In S1 in particular, they do a terrible job portraying chronic pain, addiction vs. dependence, and withdrawal. Actually, I take that back; within the parameters of House's injury, the writers do a terrible job portraying chronic pain across all seasons.
Let's take "Detox", since that's the one where this first comes up. I've been in opiate withdrawal, not Vicodin but another opiate, and there's no way House would be functional enough to work during a week of wihdrawal. On day three of going cold turkey, I was in and out of consciousness, not to mention the vomiting and excruciating pain. Now, we can give the writers some slack here and say they just didn't do their research, as is very often the case with the House writers and medicine, but since this is the central plotline involving their main character, they should have done some more intensive consulting.
Further, going into withdrawal proves nothing. At the end of the episode, House says, paraphrased, that he learned he's an addict. Well, no. All we saw is that he was in physical withdrawal. We saw no signs of psychological withdrawal. We saw no evidence of cravings; in fact, we saw the opposite. When Foreman offered him Vicodin, he turned it down flat. The fact that he was stubborn enough to continue with withdrawal, rather than give in and take Vicodin (which is huge, incidentally; withdrawal is the worst pain I have been in in my life, and I don't say that lightly--and I did have only a physical dependence, as my medication didn't cause a high that could lead to addiction), tells me he was dependent. This is a subject they should have consulted a Narcotics Anonymous sponsor or a psychologist experienced in treating addiction on. Clearly, they didn't, and even more clearly, the writers have no experience with dependence vs. addiction themselves.
It gets greyer over the next few seasons. I could argue that his hoarding is a response to the nearly-forced withdrawal of "Detox", as he likely figured out Wilson was behind Cuddy's manipulation there. He does appear to be more of an addict as time goes on; however, that does not invalidate his very real dependence for his very real pain.
Now, let's look at the S5 episode "The Softer Side". That's the episode where House takes methadone. I have a friend who takes methadone for her crippling pain. It works very well for her. As the episode makes clear, it also works very well for House. So well, in fact, that he can throw out his cane because his leg hurts so very little! (Back to this in a minute.) He's even happy. (Also back to this, in two minutes.) Unfortunately, it has the nasty side effect of respiratory depression. Per the Polite Dissent blogger, "Methadone is a potent narcotic, and has more respiratory depression than more common narcotics, but it’s not that life threatening. Particularly in a patient with such a heavy previous use of narcotics." Once again, House writers either didn't do their research or exaggerated for dramatic effect. Either way, I was unsurprised. Since it's a heavy-duty synthetic opiate, it also gives House an artificial high, which slows him down just enough that he could have badly messed up on a case. He doesn't, but he could have. Since I quoted Mr. Polite Dissent above, I suppose I should quote him here, even though I disagree: "I did like House’s realization that he can’t be the brilliant diagnostician he wants to be if he’s not in pain." I pulled a B+ in AP Physics while I was on Percocet, and House is a million times smarter than me. He can function just fine on methadone once he adjusts.
The biggest problem with the methadone is, of course, that Wilson is no longer his supplier. For years, Wilson has been writing scripts for House's Vicodin, and therefore he's been needed. Suddenly, someone else is writing methadone scripts, Wilson is not needed, and Wilson freaks. I am convinced that this is the entire point of Wilson's freakout about how methadone is "worse than heroin", since it's patently untrue. It's less addictive, legal, has legitimate medical uses, was benefiting House, and was under the supervision of a physician with House's best interests in mind. But back to Wilson in three minutes.
So the cane thing. The cane thing seriously bothers me every time it comes up. The writers seem to forget that House is missing a chunk of muscle in his leg that's vital to, you know, support his weight. Specifically, based on this cap from "Skin Deep", you can see that House is missing chunks of two of his quad muscles: the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis. You can't walk properly when you're missing chunks of muscle like that. That's the point of the cane. It's not because it hurts to walk; it's because he can't walk without the extra support. For this reason, every time he ditches the cane when he's magically pain-free (post-ketamine, methadone...), it really, really bugs me.
And happiness. Have you noticed that House simply cannot be happy? Neither can anyone else on the show besides Cameron and Chase, but House in particular can't be. He had Stacy pre-show, and then, as we saw in "Three Stories", she let Cuddy cut out parts of his quad and so House drove her off. Then he could have had Stacy again, but he sent her back to Mark. Most recently, he was pain-free and happy about it, but the methadone slowed him down the tiniest bit, so clearly he couldn't have that anymore. This is more a hot-button issue of mine than anything else, so feel free to ignore this paragraph.
Wilson. You and Sara have discussed Wilson a lot already, but when it comes to House, Wilson is a manipulative, thoroughly selfish bastard. He's House's only real friend, and he likes it that way. Cuddy is House's friend, but she's also his boss, and that has to come first a lot of the time. Cameron and Chase are House's friends, but they're also his former employees, and they slide back into that sometimes. Wilson knows House is dependent on him, and he does his best to keep it that way. He wants to be the only one to treat House's pain so that he's the only one to control House's pain--witness how he's also the only one to always be in on forcing House into rehab or detox. He gives House money so House relies on him. He'll even interrupt a session with a patient so that House won't go to anyone else. He's extremely manipulative of House. Don't think I'm saying House is a saint here; House is just as abusive of Wilson. They have one of the least healthy relationships I've ever seen portrayed on television outside a Lifetime movie. I just resent Wilson's side a little more, because his side is more invested in keeping a person absolutely miserable for his benefit.
