182: Frank bought 500 pills a week

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2024

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The science of medicine has come a long way in the area of how we manage pain. In the mid to late 1800s, there was a product called Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup. It was sold to parents as a way to alleviate the constant crying of their babies, particularly when a baby is going through the painful teething process. And it definitely calmed down those infants – possibly because the main ingredient was morphine. Another medication, popular for treating coughing and diarrhea, was opium. And when Coca-Cola was first launched, it had two main ingredients: caffeine and cocaine. I guess it’s no wonder that one of their ad slogans was “a Coke and a smile”! Of course, now we know better. Doctors and scientists have realized that not everything that helps with pain is necessarily something that’s good for you. But even modern day pain medication, stuff that’s supposed to be safe to use, can cause big problems for some people. One of those people is my guest today, Frank. His experience with pain meds took him down a very dark path, and he didn’t see any way out. Until one day, when he got a surprise at work. You can contact Frank by email: [email protected] Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) helpline: 800-662-4357 National Drug Helpline: 844-289-0879 Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/182 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: To listen to THE 82% series, follow THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts! Go to cookunity.com/What or enter code What before checkout for 50% off your first week. Go to Seed.com/what and use code 25WHAT to get 25% off your first month. Go to storyworth.com/what to save $10 on your first purchase! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code WHATWAS at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/whatwas. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/whatwas and get on your way to being your best self. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The science of medicine has come a long way in the area of how we manage pain.
0:07.0	In the mid to late 1800s, there was a product called Mrs Winslow's soothing syrup.
0:20.2	It was sold to parents as a way to alleviate the constant crying of their babies,
0:25.2	particularly when a baby is going through the painful teething process.
0:30.8	And it definitely calmed down those infants, possibly because the main ingredient was morphine.
0:38.0	Another medication popular for treating coughing and diarrhea was opium.
0:45.0	And when Coca-Cola was first launch it had two main ingredients, caffeine and cocaine. I guess it's no wonder that one of their ad slogans was a
0:56.3	Coke and a smile. Of course now we know better. Doctors and scientists have realized that not everything that helps with pain
1:07.0	is necessarily something that's good for you.
1:10.0	But even modern day pain medication, stuff that's supposed to be safe to use can cause big problems for some people.
1:20.0	One of those people is my guest today, Frank.
1:25.0	His experience with pain meds took him down a very dark path
1:30.0	and he didn't see any way out, until one day, when he got a surprise at work.
1:38.0	Real people in unreal situations.
1:45.0	There is a girl hanging by her broken leg from the telephone wire.
1:51.0	And I called 911 and I said I found a baby.
1:55.0	I turned around I see a gun pointed at me close enough I could touch it.
2:00.0	She would hold our heads on the water all the time.
2:02.0	He levels the gun, pulls the trigger, and I go down.
2:06.0	Her eyes were full of tears, but she didn't want to leave us.
2:10.0	My hair catches on fire.
2:12.0	I swear to God, this image is burning my head for the rest of my life.
	...

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