Afflicted - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from Afflicted.

[Pepper Mostly]

Thank you for this! I watched this whole series in a day and a half, and I have thoughts! Anyone?

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Thank you for this! I watched this whole series in a day and a half, and I have thoughts! Anyone?

I watched this series in one sitting because I simply could NOT turn it off. 

My thoughts: Infuriating!

While some of the participants (of course not Carmen because she only uses a typewriter) have written hang-wringing essays on Medium.com complaining how they were misrepresented on the series, and blaming Netflix, the editors, the producers, and everyone other than themselves for getting snookered by quack medical doctors for treating ailments that, in all likelihood, are figments of their imagination, I gotta say, even had there not been doctors on this show who were throwing side-eyes to them, I'd have been throwing enough side-eyes for everyone. 

Pilar was especially horrific with her "I'm allergic to everything!" nonsense. How does she know that the bottles of water she's using aren't "contaminated" somehow? Someone touched them putting them into the box! Someone, perhaps lots of someones, touched the box that carried the water. She couldn't stand the "smell" of her bank-account/husband but was A-OK hugging her chiropractor with his dry cleaned suit? And then she bragged of finally being able to go into a store—but only "organic" stores. Sure, Pilar. OH! And that quack woman who doled out advice on the phone to the tune of $6.75/minute?! And then gave Pilar a bunch of nonsensical codes to read? LOL.  

And Jill. Jesus Christ, JILL. At some point, she complained to her friend Leonard about his umbrella. Because one time she had an umbrella "just like it" and she so happened to be a on a train with it when her "ovary started throbbing." GET. THE. FUCK. OUT. OF. HERE. JILL. 

And Bekah needs to have a seat. Her parents ponied up $22,000 for a "safe house" so she could live in the desert? (Earth to Rebekah—there is plenty of mold to be found in the desert, too.) Now she's on GoFundMe looking to raise money so she can go live in L.A. Maybe, and I wonder if it ever occurred to her, that those nasty prison tats on her face maybe introduced some "toxins" into her body that she can't get rid of. Or maybe she used "organic, mold-free ink" when they were done? 

I loved Star who complained about her liver hurting and two seconds later was sipping on some Veuve Clicquot because there's nothing an aching liver loves more than alcohol.

I also wonder that if money were an issue for any of the participants how quickly they'd recover from their "diseases" because they could no longer fund the quack doctors who were doling out all those supplements?  Like, do any poor people get "chronic lyme disease" and "electromagnetic hypersensitivity disorder?" 

My god. What a train wreck. 

ETA: I don't know if anyone else saw the wonderful film Safe directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore. It came out in the early (mid?) 90s. She was a disaffected housewife who came down with an "environmental illness." I totally think that film was the catalyst for all the hysteria of chronic lyme, mold allergies (which I have, too—but I take Flonase!), and electromagnetic hypersensitivity disorder.  

[Pepper Mostly]

Was Jill the one whose partner had to strip her whole house to the studs because of all her ailments? Oh my god. Every one of these people had problems all right. I tried to be open minded. I did. But holy Jesus on a bike, the woo woo nonsense and the the absolutely batshit crazy tinctures, teas, solutions, mineral baths, supplements, crazy practioners, long suffering families.....I was seething after awhile. The only one I thought could be legit was the athlete with chronic fatigue. The rest? Hoo boy.

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Was Jill the one whose partner had to strip her whole house to the studs because of all her ailments?

Yup! That was Jill! 

I still cant believe that people get so dug in to these conspiracy diseases that I swear to god wouldn't exist if the Internet didn't, that they think it makes more sense to drop tens of thousands of dollars on some doctor or loony toon with a 1-900 number who'll tell them what they want to hear instead of going to a family doctor who'll tell them what they don't. 

And I think nearly all of them uttered the phrase, "Western medicine has failed me." 

Hoo boy is right. 

