Tiger Woods arrested on DUI charge

[True Dough]

I feel some inner rage whenever someone gets charged with DUI. It's not like there aren't plenty of public awareness campaigns about the potential harm you could wreak.



"Tiger Woods was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.

The former world No1 was taken into custody near his home on Jupiter Island, Florida. According to Palm Beach County police, he was arrested at 3am, booked into jail around 7am and released at 10.50am.

Woods is the world’s most recognized golfer, although he has not played professionally since February due to lingering back issues. He has won 14 majors during his career but his last victory came in the 2008 US Open.

Last week, Woods said he had no plans to retire from golf, despite undergoing another surgery on his back in April. “We tried every possible non-surgical route and nothing worked,” said Woods of the fourth procedure he’s undergone on his back since 2014. “I had good days and bad days, but the pain was usually there, and I couldn’t do much. Even lying down hurt. I had nerve pain with anything I did and was at the end of my rope. The process leading up to my decision to have surgery was exhaustive. I consulted with a specialist, and after weighing my options, that’s when I decided to go to Texas to have surgery.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/may/29/tiger-woods-dui-charges-florida-golf

[underpants]

1. You just beat me to it

[TexasTowelie]

2. Is that the "before" or "after" shot

at Hair Club for Men?

[True Dough]

3. I like your picture better

The one I found is cropped a little too tight.

[n2doc]

4. Maybe he can ask his golfing buddy to get the charges dropped

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/05/politics/tiger-woods-donald-trump-golf/

[CanSocDem]

5. I guess...

...he used his Get Out Of Jail Free Card the day he ran into the tree 'backing out of his driveway'.


.

[hughee99]

6. If I understand right, there was no alcohol involved. He was on his usual cocktail of pain meds and

Ambien. Not that it makes it any better.

It's tough to argue he didn't know he shouldn't drive on that stuff given that's what he was on last time, if I recall correctly.

[True Dough]

7. Yeah, those details emerged

over the course off the day. Not at egregious as getting plastered on alcohol, by any means.

[JonLP24]

10. It depends

Driving while tired can be as dangerous as driving in the .08-.11 range.

[True Dough]

12. Oh, I wasn't questioning that driving while tired can be dangerous

Just saying that getting tanked and climbing behind the wheel is morally worse than slipping into la-la land while driving. Although I'd encourage anyone to pull over and at least take a nap if they have much distance to cover.

[JonLP24]

13. When I was younger

I would always be dead set against driving sober but once I had more than a few drinks I'd say to myself "I can drive" or I would have foolish confidence in my abilities. This one of the many reasons why I don't drink today but I don't have a car but it would screw with my judgment. Another reason is blackouts -- I never drove while blacked out but blackouts frightened me because I had no idea WTF I was doing and I could have been doing anything and not being consciously aware of what I was doing.

I remember seeing a video of a guy sitting in prison who blacked out drove on the wrong side of the road at 80 MPH and killed someone and was blacked out the whole time. It made no sense to him because the direction he was traveling wasn't to anywhere he would go so he didn't know where he was going and it was away from his house.

Alcohol is my least favorite drug so I don't drink at all these days and haven't for years and haven't drank heavily since I was 21 but I was just using tiredness as an example but in this case he took like 4 downers so in his case it could be morally worse or morally just as bad depending on your point of view. In this case he was more than tired.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/aaa-study-drowsy-driving-dangers-comparable-to-drunk-driving/

[True Dough]

14. I've never been a drinker

so there was never a chance of a DWI. Sleep deprivation, well, that's a different story. My first job out of university was in a town three hours away from where my family lived. I moved to the town for work and would come home to the city most weeks. Then I struck up a relationship with a female friend from university (my wife to this day) and I was travelling back to the city every week without fail, often trying to get as much work done in advance to allow me to leave hours early.

So some afternoons I was able to hit the road and in the summer when it was warm with sun streaming in through the windshield, I would feel myself -- with about 4 hours of sleep the previous night -- starting to doze off. I'd crank up the radio, roll down the windows (yes roll, no power in my little junker of a car back then) and sometimes give myself a few slaps in the face to get the adrenaline pumping again.

