The word "Disease"
I was waiting in line at Safeway today with groceries when I picked up a gossip mag and started flipping through. I fell upon an article about Tatum O'Neil and how she was saying that her children know she is not a bad person but that she has a disease that she is trying to beat. Of course, her "disease" is drug addiction.
Now, before anyone rips into me about this I want to explain that I commend people who face their addictions and fight them, recover from them, etc, whether it be drugs, alocohol, sex, shopping or maybe even porn, and I would also agree that it is an illness but using the word "disease" is just too much for me. Many of these addictions are started by bad decision making at some point whereas someone who wakes up one day and the left hand side of their body is paralysed because of a tumor the size of an egg in their head really didn;t do anything except live their life and BAM, one day they have a disease that could kill them through no fault of their own.
Now yes, there are diseases that people get from their lifestyles; lung cancer from smoking, diabetes from a huge sugar intake, cerosis of the liver from drinking, HIV fron intrvenous drug use or unsafe sex, etc, etc but I still feel these awful illnesses do earn the word "disease".
I suppose my question is, while I feel that addiction is an illness, and is certainly not an easy thing to beat or recover from, is it a disease? I just can't bring myself to say it is. I have a huge amount of sympathy for people that are diseased (admittedly, mainly cancer, but that was always the case, even before I had it) and I do not feel the same sympathy for someone who drinks their life away, etc.
When my parents separated my Dad gave my Mum $1.8 million dollars. He bought her a business to make herself self sufficient (a business she wanted) and kept her on an income of 52k annually while my brother was under 18 years of age. She bought a house ($400,000) and put the other $1.4 million into slot machines in less than 2 years. She now struggles financially. My Dad still helps her despite the fact they have been separated since 1996 and she receives guidance from Gamblers Anonymous. I am happy she found help but I just can't feel the sympathy for her that I have for say, my friend Heaven Lee who had cervical cancer and after 6 months of chemo and radiation and a full hysterectomy was given the all clear only to be diagnosed with brain cancer one week later and died shortly after. She was 26 years old.
But you know what, maybe I am just a big square. I don't drink (at all), smoke, do drugs (except those I have to take to keep me alive), gamble, spend beyond my means and am in a monogamous relationship....but, yes, I do make some dirty as fuck porno, and some people, my own Father included would have preferred I had any of the addictions listed above than make adult movies or be into bondage.
Now, before anyone rips into me about this I want to explain that I commend people who face their addictions and fight them, recover from them, etc, whether it be drugs, alocohol, sex, shopping or maybe even porn, and I would also agree that it is an illness but using the word "disease" is just too much for me. Many of these addictions are started by bad decision making at some point whereas someone who wakes up one day and the left hand side of their body is paralysed because of a tumor the size of an egg in their head really didn;t do anything except live their life and BAM, one day they have a disease that could kill them through no fault of their own.
Now yes, there are diseases that people get from their lifestyles; lung cancer from smoking, diabetes from a huge sugar intake, cerosis of the liver from drinking, HIV fron intrvenous drug use or unsafe sex, etc, etc but I still feel these awful illnesses do earn the word "disease".
I suppose my question is, while I feel that addiction is an illness, and is certainly not an easy thing to beat or recover from, is it a disease? I just can't bring myself to say it is. I have a huge amount of sympathy for people that are diseased (admittedly, mainly cancer, but that was always the case, even before I had it) and I do not feel the same sympathy for someone who drinks their life away, etc.
When my parents separated my Dad gave my Mum $1.8 million dollars. He bought her a business to make herself self sufficient (a business she wanted) and kept her on an income of 52k annually while my brother was under 18 years of age. She bought a house ($400,000) and put the other $1.4 million into slot machines in less than 2 years. She now struggles financially. My Dad still helps her despite the fact they have been separated since 1996 and she receives guidance from Gamblers Anonymous. I am happy she found help but I just can't feel the sympathy for her that I have for say, my friend Heaven Lee who had cervical cancer and after 6 months of chemo and radiation and a full hysterectomy was given the all clear only to be diagnosed with brain cancer one week later and died shortly after. She was 26 years old.
But you know what, maybe I am just a big square. I don't drink (at all), smoke, do drugs (except those I have to take to keep me alive), gamble, spend beyond my means and am in a monogamous relationship....but, yes, I do make some dirty as fuck porno, and some people, my own Father included would have preferred I had any of the addictions listed above than make adult movies or be into bondage.
posted by Chanta Rose: Bondage Expert at 5:46 PM
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