[Pepper Mostly]

Thanks for the pointer to the medium articles by the way! I'm reading them now! Jill still would have gone outside and yelled at that guy was was smoking, even if she wasn't sick? All righty then! Nothing like barging on up to a guy who is enjoying a smoke, outdoors, and berating him. Jill seems to be a control freak of the first water.  I was utterly baffled by all of it. Jake the musician, literally one the brink of his success, has a breakdown in the airport. What a coincidence.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Jill still would have gone outside and yelled at that guy was was smoking, even if she wasn't sick? All righty then! Nothing like barging on up to a guy who is enjoying a smoke, outdoors, and berating him.

Exactly! And while she was out there, why not yell at every passing bus and car because of the fumes they were emitting? Or were those toxins safe? Or yell at someone walking by with perfume on? 

Quote

Jake the musician, literally one the brink of his success, has a breakdown in the airport. What a coincidence.

Oh, yeah. No coincidence there at all. 

I wonder, had any of the people featured not had an active enabler in the picture, what then? 

[Zima]

I watched it all in one sitting as well. It was so disturbing. I started out feeling badly for some of them, but by the end, I was just shocked at the lengths that people will go to to avoid life. Rebekah or whatever REFUSING the free treatment had me pulling out my hair! Wtf! And  the way Pilar treated her husband, ughhhh.

Also, in regard to the first guy...how does someone who supposedly hasn't left their bed in two years get up so easily? Wouldn't their muscles have atrophied? 

[Pepper Mostly]

16 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

Exactly! And while she was out there, why not yell at every passing bus and car because of the fumes they were emitting? Or were those toxins safe? Or yell at someone walking by with perfume on?

Because its OK to yell at smokers. Smokers and telemarketers--all society's rules of civility don't apply to them. Jill has a lot of rage, it seems. Even her rebuttal in Medium was turned up to 11.

There did seem to be a fair amount of selective sensitivity in most of these folks. I don't doubt that there was a lot of producer manipulation, either. But man, some of this stuff was just over the top. Carmen, the lady who couldn't handle fluorescent lights, but could drive her car? Jill can ride the subway and go to restaurants, (which, come on, especially in cities, are not citadels of cleanliness), but can't live in her house? Her office is OK, though? Completely free of contaminants. Strange.

[aulait]

Sad. Just really sad. These folks believe they are sick. I don't think it is a conscious scam. They are enabled not only by well meaning family and friends but by the cesspool of "natural/alternative medicine" info on the internet. Whole forums of thousands of folks who diagnose and treat each other. "Doctors" who provide the most ridiculous treatments. 

The psyche is an amazing thing. Believe that chanting words will help and they probably will. I notice that most these alternative doctors spend a lot of time with the patients and I think this appeals to those who feel mainstream medicine has failed them. Here is someone who cares, who has their best interest in mind. Someone who believes them instead of questioning what has no scientific backing.

This is a first world occurence, largely the middle class and above. 

Edited September 7, 2018 by aulait

[Pepper Mostly]

Oh I believe that all of these people believe they are sick, no question. They are suffering. And their families are suffering right along with them. Watching Jill sitting in her stripped down kitchen, whining "I don't want to be sick", while her wife talks about how happy she'd been to find a place with a beautiful mantel and bookcases, but that they had to tear everything out....there just seems to be a control element here that makes me really uncomfortable. Everyone in their orbit has to do everything they say. Even Jill's friend had to get rid of his umbrella!

It reminded me of that classic Intervention episode, Linda, the fentanyl addict who had all these "triggers" and "sensitivities". Her family couldn't wear red, she couldn't walk past flowers, she had to always turn left, she could feel waves coming from cell phones or electronics. Her whole family danced to her tune. She was sick all right. And she was suffering.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, Zima said:

Also, in regard to the first guy...how does someone who supposedly hasn't left their bed in two years get up so easily? Wouldn't their muscles have atrophied? 

I had the same question!  

Another question: Why the hell did Pilar have a handicapped placard in her car? She's not handicapped! Or is that for use when she goes to a non-organic parking lot? 

 

7 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Because its OK to yell at smokers. Smokers and telemarketers--all society's rules of civility don't apply to them.

