PATRICK KENNEDY--REHAB AGAIN!

Rep. Patrick Kennedy entered treatment for addiction to prescription pain drugs late Friday after a middle-of-the-night car crash near the Capitol that he said he had no memory of. "That's not how I want to live my life," he declared.

Kennedy, the son of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. (I would have thought that he went to the Hazelton which is one of the most famous rehabilitation clinics in the United States. Isn't the mayo clinic for cancer and such?)

For Kennedy, who said he has suffered from depression and pain-medication addiction for years, the trip to the Mayo Clinic was his second in less than five months. He went there over Christmas and said he returned to Congress "reinvigorated and healthy."

"I've been fighting this chronic disease since I was a young man, and have aggressively and periodically sought treatment so that I can live a full and productive life...Of course, in every recovery, each day has its ups and downs, but I have been strong, focused and productive since my return," Kennedy said.

(Have you forgotten your 12 steps? What about, "Take it one day at a time."; and the infamous Serenity prayer, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.)

As a high school senior, Kennedy was treated at a drug rehabilitation clinic before he went to Providence College. He has said he wants to end the stigma of mental health problems, and he has been praised by mental health professionals for being open about his struggles with depression, alcoholism and substance abuse. He also has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

(This is called "dual disorder"...it is actually more common than one would think.)

"I hope that my openness today and in the past, and my acknowledgment that I need help, will give others the courage to get help if they need it," he said Friday. Ted Kennedy said he was proud of his son for admitting his problem and taking steps to correct it. "He has taken full responsibility for events that occurred ... and he will continue to cooperate fully with any investigation," the elder Kennedy said.

(How ironic that Ted Kennedy's ex-wife is a known alcoholic.,.but barely drank before she became a part of "Camelot" Ted verbal attacks and extramarital affairs caused her to suffer from alcholism to this day.)

Patrick Kennedy's Mother

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Joan Kennedy, is in the hospital recuperating from a concussion and a broken shoulder after a passer-by found her lying in a street, according to her son. Kennedy, 68, was taken to Tufts New England Medical Center about 3 a.m. "We're indebted to some anonymous pedestrian who found her and picked her up and got her help,"We're hoping for the best."



The children recently took temporary guardianship of their mother to ensure she receives treatment for her alcoholism.

Interesting Tidbit:

• Patrick Kennedy is seeking to become her permanent legal guardian. (She is was 8
  

• Patrick Kennedy announced Wednesday that he has decided not to run for Senate in 2006.
  

• His announcement did not mention his family responsibilities as a contributing reason for his decision.

This was Patrick Kennedy's second auto crash in three weeks. His car struck the rear passenger door of a car while he was making a left turn from a roadway into a pharmacy in Portsmouth, R.I.

Kennedy said that he'd gone home Wednesday evening after work and had taken "the prescribed amount" of:

• Ambien, a sleep medication; and

• Phenergan (read this link for other uses of this medication. In addition, the drug is also used for other purposes such as a sedative/hypnotic; and it can be used to increase the activity of opioids.
  

What are Opioids?

Tolerance, Dependence, and Addiction

• Tolerance is the tendency of the body to adapt to the presence of opioids; this adaptation makes it necessary to use ever-increasing doses of opioids in order to achieve the same effects. Tolerance is more pronounced for some effects than for others.

• Dependence is the tendency of the body to manifest a characteristic and unpleasant withdrawal syndrome if regular doses of opioids are abruptly discontinued after tolerance has developed.

• Addiction is a psychological attachment to certain effects of opioids (such as the euphoria that many people experience when the drugs are taken in sufficiently large doses) that drives some people to take the drugs even when they are not medically necessary, and even when their use of the drugs becomes self-destructive. Dependency and the unpleasantness of withdrawal can work to maintain addiction, although they do not cause it.

• All persons receiving opioids for any reason will develop some degree of tolerance and dependence over time. Some people will also develop addiction. Addiction is much more common in persons taking opioids purely for non-medical reasons (such as recreation); it rarely develops in persons who are taking opioids under medical supervision for legitimate therapeutic purposes (such as pain management), particularly when the dosage used is too low to produce any feeling of euphoria.

• The phenomena of tolerance and dependency, combined with the addictive potential presented by some effects of opioids (such as euphoria), make these drugs prime candidates for drug abuse. This is why the medical and especially the recreational (and usually illicit) use of opioids are so controversial. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, opioids remain the most effective analgesics available, and so there are very strong arguments for their continued use, at least in medicine.