hot shots".

[Right_in_Virginia]

So I restate, I do NOT think our medical professionals do a very good job, managing pain meds.

We have a family friend, and their son died from the Tylenol in his pain meds. Did he REALLY need those pills, for years?

Tylenol's active ingredient, Acetaminophen, has been proven to destroy the liver.  Many reports from a few years ago suggested Tylenol should be taken off the market as it would not receive FDA approval based on what is known today.

But that "crusade" went nowhere.  Except ... I don't let Tylenol anywhere near anyone in my family.

[truth_seeker]

@truth_seeker

Heroin is no more deadly that most other drugs. What makes it so dangerous is varying purity. Even people who have been junkies for decades will step off the planet if they buy a batch that is pretty much uncut. This is why junkies in the Netherlands almost never OD,and why most of them hold jobs. The purity of the free heroin they get from the government is consistent,so they know how much to take and still be able to function. No "hot shots".

I understand the purity aspect. That is what I meant to convey re. Joplin and Hendrix. When I say "deadly" I simply mean the risk of extra strong strength.

The strongest drugs in my own background were marijuana, finished about 40 yrs. ago, and beer finished over 23 yrs. ago.

Caffeine is now my drug of choice.

[Smokin Joe]

I don't think she made great money at residuals or gigs, but it seems she should have had enough to not be living in a trailer park in small town Indiana. That tends to hint at a substance abuse problem.

Or she got some seriously raw deals along the way.

[Cyber Liberty]

I had my own personal experience with legitimate pain meds. I decided to try getting off, BEFORE my Doctor or PA even hinted about it.

I find the side effects of the drugs, to be worse than the pain. So for several subsequent surgeries, I got off the drugs asap, as in 2 days or less.

So I restate, I do NOT think our medical professionals do a very good job, managing pain meds.

We have a family friend, and their son died from the Tylenol in his pain meds. Did he REALLY need those pills, for years?

Drs. could do better at managing pain.  Government getting involved, as they've been doing more and more, is arguably worse with their one-size-fits-all solutions.  There are people with legitimate reasons for taking some of these long term, and they are the easiest marks for crusaders to hit.

Just about every bad idea perpetrated on the American people started, at one point, with someone saying "there ought to be a law!" 

This argument is really for another thread.  This is Obits, where we pay some respect to those who just passed.

[Smokin Joe]

@Cyber Liberty

True,but people need to wake up to the FACT that pain is your friend. It reminds you that you are injured so you don't do something stupid to make the injury worse. Yes,there are levels of pain that nobody can deal with. I call them the "I want my mama!" pain level. I've been there myself,and when you are there,you will take anything you can get your hands on. I have been there myself,but don't worry about recognizing it if you ever get there. You'll know.

BUT.....,pretty much anything below that level can be dealt with and the fewer downs you take for pain the longer you will live. People with chronic pain that take opioids on a daily basis may be managing their pain,but they are also weakening their heart and guaranteeing themselves a early death.  The ironic part about this is the more of them you take and the longer you take them,the less effective they are at easing pain,so you end up taking more to get less pain relief and to feed the monkey on your back. You have taken a bad problem,and made it worse.

I pretty much agree with all that. Least effective dose, and the basic question: "Can I handle this? Is this worse than when....?"
Practice makes you more resistant, imho, and someone who studied that would probably see endorphin production at higher levels in people who don't often use pain killers for relief of relatively minor pain.

[libertybele]

@Cyber Liberty

True,but people need to wake up to the FACT that pain is your friend. It reminds you that you are injured so you don't do something stupid to make the injury worse. Yes,there are levels of pain that nobody can deal with. I call them the "I want my mama!" pain level. I've been there myself,and when you are there,you will take anything you can get your hands on. I have been there myself,but don't worry about recognizing it if you ever get there. You'll know.

BUT.....,pretty much anything below that level can be dealt with and the fewer downs you take for pain the longer you will live. People with chronic pain that take opioids on a daily basis may be managing their pain,but they are also weakening their heart and guaranteeing themselves a early death.  The ironic part about this is the more of them you take and the longer you take them,the less effective they are at easing pain,so you end up taking more to get less pain relief and to feed the monkey on your back. You have taken a bad problem,and made it worse.

I hear you. Yes, pain indicates something is wrong, but not all ailments can be fixed or diagnosed, nor can the medical profession always find what's causing the pain. I've always been one that has felt; don't treat the symptom, but find out what is causing the symptom and fix it. Irrectractable relentless pain where people will do anything to get some relief exists. Over time our bodies build up a resistance to some pain meds and I've seen people in so much pain that morphine, methadone and tramadol didn't touch it.  It's a horrible thing to watch. Pain management is a joke.  The doctors prescribe anything and everything and then send the patient on their way and if what the prescribe doesn't work, they'll be happy to Let the patient suffer and see the patient in 6-8 weeks and prescribe something different ... or refuse to prescribe anything else because they don't believe the patient or they've run out of options.

