Netflix - November 30 - Take Your Pills: Xanax

I'm sure, although I'm not a member. I deleted all of my social media accounts about 3 1/2 years ago when I started this benzo process, and never looked back and have absolutely no desire to ever rejoin.

 

I did forget one of the streaming services that I used regularly, YouTube also has a lot of videos that talk badly about medical professionals. But they do it in a more civil way, because YouTube has some pretty strict guidelines. It's almost as if YouTube is bordering on anti-government from time to time, but they never let it get too out of hand.

 

I remember when the internet first came out, things were completely anti-government and everybody was taking things to the extreme. That's also around the time when Faces of Death videos were coming out and hacker videos on how to destroy electronics and vending machines and change traffic lights and things like that. Eventually the government put an end to that.

 

Maybe old Elon Musk is doing us a favor, or maybe he's making things worse because he's only catering to one side of the political spectrum and bashing the other. It's really hard to tell, All I know is I prefer the old school days a little better before everything was so edited.

We're getting off topic, hoping we can get back to member input on the film.

I still haven't seen the full movie, but watched only John's part. I think he did excellent. One thing I can report is Benzodiazepine Information Coalition's Ashton Manual traffic is up more than 1000% since it was shown in the film. This makes me happy. Also, Ashton Manual is trending on google trends. Weirdly, Anna Lembke is not trending.

Thank you for sharing the good news that Ashton Manual traffic is up at the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition website, MsAtomicBomb.  It sounds like at least some folks who viewed the movie got the message!

 

 

Wow this is amazing. Hope they'll expose the lunacy of shrinks who give out these meds like candy, and don't have any proper advice how to withdraw. The only people I trust on this are the people who've gone through the benzo hell-trials, such as people on this board. You guys are life savors above all.

I didn't watch it because I'm too easily triggered these days, but a friend watched it and said that while it was interesting on the issue of benzos, it looked a bit like advertising in disguise for antidepressants... which is hardly a good idea given that many of us have similar difficulties with these psychotropic drugs.

For those of you who saw it, did you feel that too?

I know what you mean, but I felt as if this movie was catering to kiss medical professional's a**es, rather than showing the truth and sad reality of prescription pills.

 

I mean if this was a true documentary, it would look like the end of Requiem for a Dream, where the one guy loses his arm and the other one is suffering in jail, while the mother goes insane from all the different colored pills and ends up getting brain shock treatments.

 

Seriously, I've been to about at least a dozen mental facilities in three different states, and it's always a bunch of people getting shock treatments in their brains, losing toes on their feet because of prescription medications, having liver issues because of prescribed Psych meds, ending up suicidal and going through psychosis because of their psych meds, and nobody can hold a job all because of Psychiatry for the most part. Is part of it natural and genetic? I'm sure, but big Pharma made it worse.

 

Anybody who says otherwise is believing the non-evidence-based subjective stories from the mental health profession. There's absolutely no physical evidence of any Mental Health conditions that require medications.

I watched it twice and found it so informative.  Im just beginning my tapering journey and this was one documentary that will stay with me. I plan to watch it again. Im also hoping and praying there will be further documentary type films like this in the near future.

The As Prescribed one, was something else i read online after the film went live. I came across the sites patient editorials , blogs , and read so much of their experiences.  Its definitely helpful for all of us.

 

Seeing that the Ashtom manual traffic is up 100% is very encouraging.  Thank God for that. 🙏

 

Oeh the first proper laugh I've had since I joined BB! Hope the guy who owns it won't do too many Ambien tweets.

https://www.businessinsider.nl/elon-musk-says-hes-had-to-take-ambien-to-go-to-sleep-2018-8?international=true&r=US

 

But to the topic: Xanax doc at Netflix. I saw it and was disappointed. I would have loved a referral to the Ashton Manual in case people struggle with dependency and/or want to come off them.

 

I only felt a connection with the guy who was tapering Valium with a fancy homemade chemistrylab. I was gobsmacked with the girl who says her low dose of Xanax seems to keep helping her, but I will try not to judge.

 

Naf1983

 

 

The place you seek is called Twitter.

 

I hear it's lovely.