HA! True fact. And I loved the caveat she placed on the guy outside smoking—if he had been a waiter, she wasn't going to yell at him. But, the second she realized he wasn't one of the waiters, she decided it was A-OK to march outside to go yell at the guy because it "triggered" her.  That's top-line dickhead behavior. And also, made zero sense. Had the guy been a waiter, and returned inside smelling of smoke, she could somehow have tolerated the smell because the guy was serving her her food? WTF man. 

Oh, and I bet all of them were on gluten-free diets, too. I worked with a woman years ago who diagnosed herself with the litany of the same internet-fueled diseases (including celiac disease which can only be diagnosed through biopsy), and claimed to have cured herself with a gluten-fee diet. (Pilar definitely was since she was only eating boiled turkey and boiled cauliflower. Ugh.) 

 

3 hours ago, aulait said:

This is a first world occurence, largely the middle class and above. 

Co-sign on that. None of the people on this show were hurting for money. Although, after they get done getting fleeced by an arsenal of quack doctors, they might be. 

[Pepper Mostly]

15 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

Pilar definitely was since she was only eating boiled turkey and boiled cauliflower. Ugh.) 

How did she decide that boiled turkey and boiled cauliflower were all she could eat? (Cause they're white, I bet. And contain no gluten, additives, preservatives, sugar, salt, starch, high fructose corn syrup, parabens, or carcinogens). I want to know about the turkey. Is it hand raised, organic, leash walked, fed only a vegetarian diet of organic food? Cauliflower, organic? no pesticides? Grown by vegetarian Buddhist monks who only eat organic cauliflower? Pilar is fucking nuts.

[stephinmn]

I felt badly for Jacob, and I think he will be okay in the end. He is the only one I felt any empathy towards. 

[shockermolar]

Also binged it in one day.

i think what stood out to me the most was the obvious manic behavior Carmen, Jill and Pilar all exhibited. Their "diseases" we're their highs. It excited them to have symptoms.

[MagicCat]

Jill just got dumped out a marriage and she is subconsciously testing Janine.  You love your house?  What do you love more, me or your house?  Don't forget we need the special grout.  Don't you think I'm worth the special grout?  I was glad to see Janine putting her foot down on moving and selling the house right away.  I'm sure she couldn't get a fraction of what she paid for it the way it is right now.  

My advice - send Jill to Colorado ahead of time.  Fix the house up like a normal person - normal grout and all - and then sell it and move.  Or don't.   

[PityFree]

 I have lots of thoughts about watching this series. My first is that it was funny how quickly Pilar got better once her husband’s money dried up.

[shockermolar]

13 hours ago, PityFree said:

 I have lots of thoughts about watching this series. My first is that it was funny how quickly Pilar got better once her husband’s money dried up.

I was actually confused about Pilar's timeline. She and her husband have/had a condo. This was separate from the place she was living, right? And then he was living with his father. And at some point she discovered that there'd been a gas leak at the condo for two years, or at her apartment? Aside from that I never quite understood how a long term undetected gas leak would not have simply KILLED HER or resulted in some kind of lawsuit, or why it wouldn't have also made her husband sick? 

[Clemency]

SO glad this forum is here!  I have been wanting to discuss this since I watched it.  Though I have capital-F feelings about everyone on this show, I want to start with Jamison, the ME/CFS bedridden former bodybuilder guy.  I thought he was SUCH a drama queen, gasping out in a dramatic little whisper "I want to see the stars."  Blech. 

However, I do think that he is probably suffering from some major depression and maybe even PTSD from the accident he was in.  The accident where he *killed* a guy.  Not blaming him for that. . .I think it was determined that he was not at fault, but still, if you accidentally kill someone in a giant fireball (which he mentions in his own essay about the accident), I would think it would leave some mental & emotional scars on almost anybody.  And I got the impression that his symptoms started appearing within a year or so of the accident.

[Pepper Mostly]

18 minutes ago, shockermolar said:

I was actually confused about Pilar's timeline. She and her husband have/had a condo. This was separate from the place she was living, right? And then he was living with his father. And at some point she discovered that there'd been a gas leak at the condo for two years, or at her apartment? Aside from that I never quite understood how a long term undetected gas leak would not have simply KILLED HER or resulted in some kind of lawsuit, or why it wouldn't have also made her husband sick? 