Coffee was out because it's never been my thing and energy drinks weren't the big deal back then that they are now.

I simply should have pulled over and caught some Zzzzs. But I was young and stupid. The "micro sleep" episodes could have caught up with me. Fortunately they didn't, but I pushed the boundaries foolishly.

[JonLP24]

15. When I was deployed to Kuwait/Iraq as a 88M

which is a heavy vehicle operator. I drove long haul semi-truck convoys Freightliner M915A2 w/ trailers. Our base was in Camp Arif Jan, Kuwait and while we were at base we woke up 6 am for PT and worked until 5pm usually at the motor pool or doing some shit detail at the "trailer yard" like repainting trailer numbers and backing up trailers "dress, right, dress" but I can't count how many times we spray painted trailer numbers over and over anyways once we crossed over into Iraq we only drove at night because of the curfew (no cars on the road) & less visibility.

This was very hard to do and stay awake. We'd constantly drink Rip Its (free energy drinks they gave us) or whatever energy drinks we could buy at the PX. It is against military regulations to smoke inside a military vehicle but definitely smoked a lot depending on my co-driver. If it was someone who didn't smoke I'd use chewing tobacco whatever I could do to stay awake. If I was a passenger it was impossible to stay awake, we weren't allowed to sleep either because your eyes had to constantly be scanning the road for roadside bombs but again depending on my co-driver I slept. First time I crossed the border I was looking around but in Southern Iraq on MSR Tampa there is nothing around so I feel asleep first time in Iraq. By the time we got the CSC Scania when I went to "clear" my weapon (to clear a weapon you stick it in a clearing barrel drop the magazine, pull back to check for a round in a chamber, pull the trigger -- CENTCOM changed this last part a couple months in because of accidental discharges). I forgot to drop the magazine I was so tired I nearly jacked a round in the chamber but I caught myself. Another time I was in CSC Scania -- it takes at-least 10 hours to drive from Navistar to CSC Scania I side swiped a jersey barrier pulling into the staging area I got in so much trouble for this I had to follow a "ground guide" which was my co-driver everywhere. Everywhere I walked he had to walk in front of me in an orange vest but I did have a ground guide but he made confusing hand movements rather than pointing left or right he was moving his hand in a circle trying to tell me which way to steer but point is I was dead tired. I drove like this for 17,000+ miles but whenever we drove back I had to wake up at 6 in the morning go the motor pool at 9am and do "TI" basically a check of the truck and lubricating all the points under the truck as well as changing and the oil and stuff and reported issues to maintenance (which mostly everything outside of changing the engine block the driver had to repair) and when I got done my Squad leader would usually give me the shit detail for the next day. I did this for a year.

When I got back I started drinking heavily which isn't unusual for people that do return from deployments -- usually self-medicating because of the PTSD.

Rip Its -- https://vanwinkles.com/how-rip-its-became-the-unofficial-energy-drink-of-the-military

[True Dough]

16. Jeez, that's rough

Those energy drinks sure are effective for keeping you physically alert but, yeah, your cognitive abilities will still be questionable if you're lacking sleep.

I nurse a can of Monster energy occasionally when I have a long road trip and it perks me up. I consume them sparingly though.

My sister works for a major retailer and the rep for the energy drink supplier she dealt with is dead. He died of a heart attack at age 34. He drank those energy drinks like they were going out of style. Was that the cause of his heart attack? I can't say with any certainty, of course. But it scared me to hear it, and I can't help but wonder if there wasn't cause and effect at play there.

[JonLP24]

17. I think they made it worse

Even today if I wake up and go the day without coffee I feel fine but if I drink a cup of coffee I become more tired than I was before I drank but at the time I don't think anything I could have done would have changed how alert I was since it was constant change from sleeping during the day to sleeping at night, I still have irregular sleeping patterns since then, I woke up at 6pm last night and have been awake ever since. The night before that I went to sleep at 6pm and woke up at 12 am went to sleep yesterday at 9am.