Motto Pictures is the production company which made, along with Netflix, this Xanax documentary.  If you bother to look at Julie Goldman and  producer/director Blair Foster's filmographies -- they seem very good at biography documentaries.  Celebrities are probably their forte. So I believe in "Xanax" they sacrificed thoroughness for entertainment which is the style they are accustomed to making.  It's not Ken Burns.  It was like watching a magazine show about anxiety, the pandemic, panic and -- oh yeah -- benzodiazepines.

 

"Take Your Pills: Xanax" employed the same old hackneyed documentary technique of rapid cutting and cross cutting from one television news image or interview to another to affirm,  "Oh, my goodness what an age we live in"!  Pretty amateurish

 

I guess Schriver, Swartzenegger, Julie Goldman and the rest of the producers were possibly concerned that the perils of Xanax, by itself, was just not interesting enough for the public.  And, consequently, withdrawal from benzos was also just plain not interesting.  I had heard the same criticism about their previous documentary on Adderal.  It was fragmented and not serious from a medical perspective.  For instance, in "Xanax" how can they talk about withdrawal from benzos and not include "inter dose withdrawal"?  Did I miss it?  Was it buried in those fragmented interviews and fleeting bits of CNN?  And how could they not include the known hazards of Z drugs?  Pretty poor --- but entertaining in a People Magazine way? yes.

 

I suppose we wise and enduring victims should be wringing our hands and bowing in appreciation for any attention to our suffering.  But not acknowledging the dark hand of Pharma is shameful, especially in light of the flawed and distorted Upjohn study on Xanax (find on B.I.C.)

 

I must be feeling better because there is no way I could handle such a frantic production while in withdrawal. I do look forward to their documentary about Velvet Underground in which Motto Pics had a hand.

I can highly recommend "As Prescribed", by filmmaker Holly Hardman, as a moving and all-too-real account of what benzodiazepines can do. If you get an opportunity to watch it, please do. I watched it last weekend and am still reflecting on the powerful stories it told.

I can highly recommend "As Prescribed", by filmmaker Holly Hardman, as a moving and all-too-real account of what benzodiazepines can do. If you get an opportunity to watch it, please do. I watched it last weekend and am still reflecting on the powerful stories it told.

 

Where can I find the Holly Hardman documentary, I keep finding trailers.  Thanks

I can highly recommend "As Prescribed", by filmmaker Holly Hardman, as a moving and all-too-real account of what benzodiazepines can do. If you get an opportunity to watch it, please do. I watched it last weekend and am still reflecting on the powerful stories it told.

 

Where can I find the Holly Hardman documentary, I keep finding trailers.  Thanks

 

I don't believe its been fully released yet but you might want to ask the question on this thread.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=273657.0

I'm not quite sure how to watch it at this point, but you can check the website here:

 

https://www.asprescribedfilm.com/ 

 

It was available to watch online for a little while via the Global Health Film Festival. Perhaps there will be other opportunities like that.

Thanks so much, Lapis!

 

Please keep spreading the word about As Prescribed. Word-of-mouth from the community is what we need for As Prescribed to have its chance to tell the benzodiazepine story accurately (because that is, in fact, what it does). I'm a benzo survivor so I know only too well how nightmarish and life-changing BIND is, and I also understand that BIND sufferers are not a small segment of the prescribed population. Our numbers are huge. And this has to change.

 

I'll be announcing a January screening of As Prescribed within a week.

 

 

Thanks so much, Lapis!

 

Please keep spreading the word about As Prescribed. Word-of-mouth from the community is what we need for As Prescribed to have its chance to tell the benzodiazepine story accurately (because that is, in fact, what it does). I'm a benzo survivor so I know only too well how nightmarish and life-changing BIND is, and I also understand that BIND sufferers are not a small segment of the prescribed population. Our numbers are huge. And this has to change.

 

I'll be announcing a January screening of As Prescribed within a week.

 

I'm glad to hear that there will be more opportunities for people to watch your film, Holly. I might watch it again, if it will be available to me here in Canada. I have a few good pals in the U.S. too, so I will be sure to pass along the info to them. 

