# Is it dangerous to combine sedatives with alcohol? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630 "2021-08-27T17:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630/22 "2021-08-29T15:05:44Z")
I have a friend who, after drinking too much the night before, takes a half a Xanax in the morning to calm herself down She is retired and doesn’t have to go anywhere, except back to bed if she so chooses. Is that dangerous? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630/23 "2021-08-29T15:08:03Z")
She probably isn’t mixing Xanax with alcohol by what you said. So it shouldn’t be a dangerous mix. The alcohol itself of course has its only dangers, especially if she does this often. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630/24 "2021-08-29T15:43:11Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Novahistine, now it has whatever but back then it had chloroform as the active ingredient. I just really remember that cloying mint brick in the face taste. Active ingredients old-school were: chloroform, codeine, chlorpheniramine, phenylephrine; plus for the expectorant formulation, guaiacolate(guaifenesin). And a heap of menthol. Now in three versions: Novahistine: chlorpheniramine and phenylephrine Novahistine DMX: dextrometorphan, phenylephrine, guaifenesin Novahistine DH: Codeine, phenylephrine ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630/25 "2021-08-29T15:52:58Z")
Ativan/lorazepam (a benzo like Xanax/alprazolam) is used to treat alcohol withdrawal symptoms, so it’s not without medical use. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630/26 "2021-08-29T17:55:34Z")
In 2016, I had a period of intense anxiety that resulted in heart palpitations and then some bad panic attacks. I was put on a sedative containing alprazolam (thus, something like Xanax) and warned by the psychiatrist never to combine it with alcohol. I kept that to the letter for the month that I was on the drug. I am a regular beer drinker, but I didn’t touch beer during the treatment. A friend who had had similar problems also told me that he had been informed that combining the two can result in your lungs slowing down their work until you are not able to breathe. I have no reason to disbelieve this - it only confirmed what the doctor had said. When I was on this medication, I took the matter very seriously; I followed the prescribed regimen, and did not regularly take the sedative long-term as I was warned that doing so could result in a dependency. After the month of prescribed regular use of the sedative was up, I, with my psychiatrist’s permission, continued to take only one pill now and then on very stressful days when I was feeling the physiological effects of the stress, and only until the pills I had originally been issued were used up. After that, I switched to tincture of valerian. And again, whenever I took one of the sedative pills, I took extra care not to drink. When I hear that there are people who use sedatives as a recreational drug and deliberately use them in combination with alcohol, I am absolutely HORRIFIED. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630/27 "2021-08-29T17:58:12Z")
Anterograde amnesia can result from certain sedatives alone, without even mixing with alcohol. I’ve gotten some mild effects like that from Ambien. When I first started taking it, I would sometimes wake up to see social media posts I didn’t remember making the night before. There was nothing wrong with the posts themselves; they were as coherent as I ever manage to be. But it weirded me out, so I resolved not to post anything after taking Ambien. And I’ve followed that rule flawlessly for about a decade since, which is further evidence that I’m in control in the moment, even if I can’t remember later. (I’ve also had seemingly normal conversations with my then-boyfriend, now-husband while on Ambien. He can’t tell the difference, so I’ve taken to telling him when I’ve taken a pill so he doesn’t bother initiating any discussions he doesn’t want to have to repeat.) I have occasionally taken an Ambien after drinking a moderate amount of alcohol (as in, I’m sure I would’ve been below a .08 all night, and probably well below that by the time I took the Ambien and went to bed.) I’m not recommending it, just admitting it. As others have said, while the odds of a bad outcome may not be very high, the potential bad outcomes can be catastrophic. After many years of using each drug, I know very well how my body responds to them individually, so I felt it was a risk I was occasionally willing to take. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630/28 "2021-08-29T18:46:08Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > A friend who had had similar problems also told me that he had been informed that combining the two can result in your lungs slowing down their work until you are not able to breathe. I have no reason to disbelieve this - it only confirmed what the doctor had said. Last year when I was drinking heavily and prescribed Xanax for anxiety, there was a night where I overconsumed and took a Xanax to help me sleep. It wasn’t a huge dose – just a single pill of, I think, 0.25mg or 0.50mg, but it slowed my respiration down to a frightening level – or at least it seemed so. I don’t think that dosage should have been enough to cause problems, but maybe even just that little bit was enough given however much alcohol I had in my system, because it scared me enough to never do that again. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630/29 "2021-08-30T20:00:58Z")
I had an acquaintance who died from a tramadol + alcohol combo. He hadn’t had very much of either; the theory is that he’d done it a few times over the preceding weeks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-combine-sedatives-with-alcohol/949630.md?page=1)