# xanax and alcohol



## S0s (May 4, 2011)

I know I've posted this a few times but I only take xanax at work (5 days per week) and not on weekends or holidays. However I now find that on weekends, even though I'm not taking it I cant drink alcohol anymore (even a glass of wine with dinner.). The amout I take during the work week varies depending on situation for the day but I guess over time it would accumulate in your body. I find since taking xanax my face flushes, ears burn when I drink alcohol and it freaks me out so I avoid it. My psych said I could have alcohol on the same day as taking xanax as long as there was a few hours in between (not that I would ever do that) but this makes me think it should be no dramas drinking on the weekend. Has anyone else found the same thing - or does anyone else on xanax find it's ok to consume alcohol within reason?


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## CD700 (Apr 22, 2010)

Back a few years i used to mix the 2 very heavily and I would do the most crazy **** EVER
I would wake up in all kinds of crazy situations
Be very very careful


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## 49erJT (Oct 18, 2010)

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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

blakeyz said:


> Back a few years i used to mix the 2 very heavily and I would do the most crazy **** EVER
> I would wake up in all kinds of crazy situations
> Be very very careful


Same here. But that doesn't really help the OP.

I think what's happening is that you are going through xanax withdrawal on the weekends OP and that's why you are having trouble with alcohol. I don't know who told you it was ok to take xanax 5 days a week and skip the weekends but that's actually a really bad idea. Benzo withdrawal is quite serious and can even cause seizures. If you take xanax 5 days a week, you will withdraw on the days you don't take it. What you should do, is gradually taper off of it completely.


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

49erJT said:


> I know how you feel....
> 
> I take 0.50mg Klonopin daily and I've noticed when I try to drink even a little it makes me feel very weird (not in a good way). I would think that since you are not taking xanax on the weekend that it would not really be an issue but maybe you could get your doctors opinion.
> 
> ...


Where did you read that? Sounds suspicious/extremely unlikely to me. I think the respiratory danger of combining alcohol and benzos is over stated, otherwise I should really be dead right now. Not that I think combining them is a good idea or safe.


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## S0s (May 4, 2011)

I only wanted to take it at work where my sa is most challenging. The psych who prescribed it seemed to think that was ok. The weekends are now challenging in that the Xanax has made my sa worse than when I started when I'm not on it. So I go from working in the corporate world during the week to struggling to look a grocery store worker in the eye on weekends. I have started cbt and will start to taper off eventually but not being able to have a drink on the weekend is starting to get really frustrating. 

This psych told me if I had xanax in the morning I could have alcohol in the evening but I'm way too freaked out to try that, but I didn't expect the bad reaction on weekends when Im not taking it. I asked my dr about it yesterday but she was no help at all which is why I thought I would get some advice here. In a lot of ways the advice on this forum and info on the net re sa and associated meds is a lot more helpful than the dr's advice. She just said that maybe I'm sensitive but didn't indicate whether I should avoid it altogether or any potential interaction at all.


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## 49erJT (Oct 18, 2010)

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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

No doubt I consider myself lucky considering the doses I was taking like 4 mg alprazolam plus 12 drinks but surviving that it's hard for me to believe small amounts of the two are particularly dangerous.



S0s said:


> I only wanted to take it at work where my sa is most challenging. The psych who prescribed it seemed to think that was ok. The weekends are now challenging in that the Xanax has made my sa worse than when I started when I'm not on it. So I go from working in the corporate world during the week to struggling to look a grocery store worker in the eye on weekends. I have started cbt and will start to taper off eventually but not being able to have a drink on the weekend is starting to get really frustrating.
> 
> This psych told me if I had xanax in the morning I could have alcohol in the evening but I'm way too freaked out to try that, but I didn't expect the bad reaction on weekends when Im not taking it. I asked my dr about it yesterday but she was no help at all which is why I thought I would get some advice here. In a lot of ways the advice on this forum and info on the net re sa and associated meds is a lot more helpful than the dr's advice. She just said that maybe I'm sensitive but didn't indicate whether I should avoid it altogether or any potential interaction at all.


That's because your doctor, like most, is clueless about benzo withdrawal. What you are doing now is very bad, I will tell you that much. I don't want to go into how bad, because it will scare you. The best thing you can do is just get off the xanax now before it turns into an even bigger problem. It's very unhealthy for your brain to withdraw every weekend.


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## 49erJT (Oct 18, 2010)

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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

49erJT said:


> I'm not sure if it's true but I read that even small amounts of alcohol can cause fatal reactions with benzos in some people (which freaks me out enough to not drink). Supposedly, a 250 lb man died from respritory failure after taking a 5mg Valium and consuming half a beer?


I'm thinking it took way more than that to kill him.

Keep in mind that benzos have been in widespread use around the world for the last 50 years. Very few prescription meds have more data behind them than that, and I'd say real world data tops the fantasy land of clinical trials.

You'll note that alcohol use is also very common. If mixing a dinky amount of benzo with a dinky amount of alcohol resulted in death the streets would be littered with the dead.

I use Xanax daily and drink most days, so it would be virtually impossible for me to drink without there still being some Xanax still in my blood stream at the time. I don't tend to try mixing Xanax and alcohol, since there is no point in doing so. Alcohol has a vastly more potent effect than any benzo such that I'd never notice the Xanax at any dose anyhow, so why waste it while intoxicated?

