Winona Ryder may have fallen sick on her flight to London yesterday, but at least she has learned one valuable lesson. No, it isn't that taking too many Xanax does not make you a pleasant flying companion. No, what she learned is that when you take too many Xanax on a flight you get to land first, and get off the plane first. On those international flights arriving in London in the morning, and your name isn't Naomi Campbell it's always fun to find a new way to move to the front of the line.
I kid because she is ok. I myself don't do Xanax but I can understand someone who is scared of flying doing it. I'm also immensely proud of Winona because this time, unlike when she was arrested in 2001, I think she had a valid prescription and not some form she printed off the internet and then filled at her pharmacy. I'm guessing it was valid or else we would have been talking about her arrest and not her release from the hospital. Winona apparently passed out twice while en route to London. She woke up, saw what they were passing off as a meal, and then took another Xanax and passed out again.
I'm glad she's doing ok.
Old f*ck buddy of mine is a chief-of-staff at an LA ER. Years back...maybe 6-7 years ago...he covered for a doctor friend of his while he was on vacation. Winona was one of this guys patients and called my friend while he was on call. Anyway, she became irate when my friend wouldn't refill her myriad of benzo Rx's.
ReplyDeleteSeems like she has had a Rx drug problem for a loooong time...
I wouldn't be so proud of her for having a prescription. All it means is she conned, bullied, or bribed a doctor into giving her one. Xanax are basically the equivalent of horse tranquilizers. If you took too many, it means you probably took more than one, and even an elephant would only need half of one.
ReplyDeleteI love the way presciption drugs and cigarettes are legal (and highly profitable for BigPharma) but marijuana isn't. Well, I DON'T love it. It's just sick.
ReplyDeleteAll's I can say is: Winona is as bad a junkie as Amy Fucking Winehouse.
Enty, I was sure you were going to say she took that drug Tina Fey's character took on the 30 Rock episode with Oprah.
ReplyDelete"No grandma, no!!"
Xanax is incredibly difficult to stop taking once you start. I had a patient come in once who was taking up to 6mg/day (typical dose: 0.5 to 1 mg) for severe panic attacks. Doc I worked for said it'd take years to never to get her off of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's why docs rarely use it anymore. Ativan/lorazepam's the bzd of choice these days.
@Ayesha
ReplyDeleteThat's why they call Amy Winehouse "Wino 2.0". Winona is simply the original Wino (though in part because Johnny Depp changed his "Winona Forever" tattoo to "Wino Forever" lol)
years back, I was taking a quarter of an Alprazolam (generic Xanax) per dose and was WAY out of it.
ReplyDeleteYou can't go off them cold-turkey, must wean off slowly.
Weren't prescribed for panic attacks, but when I decided I wanted off them, I had panic attacks!
Will never take it again.
huh. i've had a xanx scrip for a couple of years, (1.0) and only take them when i need them, for panic attacks.
ReplyDeletethey're not "horse tranquilizers" (i think the oxycontin is a LOT stronger), but then, i don't abuse them.
also, i guess those of us that really need these drugs don't get the same high as people that take them recreationally.
but, ayesha, i agree. i think a little weed now and then would help me more than half the meds i'm on.
I'm a big fan of benadryl + red wine, myself. Especially airplane red wine, that comes is one of those small plastic bottles that is flat on one side, and it ice cold.
ReplyDeleteMan, I sure know how to party.
"...i guess those of us that really need these drugs don't get the same high as people that take them recreationally."
ReplyDeleteI agree Bunny, and probably an individual's body chemistry has a lot to do with it as well. I had some vicodan make me a bit smiley for an hour or two, but other than that I've never felt a "high" from any kind of painkiller.
OMG, Xanax and flying-scaredys do not mix. Xanax has this awful, panic inducing way of making one forget things (like, um...how many Xanax one has already taken, perhaps?). Not so good if you have a connecting flight or something. Klonopin. Klonopin, and one shot of the cheapest, bottom of the barrel, rot-gut well vodka the airport lounge has to offer make much better flight-fellows.
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