# how safe after drinking would it be to take a benzo?



## super

if i drank enough to be fairly drunk how many hours would be safe to take a benzo? mainly to help with the hangover...

ive done it before but it was 10+ hours from when i drank.
i was wondering if it would be safe to take it sooner?


----------



## Nogy

Technically it wouldn't be "safe" to take a benzo until the alcohol is completely out of your system. They both act on GABA so they potentiate one another. Honestly though i think you'd be alright waiting just like 5 or 6 hours after your last drink. A doctor probably wouldn't agree with that though, and my advice is far from being expert advice. I don't think it would hurt you though...hell i've taken large amounts of benzos _while_ drinking and im still alive


----------



## DK3

Nogy said:


> Technically it wouldn't be "safe" to take a benzo until the alcohol is completely out of your system. They both act on GABA so they potentiate one another. Honestly though i think you'd be alright waiting just like 5 or 6 hours after your last drink. A doctor probably wouldn't agree with that though, and my advice is far from being expert advice. I don't think it would hurt you though...hell i've taken large amounts of benzos _while_ drinking and im still alive


Hi agree with Nogy 5 or 6 hrs sound sensible, unless you're absolutely legless and considering taking a high dose and then I wouldn't risk it, wait until the next day. The problem with benzos and alcohol is like Nogy said, they potentiate each other and its difficult to judge how much. In a worse case scenario you might have trouble breathing or be sick when you're asleep and choke to death.


----------



## Himi Jendrix

Yeah benzos definately help with withdrawals from alcohol. Ativan is the go to drug for dt's I believe. 

Any benzo will help though. As the others have said you will be fine 5-6 hours after last drink. 

I have even taken benzos and alcohol at the same time am I am still here to tell about it. The only real risk is increased sedation possibility.


----------



## super

Himi Jendrix said:


> Yeah benzos definately help with withdrawals from alcohol. Ativan is the go to drug for dt's I believe.
> 
> Any benzo will help though. As the others have said you will be fine 5-6 hours after last drink.
> 
> I have even taken benzos and alcohol at the same time am I am still here to tell about it. The only real risk is increased sedation possibility.


which benzo do you think would work best for hangovers? do they all do the same thing in terms of relief of the hangover?

its been about 6-7 hours since i drank, im starting to feel a hangover coming all i really get from the hangover is nausea which really sucks, id prefer anything but nausea but everyones different



DK3 said:


> Hi agree with Nogy 5 or 6 hrs sound sensible, unless you're absolutely legless and considering taking a high dose and then I wouldn't risk it, wait until the next day. The problem with benzos and alcohol is like Nogy said, they potentiate each other and its difficult to judge how much. In a worse case scenario you might have trouble breathing or be sick when you're asleep and choke to death.


yeah it been about 6 hours since i drank, im starting to feel bad ehh i mixed and drank too much stuff.

i guess i'll go to bed, take some when im wide awake and maybe....i won't have a really bad hangover when i wake up it'll be probably 10 hours later. how long does it usually take to get out of the system? any specific benzo that does the job best for hangovers?



Nogy said:


> Technically it wouldn't be "safe" to take a benzo until the alcohol is completely out of your system. They both act on GABA so they potentiate one another. Honestly though i think you'd be alright waiting just like 5 or 6 hours after your last drink. A doctor probably wouldn't agree with that though, and my advice is far from being expert advice. I don't think it would hurt you though...hell i've taken large amounts of benzos _while_ drinking and im still alive


yeah doctors would definately say its not safe less than 10 hours before.

benzo's and alcohol ive heard can be good but i wouldnt risk it, i don't like blacking it haha. scary stuff.