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In S1 in particular, they do a terrible job portraying chronic pain, addiction vs. dependence, and withdrawal. Actually, I take that back; within the parameters of House's injury, the writers do a terrible job portraying chronic pain across all seasons.
Let's take "Detox", since that's the one where this first comes up. I've been in opiate withdrawal, not Vicodin but another opiate, and there's no way House would be functional enough to work during a week of wihdrawal. On day three of going cold turkey, I was in and out of consciousness, not to mention the vomiting and excruciating pain. Now, we can give the writers some slack here and say they just didn't do their research, as is very often the case with the House writers and medicine, but since this is the central plotline involving their main character, they should have done some more intensive consulting.
Further, going into withdrawal proves nothing. At the end of the episode, House says, paraphrased, that he learned he's an addict. Well, no. All we saw is that he was in physical withdrawal. We saw no signs of psychological withdrawal. We saw no evidence of cravings; in fact, we saw the opposite. When Foreman offered him Vicodin, he turned it down flat. The fact that he was stubborn enough to continue with withdrawal, rather than give in and take Vicodin (which is huge, incidentally; withdrawal is the worst pain I have been in in my life, and I don't say that lightly--and I did have only a physical dependence, as my medication didn't cause a high that could lead to addiction), tells me he was dependent. This is a subject they should have consulted a Narcotics Anonymous sponsor or a psychologist experienced in treating addiction on. Clearly, they didn't, and even more clearly, the writers have no experience with dependence vs. addiction themselves.
It gets greyer over the next few seasons. I could argue that his hoarding is a response to the nearly-forced withdrawal of "Detox", as he likely figured out Wilson was behind Cuddy's manipulation there. He does appear to be more of an addict as time goes on; however, that does not invalidate his very real dependence for his very real pain.
Now, let's look at the S5 episode "The Softer Side". That's the episode where House takes methadone. I have a friend who takes methadone for her crippling pain. It works very well for her. As the episode makes clear, it also works very well for House. So well, in fact, that he can throw out his cane because his leg hurts so very little! (Back to this in a minute.) He's even happy. (Also back to this, in two minutes.) Unfortunately, it has the nasty side effect of respiratory depression. Per the Polite Dissent blogger, "Methadone is a potent narcotic, and has more respiratory depression than more common narcotics, but it’s not that life threatening. Particularly in a patient with such a heavy previous use of narcotics." Once again, House writers either didn't do their research or exaggerated for dramatic effect. Either way, I was unsurprised. Since it's a heavy-duty synthetic opiate, it also gives House an artificial high, which slows him down just enough that he could have badly messed up on a case. He doesn't, but he could have. Since I quoted Mr. Polite Dissent above, I suppose I should quote him here, even though I disagree: "I did like House’s realization that he can’t be the brilliant diagnostician he wants to be if he’s not in pain." I pulled a B+ in AP Physics while I was on Percocet, and House is a million times smarter than me. He can function just fine on methadone once he adjusts.
The biggest problem with the methadone is, of course, that Wilson is no longer his supplier. For years, Wilson has been writing scripts for House's Vicodin, and therefore he's been needed. Suddenly, someone else is writing methadone scripts, Wilson is not needed, and Wilson freaks. I am convinced that this is the entire point of Wilson's freakout about how methadone is "worse than heroin", since it's patently untrue. It's less addictive, legal, has legitimate medical uses, was benefiting House, and was under the supervision of a physician with House's best interests in mind. But back to Wilson in three minutes.
So the cane thing. The cane thing seriously bothers me every time it comes up. The writers seem to forget that House is missing a chunk of muscle in his leg that's vital to, you know, support his weight. Specifically, based on this cap from "Skin Deep", you can see that House is missing chunks of two of his quad muscles: the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis. You can't walk properly when you're missing chunks of muscle like that. That's the point of the cane. It's not because it hurts to walk; it's because he can't walk without the extra support. For this reason, every time he ditches the cane when he's magically pain-free (post-ketamine, methadone...), it really, really bugs me.
And happiness. Have you noticed that House simply cannot be happy? Neither can anyone else on the show besides Cameron and Chase, but House in particular can't be. He had Stacy pre-show, and then, as we saw in "Three Stories", she let Cuddy cut out parts of his quad and so House drove her off. Then he could have had Stacy again, but he sent her back to Mark. Most recently, he was pain-free and happy about it, but the methadone slowed him down the tiniest bit, so clearly he couldn't have that anymore. This is more a hot-button issue of mine than anything else, so feel free to ignore this paragraph.
Wilson. You and Sara have discussed Wilson a lot already, but when it comes to House, Wilson is a manipulative, thoroughly selfish bastard. He's House's only real friend, and he likes it that way. Cuddy is House's friend, but she's also his boss, and that has to come first a lot of the time. Cameron and Chase are House's friends, but they're also his former employees, and they slide back into that sometimes. Wilson knows House is dependent on him, and he does his best to keep it that way. He wants to be the only one to treat House's pain so that he's the only one to control House's pain--witness how he's also the only one to always be in on forcing House into rehab or detox. He gives House money so House relies on him. He'll even interrupt a session with a patient so that House won't go to anyone else. He's extremely manipulative of House. Don't think I'm saying House is a saint here; House is just as abusive of Wilson. They have one of the least healthy relationships I've ever seen portrayed on television outside a Lifetime movie. I just resent Wilson's side a little more, because his side is more invested in keeping a person absolutely miserable for his benefit.