I don't think it helped as far the heart attack goes. Those things are bad for the heart. Monster is the same company that made those Rip Its and I believe they've been sued according to the article anyways.

[True Dough]

18. I don't know what you do for a living

but it's gotta be tough holding down a regular schedule with such irregular sleeping patterns. Have you visited a sleep clinic? Maybe they could help you get back on track.

[JonLP24]

19. I haven't worked since a taxi job I had

It was very rough. When I started out I would do 12 hour leases from Monday-Thursday from 6am to 6pm because of the medical vouchers and on Friday & Saturday nights I would do 6pm to 6am because of Mill Avenue @ Arizona State which is where a whole bunch of people to drink and need rides those two nights you could make $100+ per night but eventually I got trapped into a 24-hour lease which was expensive like $150 + flag drop fees which the drive only made a .50 charge and ate the whole $2.95 for a no show that didn't cancel before you showed up. Then fare evaders and half payers eventually
put me under twice while on a 24 hour lease.

Right now I'm on HUD VASH (Section 8 for homeless veterans which I was homeless at the time of my cab job mostly staying in motels which their weekly rates were just as expensive as spending $50-$60 per day which is part of the reason I went under) so I don't have to worry about rent just electricity which I cover with plasma donations but I'm waiting for VA disability. Thursday I have an hearing test for tinnitus so I'm trying to stay up so I can fall asleep tonight and wake up tomorrow morning so I can fall asleep Wednesday night.

I'd love to get checked out for it and stuff and I'll ask about it next time I see my psychiatrist or primary care physician but I have mentioned the irregular sleep and they gave me pills but I can stay awake on the pills they give me. I have lots of anxiety but they won't give me what they gave Tiger Woods nor would I want it.

[True Dough]

20. Jon, first off

thank you for your service. I'm a Canadian, but I still admire the harsh conditions that soldiers endure. I can't fully appreciate them or relate to them since I have not been in uniform in conflict zones, but I can only imagine (and read about) how harrowing some of those predicaments must be.

I often wonder how widespread the struggle of veterans truly is. I have come across some stories featuring statistics and personal accounts from vets but I'm guessing what's known is only scratching the surface. PTSD remains undiagnosed for so many people, particularly soldiers.

Regarding the cab driving, I don't think it was ever a very lucrative job but with the pressures of competition from Uber, Lyft and others, there has to be a diminishing profit margin and tightening compensation and benefits for drivers.

As for tinnitus, well, I can empathize on that level entirely. I suffer from it myself and have for many years. It bothers me at times and at other times I can go for stretches where I forget about it. Flare ups are usually triggered by acute noises, like standing in close proximity to a smoke detector when it goes off. Then my attention is focused on the immediate high-pitched tone that ensues. It gradually fades to a degree, but it can be difficult avoid being fixated on it for the following days or even weeks. One product that has helped me when I'm in the midst of a bad spell is white noise machine that I ordered off of Amazon. It doesn't eliminate the problem (I don't think a "cure" yet exists) but it distracts from your minds focus on your internal ringing/high pitched-tone by introducing an external source of similar sound. There are YouTube channels that offer the same feature with many tones to choose from. So no need to shell out money.

It's kind of an odd phenomenon to think that you're just disguising a troubling sound with another sound just like it, but it's mostly about overcoming the psychological challenges relating to tinnitus. For me, that does the trick, knowing that the sound I'm hearing is not being uncontrollably produced in my head, it's that machine over there that is making the noise and masking the sound I'd normally hear.

One more sleep/noise story that touches on psychology. I used to rent a room in a basement of a home during that first job I held after university. I would go to bed at night and often fall asleep with my television on. There was a second room in that basement that went unrented during my first month there. Then another fellow moved in next door. One night I went to bed and turned my TV off. I could hear his TV droning on in the background. I tossed and turned for an hour or two, doing a slow burn. I thought he was a jerk for having his TV at an audible level at that hour of the night. Eventually it dawned on me that I was fairly regularly dozing off with my own TV on, but when I started to view it as a point of conflict that changed my mindset and thereby disrupted my sleep.

