Misery and Happiness...or not...

I recently finished reading the novel ‘Misery' by Stephen King, the modern master of horror. If you ask anyone, they'd tell you that I'm hopelessly scared of anything horror-related; but as I've realised, although I'm soon going to run out of them, not all Stephen King novels are horrors! I THOUGHT ‘Misery' was another such book. In short it concerns a writer who, after killing off the protagonist in his best-selling series, has a car accident and is pulled from the wreck by a crazed fan of his who doesn't take lightly to what he's done to her heroine. It has no supernatural or ghostly elements however it is the realism that got me; the fact that it could actually happen in real life.

But enough about me. The reason I bring the book up in my blog is because of the protagonist's dependence on a fictional drug called Novril, which is portrayed as being a stronger version of codeine. Although it's not a standalone, standout theme, the budding pharmacist dwelling inside me found the manner in which prescription drug dependence is portrayed in this novel fascinating. I think that there is a misconception regarding this sort of addiction in society, with people believing that it's not as dangerous or problematic as addiction to opioids or other illegal drugs.

I have seen through my work in community pharmacy, for example, a good few patients addicted to hypnotics and sleeping tablets. Hardly ever, however, did I see the dose reduced or something done about it. On one occasion a patient turned violent when the pharmacist told her we had run out of her sleeping tablet. Do doctors themselves not think this is an issue equal in importance to dependence on illegal drugs? Granted, a GP isn't going to stick a patient on methadone following materialisation of addiction to zopiclone. Surely it's worrying enough to initiate some sort of action once a violent streak in a patient becomes apparant though. King portrays this issue well throughout the book; on some occasions, the protagonist risks his life to leave the room he is held captive in to retrieve some Novril that his captor has kept away from him without the knowledge of said captor. The reader sees that the potential for this type of addiction, therefore, to escalate is great.

Another eerily current issue that is present throughout the book is the fact that the woman holding him captive was a nurse. Healthcare professionals are probably the most trusted people around; it sent chills down my spine as I absorbed this fact, conjuring up thoughts of Shipman or the Stepping Hill incident.

So hats off to you Mr King, you scared me witless and at the same time, maybe without meaning to, brought up some very relevant points that are prevalent in our society today.