04/24/24
February 26, 2010
National Enquirer: Tiger Woods Now in Drug Rehab: Tiger Woods is undergoing treatment in Arizona for prescription drug addiction, according to a National Enquirer report today. Citing unnamed sources, the tabloid claims he's at The Meadows treatment center in Wickenburg, Arizona. No other media appear to have corroborated the report. In November after Woods' car accident, a Florida state trooper requested a subpoena for his blood test results because a witness -- reported to be Woods' wife -- said he had prescriptions for Ambien and Vicodin.
The day the National Enquirer is first to break a story based on facts is the day I end my subscription.
posted by smithnyiu at 05:52 PM on February 26, 2010
Athlete suffers major injury.
Attempts to play through injury, aggravating it more.
Gets surgery.
Rushes back to sport as soon as possible, including heavy training.
During process, uses some pain killers.
Gets addicted to pain killers.
This seems like a pretty common occurrence.
posted by grum@work at 05:54 PM on February 26, 2010
This seems like a pretty common occurrence.
I don't see any data on how common it is, or any evidence that it's the case here. It could be, but right now what it sounds like to me is "an explanation that isn't totally contradicted by the few and sketchy available facts". That's a long way from the truth.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 06:14 PM on February 26, 2010
Can I start making Tiger Woods-Gregory House parallels yet?
posted by boredom_08 at 07:15 PM on February 26, 2010
I can speak for the Vicodin part of it. That stuff can get to be your friend pretty quickly. You can't take complete recovery for granted, or you might start to miss the part you liked best about being in pain a little too much.
posted by beaverboard at 10:23 AM on February 27, 2010
I googled pain killer addiction among athletes and it really does seem common. You just might not hear about it because it is a legal drug. Prescription drugs are a problem everywhere, I don't know why one would think athlete would be immune to this. I know when something happens to me and I take Lortab for more than 3 or 4 days, the day after I stop seems like I'm hungover with body fatigue and everything. Don't forget Tiger is coming off a bad knee injury so this is possible.
posted by sgtcookzane at 02:29 PM on February 27, 2010
I've been on Lortab. The stuff gave me a case of giggles a couple of times, which also scared the crap outta me. I can see it too, especially with athletes who depend on having all the parts work in order to make a living. The only real reason this is news is because he's been so "newsworthy" the past three months.
posted by NerfballPro at 03:13 PM on February 27, 2010
I find it hard to believe that this site is discussing information found in the National Enquirer. Come on.
posted by bobfoot at 02:37 AM on February 28, 2010
The Enquirer has more credibility since it broke the John Edwards story last year.
posted by rcade at 09:38 AM on February 28, 2010
The Enquirer has more credibility since it broke the John Edwards story last year.
Plus, they were ready to break the Tiger Woods affairs right before his crash.
posted by grum@work at 10:20 AM on February 28, 2010
Not sure what to make of this, however, it does strike me as "convenient" that this story broke shortly after his somewhat failed apology attempt.
His handlers didn't get the sympathy they thought they would from the staged apology, so what else can they do to shift blame...oh I know, he's addicted to drugs...see, it's not his fault...it's pain medication, legal stuff.
I've never been on pain medication so my question to those that have used them. Did they ever impair your judgement on such a grand and lingering level that you could pass off sleeping with a multitude of women as acceptable behavior? I'm not buying it.
posted by dviking at 01:33 PM on February 28, 2010
I've never been on pain medication so my question to those that have used them. Did they ever impair your judgement on such a grand and lingering level that you could pass off sleeping with a multitude of women as acceptable behavior? I'm not buying it.
I don't think there is any indication or suggestion that the pain medication has caused a behaviour change. It's the physical damage they can cause that would be the main worry.
Brett Favre admitted to being addicted to vicodin after the 1995 season, and actually had a seizure. He went into rehab for a while and then came back to play in the 1996 season (and led the Packers to win Super Bowl XXXI).
posted by grum@work at 02:25 PM on February 28, 2010
grum, I was referring to this line from the article:
"In therapy, Tiger blamed a lot of his cheating behavior on his drug addiction, saying that the drugs were responsible for impairing his judgment,"
So, if he's making that statement, I'm wondering if anyone else can speak to the medications truly altering one's judgement on such a grand, and lasting, scale. I can understand how drugs could cause impairment, but if he's saying that every time he slept with another woman it was only because he was on pain medication, I'm not buying that.
Not sure how my QB (he hasn't re-retired just yet, so don't spoil it for me) made his way into this thread, but since he is, I don't recall him sleeping around just because he was on pain killers. I think it's a pretty weak excuse for tiger to be throwing out at this stage of the game.
posted by dviking at 03:19 PM on February 28, 2010
Enquiring minds want to know !