Dr. Drew: ‘Rush will make it’

When celebrities go public with addiction, celebrity advice-givers are happy to ply their corresponding trade and welcome them into the world of recovery. Dr. Drew Pinsky, relationship counselor and host of KROQ and MTV’s “Loveline,” pulled from his recent book “Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again” to offer this guidance to (recovering) radio commentator Rush Limbaugh:

“Rush Limbaugh really represents a typical patient for me. Like Rush, most individuals who are addicted have chronic pain syndrome, and they get the drugs for legitimate reasons.

“Now that Rush has completed the in-house portion of his fight with addiction, miraculously the pain in his neck probably will be greatly improved in about six months. But initially, he’s going to have a marked increase in his pain. In addition to the pain that he usually suffers, as he resumes his show, he will have withdrawal pain, which has been described as a crushing bone pain in the bones of the pelvis and lower extremities. He’ll feel agitation and an intense desire to flee.

“The hard part is staying stopped. Recovery will literally require that Rush rewire his brain to learn a capacity for regulating his emotions. But I think Rush will make it. I saw evidence of genuine humility, motivation and honesty in his recent statements -- we have somebody workable.”

-- Carolyn Patricia Scott