Take Your Pills: Xanax

This documentary has the message of a '90s after school special. I expected to see Nancy Regan as the director in the credits. As just one example of the blind fear-mongering and rejection of science advancements that can truly help people and change their lives for their better, this documentary conflates SSRIs with BENZOS. Those are two entirely separate drugs with significantly different risk factors. SSRIs like Zoloft have been life saviors for countless people with no side effects. These are the same people who were forced to suffer in silence for decades unnecessarily because of tragic messages like this documentary.

On the positive side, this "documentary" does establish "Be careful what drugs you take and how you take them." Thanks for that bit of unique wisdom that everyone already knows.

The film does try to present a balanced view of Xanax, displaying both beneficial and negative experiences in using the drug. But people are different. The guy that had to withdraw from Xanax over years using microdoses is an extremely rare case; the focus on him was excessive. Most people can withdraw in a month or two, some faster. People who take a prescribed maintenance dose may have no need to withdraw. For many people this medicine is essential to function in a normal manner.

They did discuss doctors over-prescribing these drugs and not doing proper follow-up. Their presentation of the medical community is quite accurate in regard to the "corporate doctor" situation we see so much today.

The young blonde who took a regulated dosage of Xanax daily due to serious panic attacks and properly balanced her life with that dosage-- that is more what the drug is intended for. Again, they touched on but didn't even name PTSD-- a condition which is more common than most people realize, and which may absolutely require treatment with such drugs for the person to even survive. When the brain is totally out of sync with their body, heart, lungs and hormones, Clonazepam (another form of Xanax) is almost a miracle cure for such people-- and taking it is not an "option" if they want to live a normal life.

Largely this film just touches the surface of issues but doesn't really establish anything. At the end, viewers are left knowing no more about the drug, its benefits, its dangers, and proper administration or use than they did when the documentary began. It's an hour and a half of non-accomplishment in which they discuss a wide variety of viewpoints, with no real solutions or even suggestions. Oh, except smoke weed. That can be a viable alternative.

This is basically a non-helpful, uninformative non-documentary. A person can learn more by simply browsing the Internet and reading about Xanax. The only thing to take away from this is the obvious: Don't take Xanax recreationally or in excess. Don't "get hooked" on it. That's for those of us who need that "duh" kind of information.

I've taken Xanax for over 25 years and I know exactly what these people have experienced. I started taking it when I came down with Meniere's Disease which caused severe attacks of vertigo that could last 8 to 10 hours. The need for help was very real and Xanax allowed me to continue working and carry on a fairly normal life. Three inner ear surgeries in about four years time resolved the worst of my symptoms which was the vertigo. Unfortunately I kept on taking 1MG a day for many years when I should have stopped taking them altogether. My experience was similar to that of several of the people in this documentary. I no longer take a daily Xanax but I have a few small doses in case I'm having a really bad day and start to feel dizzy. I don't think the people who gave this documentary low reviews understand the situation very clearly, this was well done and contains useful information. It's worth watching!

As "Take Your Pills: Xanax" (2022 release; 90 min) opens, we are reminded that prescriptions for Xanax have exploded the last 20-25 years. Why are so many Americans anxious and filled with dread and fear? Many talking heads are interviewed, including in the medical field as well as past and present users. One of them is Scott Stossel, author of "My Age of Anxiety". At this point we are 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from producer-director Blair Foster ("The Clinton Affair"). Here she reassesses the rise and rise of Xanax. As an occasional user of Xanax myself (more on that in a minute), I saw a lot of recognition points throughout the movie. One of the women doctors interviewed sums it up this way: "Xanax is meant for short term. It is prescribed too often and too long." Bottom line: much of what I heard and saw in this movie feels on point and resonated with me. As for my own experience with Xanax: as I got older, I developed an irrational (but very real) fear of flying, to the point that I stopped flying altogether. That was a real problem, and about 5 years ago, my doctor prescribed Xanax to me. I have to tell you: it's been a life changer for me. It works like magic, and I can now travel again. I never use Xanax for any other situation, and I am frankly puzzled how one could function on a day-to-day basis when taking Xanax literally every single day. But to each their own. My personal experience with Xanax could not have gone any better, and I will never get on a plane again without it.

"Take Your Pills: Xanax" premiered a couple of days ago on Netflix, and I stumbled on it as I was browsing the latest additions on Netflix. When I saw the title, my interest was piqued immediately. Is this a revolutionary documentary? It is not, but for me it was well worth checking out, and it definitely feels on point for me. Of course don't take my word for it., so I'd readily suggest you check it out, and draw your own conclusion.

Studying the long term affects of benzodiazepines is a really important topic and this documentary started out with a focus on this. Sadly though the movie devolves into looking at a few neurotic people who have issues much bigger than Xanax could ever address. Sadly too many of the people who they spoke to ended up saying they still take it and it works for them. Very little time was spent on the idea that being human has always required juggling stressful situations and that we as a species need to figure out how to get back to where we do that without pharmaceuticals. Instead we have been medicating children with Adderall and other behavior drugs so kids never have to learn how to cope with stressful situations. We're making it worse, not better and this movie is part of the problem not the solution.