Not all issues are easily overcome, of course, but sometimes we just need to adjust our perspective to overcome some of the hurdles.

[JonLP24]

21. I heard Uber took over the Arizona State market

I appreciate your comments. Myself, I usually leave a fan running for the tinnitus or I'm not sure if I have it but occasionally I have ear ringing or low audio sounds which I know are internal because for example like a theme song for the show, if I heard it before I still hear the theme song on mute though at a very low audio and know it's not the TV because it doesn't matter how far or how close I am to it. I put it on my claim mainly because I was around truck engines without ear plugs.

I also put down PTSD & TBI. I already had my appointment with the psychologist and I easily answered yes to most of his questions plus I'm diagnosed with it at the VA. Plus my psychiatrist said he'd be very surprised if I don't qualify. The TBI -- I had a MRI but I have no idea what the results show, not sure if there is anything else I need to do on that front but I did everything as far as PTSD goes so it seems they are moving on to the next thing. I probably should have added sleep apnea or something similar to the claim but I was trying to go for things I'm pretty sure I have. Not sure on sleep disorders.

[True Dough]

24. I've heard of people with tinnitus using fans as well

People without the condition like sleeping with them on too. White noise is comforting to some folks, plus it keeps things cool.

I'm no expert, but from what you described of your sleep pattern, I think you'd probably hold a spot on the sleep disorder scale.

Do you have to fight for most of these benefits? In Canada it's shameful but a lot of veterans apply, are rejected and appeal once or more before finally being approved for assistance.

[JonLP24]

26. I don't think so

From what I understand it is relatively painless and there is no lawyer taking a 45% cut of the backpay. I filed a claim in January but I hear they are very backed up, the sent me to a third party psychologist precisely because of this reason since they usually do this at the VA. I saw the psychologist back in June so I probably have about another 6 months before I know one way or the other but my VA psychiatrist who is very familiar with the process says he'd be surprised if I was denied and says they pull up your medical records at the VA so that part is painless.

If I'm denied I can appeal which I have people that can help me with.

[crauber_4242]

8. Train wreck

[True Dough]

9. Whoops! Looks like Tiger's memory was severely impaired as well...

Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien and THC found in Tiger Woods' system at time of DUI arrest

http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/20344001/toxicology-report-shows-tiger-woods-had-vicodin-dilaudid-xanax-ambien-thc-system-dui-arrest

[JonLP24]

11. Damn they are giving him 3 addictive drugs there

Xanax has a very steep rebound effect (when you drink alcohol it brings you down below your baseline but when it wears off you go back up above the baseline -- which is why sometimes people wake up earlier than expected after a night of heavy drinking or they get DTs after long term use so they need a drink to bring them down to their baseline or lower). Xanax has a very steep rebound effect compared to most drugs.

I feel bad and his doctors probably shouldn't be prescribing him all that.

[joeybee12]

22. Wasn't his initial response that it was a bad reaction between meds? BS

Xanax knocks you out. You never take that a unless you plan on being immobile, like in bed or safe at home. His doctors had to have advised him of that and it probably wasn't the first time he took it, so he knew what he was doing.

[True Dough]

23. Yeah, it was some B.S.

Just like the initial reaction of almost any drug cheat.

"Someone must have slipped something into my supplements" or "My supplements were tainted, unbeknown to me."

[joeybee12]

25. It's become cliche. Nt

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Not True Joey

My wife takes it for anxiety. It most definitely does not knock her out. She's alert and lucid and articulate. It holds off high anxiety so she can function normally.

The insert with the meds says not to drive "if the medicine causes drowsiness". Emphasis on the word "if". It is not going to universally turn someone into a barely mobile zombie.

[joeybee12]

28. She must be on a very low dose

Your wife is the exception rather than the rule. In any case the dirtbag knew what he was doing taking five.meds and getting into a car

[ProfessorGAC]

29. Again, Not Accurate

I have two friends who use it for the same reason as my wife. One takes it every morning before he goes off to work.

And, my wife is on a medium dose.