I'd also note, I've never heard of anyone trying benzos + booze as a suicide method as it is VERY unlikely to result in death. Now I'm not suggesting washing down a bottle of benzos with a bottle of whiskey like some idiot. There will be the rare idiot who manages to die doing that, but benzos + alcohol won't kill you unless you go wildly overboard and think a liter of hard liquor is a single serving size.


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## S0s (May 4, 2011)

Recipe For Disaster said:


> That's because your doctor, like most, is clueless about benzo withdrawal. What you are doing now is very bad, I will tell you that much. I don't want to go into how bad, because it will scare you. The best thing you can do is just get off the xanax now before it turns into an even bigger problem. It's very unhealthy for your brain to withdraw every weekend.


I find the dr's lack of knowledge and lack of providing holistic care so frustrating. My gp has no understanding at all and in fact told me just to stop cold turkey. When I asked about potential complications she just shrugged it off. I think anyone could be a dr working in general practice these days.

The weekends are tough but I have to keep my career and the sa is really challenging. I'm wondering if I should switch back to Valium during the week. Can I ask why the weekend withdrawal is so unhealthy at the risk of sounding clueless. Thanks for sharing your experience with this.


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

49erJT said:


> Can you drink now that you're off benzos or does it rev up the wd symptoms?


I have only tried drinking once and it didn't really rev up any symptoms but it was not euphoric like it used to be either. I used to love the euphoria I got off alcohol, I would say it was about 95% diminished.


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

S0s said:


> I find the dr's lack of knowledge and lack of providing holistic care so frustrating. My gp has no understanding at all and in fact told me just to stop cold turkey. When I asked about potential complications she just shrugged it off. I think anyone could be a dr working in general practice these days.
> 
> The weekends are tough but I have to keep my career and the sa is really challenging. I'm wondering if I should switch back to Valium during the week. Can I ask why the weekend withdrawal is so unhealthy at the risk of sounding clueless. Thanks for sharing your experience with this.


Well firstly there is the fact that you could have seizures and potentially die. death is highly unlikely, so no need to get overly frightened but the fact that it COULD happen just goes to show you how terrible your doctor is. seizures are a real possibility with what you are doing although they are very unlikely to be fatal. After that, there is a theory that forcing your brain in and out of withdrawal does more damage than remaining on a steady dose because it "confuses" the receptors. I don't know how much truth there is to that theory, but ask anyone knowledgeable about benzos and they will tell you to absolutely not do what you are doing.

i would definitely recommend switching back to valium. the long half life makes it a lot easier on your brain and its easier to get off it. my advice is switch to valium and slowly taper off of it. what dose of xanax are you on btw (average) and how long have you been taking it?


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## 49erJT (Oct 18, 2010)

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## S0s (May 4, 2011)

Recipe For Disaster said:


> Well firstly there is the fact that you could have seizures and potentially die. death is highly unlikely, so no need to get overly frightened but the fact that it COULD happen just goes to show you how terrible your doctor is. seizures are a real possibility with what you are doing although they are very unlikely to be fatal. After that, there is a theory that forcing your brain in and out of withdrawal does more damage than remaining on a steady dose because it "confuses" the receptors. I don't know how much truth there is to that theory, but ask anyone knowledgeable about benzos and they will tell you to absolutely not do what you are doing.
> 
> i would definitely recommend switching back to valium. the long half life makes it a lot easier on your brain and its easier to get off it. my advice is switch to valium and slowly taper off of it. what dose of xanax are you on btw (average) and how long have you been taking it?


I have read about the risk of seizure previously which is why I tried to speak with the dr about it. I'm going to see if I can switch back to valium because the weekend withdrawals are getting too hard. I can't sleep properly on weekends, I feel anxious, cant drink alcohol, and it gives me reflux type symptoms. I was prescribed valium in sep 2009 and initially only took it before a meeting or presentation but by the end of 2010 started to need it more regularly at work. I got a promotion a few months ago which put me way out of my comfort zone in terms of the sa and was switched to xanax. I think my dr was also hesitant to prescribe more valium so referred me to a psych stating he may assess xanax as more appropriate - which apparently he did because he wrote me a script for 250 (0.25mg) tablets during the first (and only!) appointment. So i have been on the xanax for approx 4 months and take anywhere from 0.75 - 1.75 mg(depends on what is scheduled for the day)/5 days per week.


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## 49erJT (Oct 18, 2010)

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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

I don't have issues drinking alcohol, it's just not euphoric anymore. I have severe anhedonia from benzo withdrawal. Nothing much is enjoyable to me. Opiates are the same as alcohol, much diminished euphoria. However they do not give me as bad a hangover as alcohol, not anywhere near as bad, so I much prefer opiates over alcohol.


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## Orchid20 (Dec 20, 2008)

I agree with "Recipe For Disaster", sounds like weekend Xanax withdrawal. You're probably dependent on it and then feeling funny on the days you don't take it.



S0s said:


> I only wanted to take it at work where my sa is most challenging. The psych who prescribed it seemed to think that was ok.


My doctor said it should only be taken every few days at most, and only when you feel a panic attack coming on. Otherwise you fall into dependence. He strongly urged me against taking it consecutively. He's pretty renowned and well-known in the psychiatry field, so I trust his judgement.

Also, I once had a beer a few hours after taking .5 mg xanax and felt incredibly sleepy and dizzy. Actually, I think I only had half of the beer before I decided I needed a nap. Alcohol and benzos both act on your gaba receptors, so it's not the best idea to mix them unless you want to be ultra sedated. Some people handle it better than others though...


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## Positive (Jun 29, 2009)

NEVER MIX ALCOHOL W/ ANY DRUG !


let alone a benzo


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