If you are a type I diabetic and you don’t use insulin you probably will die.
Every once in a while mi migraines get so bad that my whole back becomes a Gordian knot. Trip to the ER and they give some injections and 3 seconds later WOW, my whole body is relaxed … I always asked the nurse “can I have one to go?” or some not-so-over-the-counter painkillers.
Never having taken any psychoactice drugs I can only imagine the feeling must be with “real” drugs".
My brother-in-law is diabetic and he tells me that some eat sweets like crazy (say, 5 bars of chocolate) and then pop some insulin - in a moment of weakness.
(yeah, yeah, anecdote, data, I know)
The definitions of addiction that make the most sense to me focus on when the substance or behavior becomes a compulsive or obsessive one.
If taking pain medication is really a response to pain, then I’d say it’s not an addition, even if some physical dependency is involved. I think people with chronic pain are there when they start taking their meds because they might hurt. (And I don’t mean in the sense of “Every time I walk a mile, my leg hurts, so I’ll take a pill before I go shopping,” but in the sense of “I feel great now, but I should take another pill just to make sure.”)
House is fiction so they can try to walk the line in a way that might not really happen. How fun would it be if House screwed up and killed someone every other show or if he was punished for even half of the despicable things he does? The show’s premise seems to be that House is always addicted to something, be it drugs, puzzles, etc. - when he does feel good, he even runs to excess.