[sneakypete]

The strongest drugs in my own background were marijuana, finished about 40 yrs. ago, and beer finished over 23 yrs. ago.

Caffeine is now my drug of choice.

@truth_seeker

I did them ALL. Even the ones I didn't enjoy I did a second time to make sure. My pot smoking ended years ago when I came down with COPD from inhaling mold and mildew spoors while cutting away and replacing rotten wood and carpet in my house. Damn near died. I'd black out with no warning while trying to walk to the truck,and wake up some time later laying out in the yard. Guess when I quit smoking cigarettes,too.

Quit  drinking a couple of years before that,and now I have pretty much given up on coffee. I drink green tea. Lot less caffeine and easier on the system.

[sneakypete]

I pretty much agree with all that. Least effective dose, and the basic question: "Can I handle this? Is this worse than when....?"
Practice makes you more resistant, imho, and someone who studied that would probably see endorphin production at higher levels in people who don't often use pain killers for relief of relatively minor pain.

@Smokin Joe

I plead "Guilty" to the endorphin thing. Not saying I don't feel pain when I am injured,but I seem to be able to handle it better than most people. Can't take credit for that. It's something you are born with or not born with,but I honestly think MOST people can "teach" themselves to become adjusted to increasing levels of pain with less stress by simply accepting it's there and dealing with it.

Some people are hyper-sensitive to pain,and there's not much they can do to change that. Everybody has their own tolerance level,and none of us can tell someone else what they can deal with and what they can't deal with.

[bigheadfred]

I think there are a helluva lot of people in the entertainment industry that don't have a happy life. Not what I consider a happy life. Even if they make the money.

RIP Erin.

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe

I plead "Guilty" to the endorphin thing. Not saying I don't feel pain when I am injured,but I seem to be able to handle it better than most people. Can't take credit for that. It's something you are born with or not born with,but I honestly think MOST people can "teach" themselves to become adjusted to increasing levels of pain with less stress by simply accepting it's there and dealing with it.

I do that. Okay, it hurts. Now what? Or I'm busy, get a minor injury, say 'ouch' and go on--after all, I'm busy. Later, it will ache, and I'll wonder how in the hell I did that? So I actually think focusing on it or not makes a difference, too, but either that is inborn or learned early (I think) and people may or may not be able to change focus as they get older.

Some people are hyper-sensitive to pain,and there's not much they can do to change that. Everybody has their own tolerance level,and none of us can tell someone else what they can deal with and what they can't deal with.

Yep. I'm not belittling anyone for hurting, not everyone can handle the same amount or even the same type of pain. Some people hurt when they get cut, I rarely do. Other things I feel more. It's different for everyone, but I think we have the expectation that we are supposed to be completely pain free, and I just don't see that as realistic, especially as I get older. Besides, if it didn't hurt, I'd never have an excuse to be grumpy! 

[sneakypete]

I think there are a helluva lot of people in the entertainment industry that don't have a happy life. Not what I consider a happy life. Even if they make the money.

RIP Erin.

@bigheadfred

How can they be  happy when they spend so much time convincing themselves they are someone else so they can play a role that they have forgotten who THEY are?

[sneakypete]

I do that. Okay, it hurts. Now what? Or I'm busy, get a minor injury, say 'ouch' and go on--after all, I'm busy. Later, it will ache, and I'll wonder how in the hell I did that? So I actually think focusing on it or not makes a difference, too, but either that is inborn or learned early (I think) and people may or may not be able to change focus as they get older.Yep. I'm not belittling anyone for hurting, not everyone can handle the same amount or even the same type of pain. Some people hurt when they get cut, I rarely do. Other things I feel more. It's different for everyone, but I think we have the expectation that we are supposed to be completely pain free, and I just don't see that as realistic, especially as I get older. Besides, if it didn't hurt, I'd never have an excuse to be grumpy! 

@Smokin Joe

I agree.  I've been able to deal with and dismiss almost every injury or pain I have ever had. The exception that stands out like a lighthouse on a stormy beach is a kidney stone. That's a level of pain you have to experience to believe. If there is anything that hurts more than that,I don't even want to hear rumors about it.

[TomSea]

Kate Walsh O’Beirne R.I.P.
by Ramesh Ponnuru April 23, 2017 3:05 PM



Kate O’Beirne was part of National Review’s world before she joined the staff. When she became the magazine’s Washington editor in 1995 her resume already included stints at Senator Jim Buckley’s office, the Reagan administration, and the Heritage Foundation. She served NR in that position for eleven years and then became president of National Review Institute for six more.