Yes, to all of these. "Gas leak" "mold" "electromagnetic sensitivity"--its all hogwash. All of these people seem to have just withdrawn from the world because they couldn't handle the stress any more. In Victorian times, Pilar and Carmen would have taken to their beds and lived as invalids. In the middle ages or Renaissance, they would have gone into a convent. Jill probably would have too--only she would have worked her way up to abbess in record time. She would run her convent with an iron hand.

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, Pepper Mostly said:

All of these people seem to have just withdrawn from the world because they couldn't handle the stress any more.

EXACTLY. And that's abundantly clear with Jacob who had the massive panic attack "chronic lyme" show up on the day he's supposed to go to L.A. and start his career. And yet again, he's another one enabled by parents and a FIANCE! who coddle and support his behavior (or "condition") and will never give him a kick in the ass to get out of his bedroom, get a goddamned job, and buy his own supply of blue corn tortilla chips. 

 

38 minutes ago, Clemency said:

I want to start with Jamison, the ME/CFS bedridden former bodybuilder guy.  I thought he was SUCH a drama queen, gasping out in a dramatic little whisper "I want to see the stars."  Blech. 

I just couldn't with him. His entire online identity is wrapped up in his "ME" diagnosis and there's no one, no where who he's going to let tell him it's his mind doing this. And as someone so debilitated he needs someone to bring a blow-up bathtub into his bed to wash him, he sure finds plenty of energy to be a prolific writer on the internet. He even had something published in the New York Times about how he met his girlfriend (because of course he has one). And she has "ME," too. (Not to be confused with #metoo) Take away his alleged medical malady, and he has no identity left. 

And again, as someone else in the thread pondered, why aren't his muscles atrophying? Sorry, but yes, drama queen. 

[PityFree]

1 hour ago, shockermolar said:

I was actually confused about Pilar's timeline. She and her husband have/had a condo. This was separate from the place she was living, right? And then he was living with his father. And at some point she discovered that there'd been a gas leak at the condo for two years, or at her apartment? Aside from that I never quite understood how a long term undetected gas leak would not have simply KILLED HER or resulted in some kind of lawsuit, or why it wouldn't have also made her husband sick? 

IIRC, The gas leak was at the condo, but you’re right: it should have affected both of them.  Since she didn’t get any better even when she moved into a brand new apartment (paid for by her husband) I’m thinking the gas leak was extremely small or was tempered by ventilation that reduced its effect on them.  If there was a lawsuit or settlement, they didn’t mention it.

 I personally think that the gas leak was one of Pilar’s excuses,  but I don’t think she was actually sick except in her own mind.

 I might have to rewatch this program to refresh myself on some of the little details.

 

ETA:  Pilar must’ve been taking a lot of supplements because if all she was eating was chicken and Cauliflower, she had to be deficient in a lot of nutrients.  I’m sure that limited diet did not help her condition - real or imagined.

Also, Someone up thread mentioned this also but I also thought it during the program: this “illness” only affects people who have access to money to spend on the treatments. You don’t see people who are struggling to make ends meet suddenly become allergic to electricity.  Maybe this is the real affluenza.

Edited September 10, 2018 by PityFree

[Pepper Mostly]

And everything Pilar ate was boiled to a fare thee well. No wonder she felt like shit.

[Pepper Mostly]

Here's a link to the Medium.com articles. Janine's is a hoot. "The Afflicted Seven" she calls them. Sweet Jesus.

https://medium.com/@afflicted/the-truth-behind-netflixs-afflicted-92e92d32cd7c

[Clemency]

40 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

I just couldn't with him. His entire online identity is wrapped up in his "ME" diagnosis and there's no one, no where who he's going to let tell him it's his mind doing this. And as someone so debilitated he needs someone to bring a blow-up bathtub into his bed to wash him, he sure finds plenty of energy to be a prolific writer on the internet.

