I felt the need to update my existing theory about the guilt and the blame between House & Wilson since we now know the hallucinations will be vicodin induced... BUT the theory still stands.

This is my opinion only, it should not be taken as a fact... except for the list of alternative chronic pain medications, those are facts.

Let me explain:

1: Kutner.

First of all, the sneak peaks show House telling Wilson that he's seeing Kutner... but he would be questioning Kutner, still trying to find out why he killed himself and therefore would be more patient with a Kutner hallucination. He would be less apt to want to send him away, I think: it would be a way for him to hold on to the puzzle solver that he is. Not to mention Kutner is less annoying than Amber and House would be significantly less agitated around him. (I quote: "Enough!") I think Wilson would find out eventually... I don't know how the scene plays out but I think Wilson's telling House he needs to be admitted (from the promo} comes directly after he admits to seeing someone who's dead.

Whether House tells him it's Amber or not... Wilson will deduce who it really is somehow.

2: Vicodin: Detox.

This has everything to do with Wilson:

He's the prescribing physician, the best (only?) friend, therefore: the one most qualified to help him through it besides Cuddy who will, of course, do her best as well. In this situation, he'll become reacquainted with the side of him that loves to fix people... but I wouldn't hold it against House to be suspicious of his efforts. He did everything he possibly could to save Amber but it wasn't enough... he knew, he did know what happened, but it wasn't what Wilson wanted to hear. That could have been hugely traumatic to House: his world thrived on knowing the truth, and for as long as he found out that truth he'd sleep at night and be at peace... but with Amber, it didn't matter that what he told Wilson was all he possibly could have;

All that mattered was that it wasn't what Wilson wanted to hear. And he was gone just like that and they had never really been friends and he was a horrible person... Knowing isn't everything, but it's everything House (thinks he) has. So he was insecure to begin with because of Wilson and Wilson never rectified that, never thanked him for the goodbye he got to share with Amber... so House carried that around along with the guilt and Kutner killed himself...

What's the first thing House goes back to when it comes to not knowing? Not saying what someone needed to hear? Amber. So Amber comes back as the bad side of him, the bitter and angry side, not the freshest impact, not the newest hurt but the old one. That means a lot. Wilson must realise that.

Point of this whole rant was: if House doesn't know any more, he does not expect Wilson to stick around. And if it's this bad with the vicodin to where it's quit or lose this function that basically makes you who you are not only in the eyes of others but in your own as well, Wilson will urge him to quit. Some part of House will turn bitter enough to either think or ask "Since when do you care about my brain? I almost ruined it the last time and you sure as hell didn't care." and things will go from there... reconciliation and all, you know: the works.

If House can be at peace with his own brain again and Wilson FINALLY recognizes the damage he's done, they will be better equipped to survive House's detox.

obviously there are other things that work for pain management, here's a list:

(From a pharmaceutical student that helps me with medical things in fics)

3: alternatives.

Some alternative therapies for chronic pain:
Depending on the patient, some would probably work better than others, and some maybe not at all.

* Antidepressants (weird, huh?). Amitriptyline has the most data to support its use for pain control.

* Gabapentin. It also sometimes works for epilepsy! I gather both conditions involve 'misfiring nerves', but I couldn't tell you how it works.

* Heat or cold - can be a helpful addition

* Marijuana.... Though I don't suppose I should be recommending it!

* Anti-inflammatory pain relievers. These will be practically useless for most people with chronic pain, but might be worth a try. Examples include ibuprofen, diclofenac, celecoxib and naproxen. Regular use can cause stomach ulcers (despite popular belief, taking with food doesn't eliminate this risk)

* Acetaminophen in doses of 4g/day or less.

* Acupuncture

* Massage

* muscle relaxants - I haven't covered these at uni yet, so I'd have to do some research.

* TENS - (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation)

*Other opioids. Methadone would actually be the opiate of choice here! Don't be put off by the reaction he had - that was because the dose was too high. Methadone is tricky to dose, because the maximum effect isn't seen until many hours after administration. If house wasn't using it as his only method of pain control (ie using some of the above ideas), then the dose needed would be lower, therefore less likely to stop him from breathing! The advantage of methadone over the other options is that methadone has such a long duration of action, so only once daily dosing would be needed. Also, methadone isn't associated with the fun buzz (that occurs with a rapid increase in activation of receptors - in methadone you see a slow increase in activation).
A pain management specialist would usually supply a patient with medication for 'breakthrough' pain also . This is usually something like a shorter acting drug like morphine or fentynal.

Why should this interest you at all? It means House can give up the vicodin and be House! He'll still be able to provide comic relief with whatever he squirts, swallows, pops or injects. I just wanted to show you that Vicodin is by all means not the only thing House can take for his pain and therefore we shouldn't assume he won't quit anyway because he has other options and knows this. Especially now his darker side is no longer a part of... him, I guess, since it's Amber now, and he can ignore her.

Which would of course start a time period where they mix and match the drugs and that will surely be trail and error, but it is said that the first few episodes of Season 6 will be different, so why not? It can work.

Many people think that there can be no House without vicodin, my nifty list should show you that this is absolute crap and that there's nothing "jump the shark" about this plot if it happens this way. It'll be a hard decision for House to make none the less...

Oh, and last but not least:

Withdrawal symptoms for opioids include -

# cravings
# irritability
# nausea and vomiting
# muscle aches
# runny nose
# dilated pupils
# sweating
# diarrhea
# yawning
# fevers
# chills
# inability to sleep
# depression

Oh dear... I foresee tears people!

Hope you enjoyed!