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125th out of 151 books
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Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict
by
Joshua Lyon
Joshua Lyon first bought Vicodin illegally, over the internet, on assignment for Jane magazine. But taking three of them at once wasn't part of the job--he did that to see what all the fuss was about. In a matter of weeks he'd blown through the first 90 and was jonesing for more. And he wasn't alone: 33 million Americans have admitted to using prescription painkillers like...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
July 7th 2009
by Hyperion
(first published 2009)
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I really enjoyed parts of this book. I emphasize "parts". I feel like this book would have been better served as two separate books, at least two separate sections, like an Act 1 and 2 ?! The whole book felt very disjointed. The author moves around in his auto-biographical timeline far too much. He also rotates in stories of other "Pill Head's" and the crazy things they did to keep their drug addiction going. Every once in awhile he will throw into the mix some interesting fa...more
Eh.
I hate being disappointed by books. In the case of this one, that's what happened. Severe disappointment.
I'll admit, I have a thing for drug addiction memoirs. I find them fascinating--it's a sneak peak into a taboo world where I've chosen not to walk. At the same time, I've watched a lot of my friends and family members jump on trains bound for this taboo world, so I guess I feel like these memoirs give me some sort of insight into their hearts and minds.
...more
I hate being disappointed by books. In the case of this one, that's what happened. Severe disappointment.
I'll admit, I have a thing for drug addiction memoirs. I find them fascinating--it's a sneak peak into a taboo world where I've chosen not to walk. At the same time, I've watched a lot of my friends and family members jump on trains bound for this taboo world, so I guess I feel like these memoirs give me some sort of insight into their hearts and minds.
...more
Pill Head is more than just a memoir of addiction, it is an investigation into contemporary prescription drug abuse. While I found Joshua Lyon's account of his own twenty-year struggle with drug addiction compelling, it felt redundant at times. Many parts of Lyon's personal story were quite interesting. However, sometimes the plot seemed to drag out, with Lyon engaged in the same self-destructive behavior for weeks and months on end. The most frustrating part, was that he never seemed to learn a...more
Even though this book was written by a friend of a friend of mine, life got in the way of me reading it when it first came out, and so I picked it up when I saw it in an airport before Christmas.
For a book about addiction, it's a fun read. Josh Lyon keeps a sense of humor as he combines his own experiences as an addict with relevant research about opiate addition. He's not just echoing other people's research: he filters the perspectives of the scientists and the government agencies a...more
For a book about addiction, it's a fun read. Josh Lyon keeps a sense of humor as he combines his own experiences as an addict with relevant research about opiate addition. He's not just echoing other people's research: he filters the perspectives of the scientists and the government agencies a...more
I enjoy bad-behavior memoirs in the same way that one can't help but slow down and stare at the scene of a car wreck---I'm curious, appalled, and smugly grateful that it isn't me. Plus, me being a child of the late 70s and early 80s *cough*, none of the bad behavior is exactly foreign territory. Joshua Lyon's account of his prescription drug addiction offered a lot more than the usual reminiscences of highs, lows, and struggles with rehab, though; Mr. Lyon is a journalist and he used the story o...more
The book I bought had a different cover than the one shown here. I seen it on the shelf at our local bookstore and had to have it. It sounded so promising and I love a good drug memoir. However, this book most definetely did not turn out to be what I thought it would be. I had a very hard time getting into the book, however about 1/3 into the book it finally picked up for me and I devoured it. This book was more research than memoir. There was a lot of techinal terms and such that was hard for m...more
Hooray! An addiction memoir! One of my favorite genres!!
And honestly, after a run of middle school problem novels, I was pretty pleased to read this one! Being addicted to Vicodin is less painful than losing your best friend/family to divorce/first love. haha.
He combines his own experiences with some pretty good facts about painkiller addiction and I left with a more well-rounded sense of how we become addicted, why I like them, and why quitting them is tough.
...more
And honestly, after a run of middle school problem novels, I was pretty pleased to read this one! Being addicted to Vicodin is less painful than losing your best friend/family to divorce/first love. haha.
He combines his own experiences with some pretty good facts about painkiller addiction and I left with a more well-rounded sense of how we become addicted, why I like them, and why quitting them is tough.
...more
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This book annoyed me and failed as a substance-abuse fable because Lyon never really hit anything close to "rock bottom", and even his obligatory final chapter in rehab shows him not really caring if he cleans up or not. Far from a cautionary tale, Pill Head mostly just passes along the wisdom that it's expensive to be addicted to pills in New York, and that if you take enough, your friends will be disappointed with you. Blarg. Watch an episode of Intervention if you really want to see...more
As someone currently working in this field, I found this to be a well researched book about upper middle class opiate addicts. Opiate addiction is definitely on the rise among twenty something's. Suboxone is also mentioned throughout this book which is fast becoming a favored treatment for addicts. Additionally he briefly touched on using suboxone as a treatment for other addictions and that is something that about to be tested for primary cocaine addiction. Overall good intro to opiates.