Right?!  Yes, his mouth & vocal cords are way too debilitated to speak, so he has to use some kind of computerized voice, but his hands can type like the wind!!  And you're right, from what I have read, he and his mom both pooh-pooh the idea that he might be depressed like it's the most ridiculous thing they've ever heard.  It seems to me like he has the most clear-cut reason (the horrible accident) of all of them to be suffering from lingering mental difficulties.  I don't doubt that his survivor's guilt has manifested itself in physical symptoms, so it's strange to me how much he and his family freak out at the very suggestion of depression.

[Pepper Mostly]

They love to rattle off the names of doctors and medical facilities. Then they come out with bullshit like "my body was filled with toxins". Read Pilar's Medium article. That shit is RICH.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Here's a link to the Medium.com articles. Janine's is a hoot. "The Afflicted Seven" she calls them. Sweet Jesus.

 

In this essay (which should have been called, "My Path to Perpetual Victimhood"), she complains she can't go the Leonard's house anymore because the "mold hits" (WTF IS THAT?) make her feel like her "cells" are filling up with "black soot." Oh, go have a seat somewhere, Janine. In fact, have several hundred seats as cells filling up with black soot is not a thing. And neither is your ovary creaking.

I also love that she admits she would have yelled at the man smoking outside the restaurant anyway—because that's a thing only dickheads do. The dude wasn't bothering her, there's no way she smelled it, but she just had to take some moral high ground and show that poor dude what a superior, non-crazy-asshole she was. 

Run away, Leonard! You seem like a nice, sane man!

1 hour ago, PityFree said:

Someone up thread mentioned this also but I also thought it during the program: this “illness” only affects people who have access to money to spend on the treatments. You don’t see people who are struggling to make ends meet suddenly become allergic to electricity.  Maybe this is the real affluenza.

This exactly. These are not poor people (thought they soon might be). These people were all middle class, seemingly educated people who cannot cope with their lives. Nearly every one of them had serious psychological trauma: Jill: divorce/Jamison: killed someone/Jacob: was going to get a job (!)/Bekah: pre-existing significant mental health issues. As for Carmen and Pilar, who knows with the two of them but they were both off the rails nuts.  There were two common denominators they all shared though: access to money and access to enabler(s).

[Pepper Mostly]

1 hour ago, Giant Misfit said:

These are not poor people (thought they soon might be).

And when they are, they'll either sponge off their long suffering families forever, or suddenly they will start to "get better".

And I will bet you a shiny quarter that Jill always went up to smokers and told them off. Always. Probably while waving her hand in front of her face and coughing. 

Pilar is solidly batshit crazy. She claims she couldn't shower for a year. She was too weak. She has to cover her face while walking outside but her car is safe--because she has no "scents" in there. ???? Does she never open the vents? run the heat or AC? How about the electromagnetic waves from the radio? And she could "smell" her husband even though he followed orders and used organic hand raised laundry detergent--but her evil FIL had used a nasty chemical detergent in the same washer and contaminated her husband's clothes!! She's just sooooo sensitive! 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Pepper Mostly said:

And when they are, they'll either sponge off their long suffering families forever, or suddenly they will start to "get better".

 

Yup!

Find me one, just ONE person with any of these "invisible illnesses" who doesn't have an enabler or a pile of money at their disposal and I might, might not think all of these maladies as "diseases" of the upper middle class. 

Years ago, back when TLC still showed interesting medical documentaries, they aired something called, "The Town that Caught Tourette's" about a town called LeRoy in New York where a bunch of teens all of a sudden came down with Tourette's symptoms. (The doc is on YouTube now.) While the whole thing was eventually chalked up to mass hysteria (which is a REAL thing), many of them dug in and thought they had "chronic lyme," "PANDAS," or any other of the long list of internet-only diseases.  One of the girls used to make YouTube videos about her "chronic lyme" until, mysteriously, she got better and—SHOCK!—removed them all. Go figure. 

[Pepper Mostly]

13 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

While the whole thing was eventually chalked up to mass hysteria (which is a REAL thing), 

Hee. I'm from Salem, MA. I know all about mass hysteria! 