 She brought a witty and well-informed conservatism to a national television audience as well through weekly appearances on CNN’s marquee political talk show “Capital Gang.” Conservatives were outnumbered there as on cable news generally at that time, but it never seemed that way as long as she was on.

 Both her “Bread and Circuses” column for NR and her television commentary were marked by a rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense. Many of those same qualities put her advice — on politics, editorials, careers, and personal matters — in high demand.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/446976/kate-walsh-obeirne-r-i-p

[sneakypete]

Kate Walsh O’Beirne R.I.P.

@TomSea

She died from cancer,and since there was mention of her being a chain-smoker and it was related to her death,I am assuming it was lung cancer.

[musiclady]

Interesting article on Fox News Entertainment about Erin Moran.....

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/04/24/erin-morans-final-days-fellow-former-child-stars-were-trying-to-help.html

[mountaineer]

When my late father worked in TV in St. Louis Erin came to town on a promotional tour. She and my sister had dinner together.

[Applewood]

Interesting article on Fox News Entertainment about Erin Moran.....

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/04/24/erin-morans-final-days-fellow-former-child-stars-were-trying-to-help.html

Thank you for the link.  I did hear about Paul Petersen's support and advocacy group for former child actors, and I understand the group does good work. It's just too bad they couldn't save Erin Moran.  But all the resources and support in the world can't save a person if he or she doesn't want to be saved.

[musiclady]

Thank you for the link.  I did hear about Paul Petersen's support and advocacy group for former child actors, and I understand the group does good work. It's just too bad they couldn't save Erin Moran.  But all the resources and support in the world can't save a person if he or she doesn't want to be saved.

Yes........... it sounds like there were multiple people reaching out to her and trying to help.

But you are absolutely correct.  If she didn't want to be saved, there was nothing anyone else could do.

A very sad situation, in any case......

[Millee]

When my late father worked in TV in St. Louis Erin came to town on a promotional tour. She and my sister had dinner together.

How many years ago was this?  What was she like then?

@mountaineer

[mountaineer]

It was when Happy Days was on TV (that was 1974-84), so that dinner was probably around 1977-78, when my sister still was in high school. She and Erin were around the same age. They got along well - as I recall, my sister said she was very nice and friendly.

[musiclady]

It was when Happy Days was on TV (that was 1974-84), so that dinner was probably around 1977-78, when my sister still was in high school. She and Erin were around the same age. They got along well - as I recall, my sister said she was very nice and friendly.

It sounds like her troubles started after then end of her two shows.

[mountaineer]

From the Telegraph (U.K.):

...
In the wake of Moran’s death (Mail Online claimed she died of a suspected heroin overdose in her mother-in-law’s trailer, but an official autopsy is still pending), it was reported that many former child stars had reached out to the Happy Days star in recent weeks. Fonz actor Henry Winkler had too, in 2012, reportedly sought out a role for Moran on the Netflix reboot of Arrested Development, a comedy that also featured Scott Baio.

“Erin had friends and she knew it. Abandonment was not the issue. The perversity of human frailty is at the root of this loss, not failure,” wrote Paul Petersen, who runs the child-actor advocacy group A Minor Consideration, on Facebook. “We did our best with the resources available to us, but it was a very dark room. Some don’t find the light switch in time.”

Neighbours at the New Salisbury, Indiana trailer park she called home referred to Moran as a friendly, kind woman, who had become something of a recluse in recent months.  ...

In interviews over the years, Moran spoke of her affection for her Happy Days character, and how much she appreciated her time in the spotlight. But she also made occasional references to an underlying darkness that sometimes enveloped her, like her discomfort with Joanie Cunningham’s rapid sexualisation upon turning 15, instigated by Happy Days producers, or her depression in the wake of the sitcom’s end. She also told Sitcoms Online that she had experienced “mental and physical abuse” in her childhood, though insisted that the entertainment industry had largely treated her well.

For many actors, such close identification with just one role can become a curse, the ghost of a past that seemed to vanish as quickly as it materialised. But Moran had no such hostility, telling Pop Culture Addict that she was happy to be remembered for her sitcom role.

“When somebody accidentally calls me Joanie and they apologise, I say, ‘Don’t apologise. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.’ ”   ...

[DCPatriot]

It didn't help Erin Moran that "Ritchie" went on to become on of Hollywood's top director's and the Fonz also continued for awhile on the Big Screen. 

I'm sure that didn't help her self-assessment with a half empty bottle of Jack next to her.