This was a very interesting read. I read it in a total of about 2 days because I found it so easily read-able. It read half biography, half documentary-style prose. I learned a great deal about the pill society. I would have liked to have seen more about the damages of using pills long-term (besides the obvious - becoming addicted and landing in a hellish rehab ordeal). What effects does is have on the body and brain?
Otherwise, Lyon did a great job bringing you into his own head, and...more
Otherwise, Lyon did a great job bringing you into his own head, and...more
Sila
added it
Interesting memoir that has a journalistic twist to it. It terrified me to learn that pills along with other addictive substances are consumed by so many people!
I think Joshua Lyon wrote it very bravely, admitting to many of his own mishaps which hopefully will guide readers to not fall for similar traps in their lives.
I think Joshua Lyon wrote it very bravely, admitting to many of his own mishaps which hopefully will guide readers to not fall for similar traps in their lives.
Pill Head wasn't as great of a book as I thought it was going to be. It was less a memoir of the author than a journalistic approach similar to the way he might have approached writing an article for Jane magazine. "Ok, I'm the author, and I had this experience. Also, these folks over here, let's write about them for a while, they had this other experience. Now what about these other guys? Them too!" It really was teetering between a memoir and an anthropological study... It really co...more
Over the weekend I read this AND a book called Methland, so now I guess I'm due for a heroin memoir, or perhaps a harrowing tale of absinthe addiction. This memoir slash expose was good -- extremely honest, no-holds-barred, and well-written.
It was okay. I agree that the investigative journalism parts seemed pretty disjointed from the memoir parts and hopped around with no rhyme or reason. Pretty redundant too. Overall, it was okay and not too bad of a read for a memoir.
This book might have been weak at some points, but was excellent at seeing into the life of an abuser/addict. If you've ever wondered how easy it is to fall into addiction/abuse, then this is a must-read.
I felt like this book was trying to be too many things at once--a memoir, a journalist's investigation with interviews into drug use and users, and a recovery story. David Sheff does a superior job of combining all the elements in his book, "Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction." Also, the recovery portions of the book felt rushed as if the author just needed to meet his deadline to deliver his manuscript.
This is my daughters book and being as she told me she didn't enjoy it that much I was almost scared to begin reading it. Glad I did though, I found it brutally honest and as an addict myself (not pills) I found it hit very close to home for me in the whys? of why addicts use. It started off strong but then bogged down which really depressed me but I continued on and it picked right back up and never let go. I felt a close connection to Joshua while reading this book and always count myself luck...more
Three Vicodin = love. This memoir of a Jane magazine editor is the best zine of the year, writing-wise. If you know what I mean.
Really interesting and funny/sad look at prescription drug addiction.
This book just makes me want to take pills. Lots of them. Goodness gracious.
It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either...I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either...I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
Yet another down in the trenches view of drug addiction and recovery. I'm liking these kinds of books more than watching Intervention.
Another memoir about harsh reality! Woot! Pill Head is very insightful, very objective, and a very interesting account of Lyon's pain killer addicted life. Pill Head adds more on that with other points of addicted teens/adults and builds from everypoint - to getting pills, and to groups on awareness. The story he tells is straightforward and depicts his troubled adolescence/mostly adulthood with his drug usage. It's not just about painkillers - it's a very harsh society depicted with controversi...more
I can only hope to have the kind heart of the author.
As other reviewers have mentioned, this book does seem a little disjointed. The author jumps around between personal stories, stories of friends and factual information regarding prescription drug use, abuse and distribution. Still, I'm a sucker for addiction memoirs and this one fit the bill. It also helped shed some light on why it is so difficult for me to obtain a legit prescription for pain killers (I suffer from severe migraines). All in all an interesting and enlightening read.
Once again I'm a sucker for books on addiction and this one didn't disappoint. Prescription drug abuse is something that is running rampant right now and Joshua tells it with honesty and gives us a glimpse into his life of addiction.
Good memior of painkiller addict and excelent descriptions of how antidepressants and opiates work. If the statistics and stories in the book are indicitave of overall use, perscription abuse is a serious and growing problem. Confirms two things I've always suspected, 1 - some people just don't want to quit and nothing is going to change their minds and 2 - some people are able to function at a high level or perhaps better than they normally could while using.
Excellent memoir of living with addiction and hiding it from others that are closest to you.
written by my friend joshua! really informative and entertaining so far.
has some interesting insights on the nature of addiction, but not much else
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