[PityFree]

35 minutes ago, Pepper Mostly said:

 

Pilar is solidly batshit crazy. She claims she couldn't shower for a year. She was too weak. She has to cover her face while walking outside but her car is safe--because she has no "scents" in there. ???? Does she never open the vents? run the heat or AC? How about the electromagnetic waves from the radio? And she could "smell" her husband even though he followed orders and used organic hand raised laundry detergent--but her evil FIL had used a nasty chemical detergent in the same washer and contaminated her husband's clothes!! She's just sooooo sensitive! 

This paragraph of your post reminded me of something that made me laugh while watching the series: almost every “sick” person on the show  would use either their clothing or hand or a paper filter over their noses to breathe outside. Like that would stop anything  but the largest particle of like sand or sawdust!  No way what is the sleeve of Pilar’s shirt or the collar of Jill‘s shirt going to keep chemicals out of their lungs.

[PityFree]

4 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Here's a link to the Medium.com articles. Janine's is a hoot. "The Afflicted Seven" she calls them. Sweet Jesus.

https://medium.com/@afflicted/the-truth-behind-netflixs-afflicted-92e92d32cd7c

Pilar thinks her CAR is a place where she is safe from chemical exposure?? Is her car made of Glad Press-and-Seal?? I’m just wondering because my car is not airtight and the Honda  dealer never offered me that option when I bought it.

[MagicCat]

7 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Yes, to all of these. "Gas leak" "mold" "electromagnetic sensitivity"--its all hogwash. All of these people seem to have just withdrawn from the world because they couldn't handle the stress any more. In Victorian times, Pilar and Carmen would have taken to their beds and lived as invalids. In the middle ages or Renaissance, they would have gone into a convent. Jill probably would have too--only she would have worked her way up to abbess in record time. She would run her convent with an iron hand.

Jill would be tearing the walls out of the convent to exorcise the demons that are torturing her.

[FawnLeibowitz]

I'm so glad there is a topic for this show now! I haven't seen all of them, but am just...baffled by these people.

At first I was trying very hard to be sympathetic and understand what was going on with them. Then I decided it's all BS and they all have mental issues which may or may not be manifesting themselves physically. After reading all your replies - I don't feel bad for thinking that anymore.

How about Carmen wearing the wireless mic all that time and having no problems until her crazy friend pointed it out?? Then Carmen removed it and the friend was all, "See?! Look how much better she looks without that on!"

[Guest]

2 hours ago, PityFree said:

This paragraph of your post reminded me of something that made me laugh while watching the series: almost every “sick” person on the show  would use either their clothing or hand or a paper filter over their noses to breathe outside.

There's a picture Jill included in her "Woe is Me" essay where she's wearing a respirator. I presume that's to aid in the "healing" of her throbbing ovary and her dirty cells. 

I also keep forgetting about Star and her sugar daddy. I wondered what the hell kind of injections she was getting in her friend's apartment that also had the, what the hell was it? A sensory deprivation bed or something? From where did that woman acquire injectible medication?! Was that even medication at all? It was something that Jill claimed "healed" her "liver" which enabled her to drink more expensive French champagne. Anyway, that medication seemed as legit as the "Lymogen" supplement that Jacob got from that sketchy Hansa Clinic that I guess they claimed would cure him of his "chronic lyme." 

If anyone can stomach it, take a few minutes and read Jill's GoFundMe page. It's insane. It's also insane these people are shamefully begging for money on the internet for diseases they do not have. 

[Pepper Mostly]

Star's midlife crisis is being sick. She's another one who would have taken to her bed in another era. She's a middle aged woman who's relied on her looks all her life. She sees her friends and herself all doing the same things--botox, fillers, plastic surgery, spas--to hold back their inevitable aging. Her "illness" is a way to stand out and be special amongst all the spray tan, bleached hair and liposuction. 

10 hours ago, PityFree said:

Pilar thinks her CAR is a place where she is safe from chemical exposure?? Is her car made of Glad Press-and-Seal?? I’m just wondering because my car is not airtight and the Honda  dealer never offered me that option when I bought it.