----------



## super

i took about 15mg of valium an hour ago, my hangover is gone! nausea gone, shakey horrible feeling gone! im just really tired but thats good!
im so happy i don't have to put up with that crappy feeling for the whole afternoon.

i took it about 13 hours after drinking i think, i lost one pill down the sink though  R.I.P


and i don't usually drink a lot but last night i did and oh boy did i feel it when i woke up, taking benzo's for a hangover won't end up being a habit, don't worry guys haha


----------



## DK3

super said:


> i took about 15mg of valium an hour ago, my hangover is gone! nausea gone, shakey horrible feeling gone! im just really tired but thats good!
> im so happy i don't have to put up with that crappy feeling for the whole afternoon.
> 
> i took it about 13 hours after drinking i think, i lost one pill down the sink though  R.I.P
> 
> and i don't usually drink a lot but last night i did and oh boy did i feel it when i woke up, taking benzo's for a hangover won't end up being a habit, don't worry guys haha


Hehe glad it worked out ok. I hate the hangover feeling too. I'm so sensitive now to alcohol from years of heavy drinking and binging, that even 2 beers gives me a sore head and hangover feeling within 5-6 hours. I used to love drinking too but just can't tolerate it now :-(


----------



## metamorphosis

When taking benzos be careful. One beer = two-three on benzos, as far as its effects on the brain. Depending on your metabolism and how healthy your liver is. Both drugs effect GABAa receptors so it is two drugs affecting one specific area of the brain. An area that effects cognition, memory and the central nervous system. It's very easy to black out on the combination, when normally (w/o) using a benzo you're tolerance would be much higher.


----------



## mcmuffinme

we were just discussing drugs and their influence on the brain in my neuro-psych class. i think benzos with alcohol was supposed to be particularly bad...do some research.


----------



## Inshallah

These things are always going to be considered "dangerous" for legal reasons, in reality you will have to do a lot of both to get into real trouble (other than falling asleep)


----------



## DK3

metamorphosis said:


> When taking benzos be careful. One beer = two-three on benzos, as far as its effects on the brain. Depending on your metabolism and how healthy your liver is. Both drugs effect GABAa receptors so it is two drugs affecting one specific area of the brain. An area that effects cognition, memory and the central nervous system. It's very easy to black out on the combination, when normally (w/o) using a benzo you're tolerance would be much higher.


Sounds like potentially could be very dangerous if you're intending to drive or operate machinary/do anything where you need total concentration. Whilst you might normally feel ok on 1 beer or glass of wine, could be a different story with benzos added..just using common sense and being safe sounds best option if you're gonna do it.


----------



## super

metamorphosis said:


> When taking benzos be careful. One beer = two-three on benzos, as far as its effects on the brain. Depending on your metabolism and how healthy your liver is. Both drugs effect GABAa receptors so it is two drugs affecting one specific area of the brain. An area that effects cognition, memory and the central nervous system. It's very easy to black out on the combination, when normally (w/o) using a benzo you're tolerance would be much higher.


did you even read anything from my thread?
id never mix that stuff together, i dont like blackouts especially benzo related ones. anyway i make sure im 100% safe if i take a benzo for a hangover. im young and healthy, i dont do this often anyway so i doubt it will do anything significant to my liver.

anyway you're only young once. im 18.



DK3 said:


> Sounds like potentially could be very dangerous if you're intending to drive or operate machinary/do anything where you need total concentration. Whilst you might normally feel ok on 1 beer or glass of wine, could be a different story with benzos added..just using common sense and being safe sounds best option if you're gonna do it.


yep. im not even gonna try mixing, ever.



mcmuffinme said:


> we were just discussing drugs and their influence on the brain in my neuro-psych class. i think benzos with alcohol was supposed to be particularly bad...do some research.


i don't doubt that, however im not mixing them together and if i take them i make sure its a long time from when i last drank.



Inshallah said:


> These things are always going to be considered "dangerous" for legal reasons, in reality you will have to do a lot of both to get into real trouble (other than falling asleep)


exactly, i do think some people can do really crazy stuff even if they dont have heaps...a blackout = trouble

so its dangerous in that sense, the whole point of my thread was just to be 100% sure i won't blackout if i took some benzo's 10 hours after drinking....im here, alive and well minus a ****y hangover, yay


----------



## super

Himi Jendrix said:


> Yeah benzos definately help with withdrawals from alcohol. Ativan is the go to drug for dt's I believe.
> 
> Any benzo will help though. As the others have said you will be fine 5-6 hours after last drink.
> 
> I have even taken benzos and alcohol at the same time am I am still here to tell about it. The only real risk is increased sedation possibility.


