The Psychological Thriller 'Run': Unraveling the Truth Behind Chloe's Illness

Unveiling the Reality of Trigoxin and Ridocaine

In the psychological thriller movie Run, a young girl named Chloe Sherman is made to believe that she is extremely sick by her mother and the story is so harrowing that many wonder if drugs like Trigoxin are real and if the events of Run actually happened. Starring Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story, Ratched) as Diane Sherman, the story follows a single mother as she tends to her daughter Chloe (Kiera Allen) who is in a wheelchair, requires an inhaler, and takes several rounds of medication a day. Chloe begins to suspect Diane's intentions aren't exactly wholesome when she grows suspicious of the Trigoxin her mother has been administering.

Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen in Run

After discovering a bottle of Trigoxin pills in the Run movie, Chloe takes off to the pharmacy to figure out what exactly they're meant for. She learns she isn't prescribed Trigoxin, and Chloe has been taking a muscle relaxer that Diane gets for their dog called Ridocaine. According to the pharmacist, this kind of medication would cause a person's legs to go numb. Chloe realizes the reason she's in a wheelchair is the Trigoxin/Ridocaine her mother had been giving, and that her illnesses are fictitious, but is the harrowing story of the Run movie based on true events, and are the drugs Trigoxin and Ridocaine real?

The medicine in Run

The Truth Behind the Drugs in 'Run'

Plenty of films use drugs as narrative tools, but the Run movie manages to so effectively that many viewers wonder if the Ridocaine drug Trigoxin Chloe takes is real. In Run, the drugs Chloe takes are made up, but they are based on real medications. Trigoxin is based on the similarly named pill Digoxin, and the two are said to have similar effects. Digoxin is used to control the strength and efficiency of the heart, as well as maintain its rhythm, leading to better circulation. Since the real Trigoxin in the movie is supposed to have similar effects, it's safe to say the drug is based on this one.

Chloe looking at food in Run

The Ridocaine drug in Run seems to be based on Lidocaine, but Lidocaine is used on both dogs and humans. Lidocaine is designed to be an anesthetic for bites, sunburns, and cuts, and can be prescribed to humans and dogs alike. However, the fact that they are in pill form makes them completely different, as Lidocaine usually comes in a jelly or ointment form. Either way, creative licensing needed to happen for the Hulu movie Run, but it is still interesting that Chloe's pills are based on real drugs.

Diane and Chloe in Run

Unraveling Diane's Mental State

Chloe's mom in Run might suffer from a psychological condition known as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, or sometimes simply Munchausen's. The story of Run resembles countless news reports on Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, in which a parent or guardian purposefully makes the person in their care sick, to receive monetary gain or attention. Run never overtly states that Chloe Sherman is a victim of a guardian struggling with Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, but there are an incredible amount of similarities between Sarah Paulson's character's behavior and real-life instances of the condition.

Diane looking at her baby in Run

One of the most famous cases is that of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, whose mother gaslighted her into believing that she was terminally ill, and at a very young age. After years of torment, she murdered her mother with the help of her boyfriend. Their entire story was retold through the Hulu original series The Act, but Run isn't based on a specific case. In Run, Diane may have had genuine concerns for Chloe's health, but her hypervigilance seems to have developed into Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy thanks to the Ridocaine Chloe takes.

Diane pushing Chloe in a wheelchair in a hallway in Run