The minute I read that bit about how she slept in her car for a year because it was the only place that wasn't contaminated--that's when I knew without doubt that she was full of shit. 

[Clemency]

8 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

Anyway, that medication seemed as legit as the "Lymogen" supplement that Jacob got from that sketchy Hansa Clinic that I guess they claimed would cure him of his "chronic lyme." 

All you folks who can't make the trip to the Hansa Center to buy your own Lymogen will be happy to know that it sells on Amazon for the low, low price of $55.20 for 4 ounces!  Also Borrelogen and Neuro-Antitox!  And all you naysayers can rest assured that Lymogen contains BOTH aloe vera AND apple cider vinegar.  It is a life-giving elixir!

This makes me think of when Jill's friend was in her house, looking over her huge array of supplements and quack remedies, and he said, "Now, Jill, you know that at least some of this stuff isn't working," and she was just gobsmacked.  She was all, "what in the what now?!"  As if it had never occurred to her that each and every supplement wasn't 100% necessary to her survival.  But isn't that just common sense?  If you take a lot of anything--vitamins, herbs, or regular pharmaceuticals, something is going to cancel something else out.  Something will mix badly with something else and give you side effects that make you feel even worse.  And if you're so very very extremely chemically sensitive, wouldn't it seem that Jill shouldn't be able to tolerate at least a FEW of those potions?

Edited September 11, 2018 by Clemency

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Pepper Mostly said:

The minute I read that bit about how she slept in her car for a year because it was the only place that wasn't contaminated

Yeah, because there are certainly no chemicals in that carpeting in there. Or maybe she stripped it down to bare metal like the van the hipsters lived in in the desert? Speaking of those two, I love how they stripped the van down to metal (doesn't she have "heavy metal toxicity" too?) then proceeded to graffiti it all up with PAINT. A substance that I'm fairly certain may contain a chemical or two. 

23 minutes ago, Clemency said:

And if you're so very very extremely chemically sensitive, wouldn't it seem that Jill shouldn't be able to tolerate at least a FEW of those potions?

Please cease with your logic. It's causing my uvula to gyrate. 

[Pepper Mostly]

1 hour ago, Clemency said:

All you folks who can't make the trip to the Hansa Center to buy your own Lymogen will be happy to know that it sells on Amazon for the low, low price of $55.20 for 4 ounces!  Also Borrelogen and Neuro-Antitox!  And all you naysayers can rest assured that Lymogen contains BOTH aloe vera AND apple cider vinegar.  It is a life-giving elixir

Jesus. It reminds me of the days when people went to Mexico in droves for Laetrile. It was made from apricot pits and cured cancer! Funny, we never hear about it any more.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Jesus. It reminds me of the days when people went to Mexico in droves for Laetrile. It was made from apricot pits and cured cancer! Funny, we never hear about it any more.

Laetrile! Oh, MAN! It's been decades since I heard or thought about that. Of course, it sent me to the Google machine and I found this article on QuackWatch that delves into the history and demise of that drug. It's a great read considering the topic here. And it seems there is little difference between the laetrile peddlers of yesterday and the supplement peddlers of today.

[Pepper Mostly]

Supplements are just so much snake oil. One of Jill's "supplements" is calcium citrate. Middleaged ladies everywhere take that, its hardly special. It reminds me of days gone by, when some supplement would take the world by storm. Spirulina. Blessed thistle. St. John's wort. Guarana. Evening primrose oil. They were everywhere and people swore by them. For a while.

And every one of these people seems to swear by juicing. Juicing for crying out loud. Jill natters on about buying organic celery for juicing.

Bekah was rendered bedridden by the production crew's equipment and clothes. But she dyes her hair and has tattoos. Um, OK.

Jamison I actually felt sorry for. Until I read his blog posts. The rage is right there at the surface.

[stephinmn]

14 hours ago, PityFree said:

Pilar thinks her CAR is a place where she is safe from chemical exposure?? Is her car made of Glad Press-and-Seal?? I’m just wondering because my car is not airtight and the Honda  dealer never offered me that option when I bought it.

I had a mother of all allergy attacks on my drive to work today, and thought of this. Yeah...my car was sucking up the pollens...