Still haven't seen Take Your Pills: Xanax in full, but these are my favorite benzo-related documentaries (in no particular order):

 

Lisa Ling's The Benzo Crisis, As Prescribed, Medicating Normal and Shane Kenny's The Benzodiazepine Medical Disaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVoFlGR7Lhsr

Still haven't seen Take Your Pills: Xanax in full, but these are my favorite benzo-related documentaries (in no particular order):

 

Lisa Ling's The Benzo Crisis, As Prescribed, Medicating Normal and Shane Kenny's The Benzodiazepine Medical Disaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVoFlGR7Lhsr

 

Yes, agreed, MsAtomicBomb! I've seen all of those and can recommend them highly to others here as well.

I just watched this last night with my husband. I just started tapering off Klonopin last week and I thought this would give me some hope and help him to understand why I chose to stop and what I am going through. It was a great documentary- very well done! My only complaint is at the beginning there are clips of news stories, etc. showing what people are anxious about in society lately, and watching that in itself made both me and my husband anxious! I don't know if that was intentional, but we both felt it for sure. I highly recommend for anyone and everyone to watch this, especially those on benzos and younger people who are possibly experiencing pressure to take benzos recreationally. 

I, like Pamster, was in tears during the John segment, and when they showed Dr. C. Heather Ashton and mentioned the manual. It was emotional and felt like validation, even though the whole documentary wasn't focused on the dangers and harm caused by these drugs. I also enjoyed hearing from Dr. Heather Lembke, although I could've used much more from her. She gets it. She knows what these drugs do, and she's helped many successfully come off these drugs slowly.

I just watched it too. I’m so greatful for the stories they shared. I think it was John was measuring out his dose,  I got very emotional watching that part. Gosh I remember those days. What we have to do to get better is so ridiculous and unfair. The time it takes with no hand holding from the very people who prescribe them. In fact I remember my dr looking at me like I was a lunatic when I told her about microtapering.

 

I’m so greatful for this doco and the people behind it. It makes me angry but also proud of us all and for those brave enough to tell it true x

I, like Pamster, was in tears during the John segment, and when they showed Dr. C. Heather Ashton and mentioned the manual. It was emotional and felt like validation, even though the whole documentary wasn't focused on the dangers and harm caused by these drugs. I also enjoyed hearing from Dr. Heather Lembke, although I could've used much more from her. She gets it. She knows what these drugs do, and she's helped many successfully come off these drugs slowly.

 

I don't believe that Anna Lembke really gets it tbh. While she does seem to get the broader issues, she's always conflating physical dependence with addiction in interviews, doesn't really get why this conflation harms us, and doesn't seem to know how to taper.

This's awesome! GJ!

 

This's a big step towards letting people know about benzos should be only used if no other option (there are lot of other pills for epilepsy too) and it's about life and death.

 

It's crazy that first benzo was discovered almost 70 years ago, and the serious addictive side of benzos was publicised maybe 40 years ago, but they're still prescibed so easily like they're candy.

Truth!

 

 

Yeah, but on the extreme side of that, you have media praising it in Hollywood...

Especially Xanax.

 

These pills have their place in something like Status Epilepsy...where Valium and klonopin or Ativan can save lives.

 

Or perhaps, a mother that  lost her daughter or son that needs a rest.

 

A person could even take them sporadically and be fine: a few a month.

 

It's just when they're prescribed for everyday use to treat some neurosis or anxiety disorder is the problem.

 

💗

I watched the documentary and appreciated the nod to Heather Ashton and her manual.  I wish they had spent more time on the withdrawal aspect, such as explaining the four phases and various methods of tapering. 

 

Overall, it was just okay.

 

 

I agree. I just found this thread on BB about the doc. I watched it shortly after it came out. With so much glorification of Xanax in Hollywood/the media, I think the W/D stories could have been stronger. There are so many people suffering or who have suffered. I am thankful they mentioned the Ashton manual. I just wish they had profiled an individual who has the typical (but HORRIBLE) W/D experience. And how easily that can happen.

Friends of mine asked if I had watched the doc, as some know about my experiences. I shared what I shared above. I think sharing more stories would be helpful. I felt for all of the individuals though and was just thankful to see it.

I do think, from my reading, doctors, generally, have cut back on benzo prescriptions, just as they have with opioids. However, that doesn’t help folks who were prescribed it years ago.