what does dt's mean sorry, and when you say withdrawals does the same go for 'hangovers'? i dont drink daily, just every now and then i'll drink alot haha

yeah i know some people are fine if they mix it and im sure its probably more fun but ive had a bad experience from being on anti depressants + drinking a few drinks = blackout and a lot of bad things happened that night.

i only had like 3-4 drinks which gives me a nice buzz but that one time it felt like i had more than 8. which is why i probably won't take that risk haha


----------



## super

DK3 said:


> Hehe glad it worked out ok. I hate the hangover feeling too. I'm so sensitive now to alcohol from years of heavy drinking and binging, that even 2 beers gives me a sore head and hangover feeling within 5-6 hours. I used to love drinking too but just can't tolerate it now :-(


thank you 
theres nothing worse than drinking heaps of alcohol and then thinking about it, even the smell puts you off at the time haha oh what 'fun' memories 

i noticed that if i drink a few drinks in the day time i'll feel pretty tired that night, benzo's are now my saviour for really bad hangovers

same here, i find that not drinking way too much is better than getting really drunk. its just not worth it in the morning hahah but we've all had those nights well worth it sometimes....but it gets old


----------



## bben

6-8 hours. take a low dose initially, increase it later if you have to.


----------



## UltraShy

Inshallah said:


> These things are always going to be considered *"dangerous" for legal reasons*, in reality you will have to do a lot of both to get into real trouble (other than falling asleep)


Yeah, the "Don't take with alcohol" warning is largely there to satisfy legal counsel. It helps repel lawyers who'd sue on behalf of idiot clients that thought washing down some Xanax with an entire bottle of whiskey was a fine idea. Seeing how a lawsuit against Jack Daniels would get them laughed out of court, it's much easier to say a pill did it and sue drug company, pharmacy, and doctor.

It would take staggering amounts of a benzo to kill you, so much that I'm not even aware of any case in which such has ever happened. Seems we have to go with the LD50 in rats who were fed benzos till dead. The LD50 is so high that my two pet rats could eat a whole bottle of benzos and likely still live.

Benzos will marginally reduce the amount of alcohol needed to produce death by alcohol poisoning, but I'm not sure we can really say there's any substantive difference between death at 0.45% BAC with benzos vs 0.50% without any help from pharmaceuticals. In either case, you have somebody who is extremely intoxicated. Out of curiosity, I once checked how many drinks it would take to get me up to levels where fatalities typically start to occur. One online calculator figured my BAC would be 0.46% if I consumed 20 drinks in one hour (they wouldn't figure for a larger number of drinks, calling such "unrealistic".) Guess I'll just have to remember to not chug 4 full bottles of wine within an hour to play it on the safe side.


----------



## Himi Jendrix

super said:


> what does dt's mean sorry, and when you say withdrawals does the same go for 'hangovers'? i dont drink daily, just every now and then i'll drink alot haha


Hangover is a form of withdrawal. DT's are when you shake uncontrollably from alcohol withdrawal. They can be fatal if severe enough.

You see hangovers are part dehydration, part alcohol withdrawal, and part of toxic after effects of alcohol. Water and multivitamin will help with dehydration and benzo's will help with both of the others. Sleep will help get rid of any other after effects.

Not trying to give you a template here for avoiding withdrawal but I do have alot of experience in this area.


----------



## bben

Himi Jendrix said:


> Hangover is a form of withdrawal. DT's are when you shake uncontrollably from alcohol withdrawal. They can be fatal if severe enough.
> 
> You see hangovers are part dehydration, part alcohol withdrawal, and part of toxic after effects of alcohol. Water and multivitamin will help with dehydration and benzo's will help with both of the others. Sleep will help get rid of any other after effects.
> 
> Not trying to give you a template here for avoiding withdrawal but I do have alot of experience in this area.


N-acetyl-cysteine has been shown to attenuate the toxicity and some of the hangover of ethanol.

Heres a link with good info:

http://www.neurotransmitter.net/hangover.html


----------