[Clemency]

I wasn't familiar with Laetrile, so I looked it up and found this:

"The side effects of laetrile treatment are the symptoms of cyanide poisoning. These symptoms include: nausea and vomiting, headache, dizziness, cherry red skin color, liver damage, abnormally low blood pressure, droopy upper eyelid, trouble walking due to damaged nerves, fever, mental confusion, coma, and death."

Hmmm. . .perhaps the stars of Afflicted have been hitting the Laetrile already?  Problem solved!  That'll be $25,000!  Each!  Plus, of course, the $6.75/minute for my time spent googling and typing this post.

Did anyone else catch Jake saying (toward the end of the series, when he seems to be getting back into music again), something along the lines of "I was being very narcissistic?"  I thought that was interesting.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Clemency

[Pepper Mostly]

Jake seemed really shook that the Hansa Center couldn't help him. He'd put a lot of faith in that particular brand of woo. Maybe his girlfriend will get tired of being a caretaker/enabler and move on to a healthy guy who can get a job. That might have an impact. If Pilar's husband walked and took his wallet with him I'm sure her health would improve.

[Clemency]

16 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

Jake seemed really shook that the Hansa Center couldn't help him. He'd put a lot of faith in that particular brand of woo.

He really did!  Which I thought might lead to him taking to his bed forever, Jamison-style, but toward the end of the show, it seemed like maybe he was taking some cautious steps toward becoming a real person again.  Apparently collaborating on music, doing some basic stuff like celebrating his dad's (I think?) birthday. . . .although still faithfully taking his Lymogen, no doubt!

Has Pilar mentioned anything since the show about how her doctor seemingly admitted to treating her with placebos?

[Pepper Mostly]

If you haven't read Pilar's Medium.com piece, you totally should. I haven't been so amused in some time. She is as nutty as an Almond Joy.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Pepper Mostly said:

If you haven't read Pilar's Medium.com piece, you totally should. I haven't been so amused in some time. She is as nutty as an Almond Joy.

I particularly enjoyed how she whined that she had to make all of her social media accounts "private" after receiving so many "hateful" messages.

I checked. All of her social media accounts are completely open to the public and, not only that, they're all linked from that Medium "My Name is Pilar and I am a Perpetual Victim" essay. 

I can't believe she's raised $5,000 on that GoFundMe site she has. I guess playing the "I got a bad edit" card has been lucrative for her.  

[Pepper Mostly]

Its the "chemicals"!

I don't understand the whole "gas leak" story. Didn't her husband live with her? Wasn't he affected by the gas leak?

Poor guy. Now that he's out of money she wants out.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Pepper Mostly said:

don't understand the whole "gas leak" story.

Me either. So, I've been in a home with a gas leak. But I could smell it (and immediately called the gas company) since natural gas is odorless and has to be treated with a chemical that makes it stink of rotten eggs specifically so people could smell a gas leak. The other thing is—maybe it was carbon monoxide from gas? That shit is odorless—and will kill you. HAHAHA! I'm trying to apply logic to a situation that has none. 

And yes, her husband would have been sick, too—along with however many residents there were in their condo complex. She's insane. 

The other problem with these folks is that they are seemingly have no identity outside of their "illness." They write about it online, they only communicate online with affirmers within their "community" and one of them even made a movie about it called Unrest (it's on Netflix; no, I'm not watching it but here's the trailer on YT in case anyone is interested). I read a phrase elsewhere that described these folks as victims of internet hysteria. I think that's a fair assessment. 

Oh, and I did watch the trailer for Unrest, and SHOCKING!, yet another affluenza sufferer has come down with a "chronic illness." Hard pass on watching two full hours of that nonsense. 

[Pepper Mostly]

Yeah, the gas leak was right under her bed, where she was languishing, sick and afflicted, pale and wan, unable to eat. Or bathe. No one else had so much as a headache, thought. She's a dainty, delicate flower. Too sensitive for this world. 

She's struggling to do some voice over work now, since the woo woo therapist gave her those secret codes. Since her husband's wallet is empty. What a coincidence!