Benzodiazepines and booze? NO!

Antidepressants / antipsychotics and booze?
Maybe a small amount of booze, VERY, VERY carefully.
I take zoloft and can get hammered on 2 strong drinks.
It decreases my tolerance.
I also find I get depressed for a few days afterward, therefore I rarely indulge. Don't drink more than once a week, I think, or you'll be interfering with your meds.

Paracetamol and booze NO! NO! NO!

I am not a doctor, I am a looney on the internet, please do not mistake this for actual medical advice.

The answer is - it depends.

It depends on what meds.
It depends on what you drink.
It depends on how much you weigh.
It depends on how often you take your meds.
It depends on how often you drink.
It depends on your diet.
It depends on your genes.

What mixing drinking and meds does is make the chance that you wake up tomorrow slimmer. How much slimmer depends on all of the above and quite a few more that I am sure I have not thought of. Can some people get away with it and live? Sure, we see it all the time. Do some people die the very first time they mix drinking and meds? Yup, we see it all the time.

If having a drink is possibly worth your life, you need to talk to someone about that; a counselor, a therapist, someone and soon.

Hugs - you are worth keeping around - drinking is not worth it!

Yadlim and my Misha

Thanks for your replies. I didn't have a clue that people die from mixing them. That's NOT worth my life.
To be clear, I drink once a month max, usually closer to twice a year but has been a little more often recently.

I am going to try to be calm, but I am sorry i fI can't be.

TW TW TW Big trigger for me b/c my sis did this and died at 26.

Alcohol screws with your liver---which is how your body processes meds---and you end up with no meds too much meds wrong parts of meds in your system---and then?

You can suffer permanent irreversible never-gonna-be-better damage to your internal organs ranging from your brain to your liver to your kidneys to your pancreas to your heart.

I ain't a doctor. But I've bene on meds since 19 (epilepsy), and I do NOT and will NEVER touch alcohol. My sis? Didn't want ot be "left out" of the "good times". Did I mention she died at 26?

Yeah. I am very very very very very sensitive on this topic.

There IS NO SAFE WAY. I don't care what the internet says.

I am not trying to scare you, since you didn't know, but seriously, whoever said it's safe? Scares me to pieces. Alcohol isn't even risk-free with OTC aspirin, iburpofen, or for diabetics or gall bladder patients or... I mean, even OTC allergy meds and booze are a bad idea. So my rule is:

No booze ever with or near any medication, even OTC. *shudder*

Mom raised me on that rule. Raised my sister on it, too, for that matter. We got to see graphic pictures in medical books and journals. If that hadn't impressed me, my sister's passing certainly did. TW TW TW Booze and barbituate-based migraine meds she took to avoid taking her full dose of epilepsy meds (also to not be taken with booze) and... yeah. Gone at 26.
***

Gentlest hugs, and sorry to be the Voice of Doom, but like I said, huge issue for me....

Blessings,
Leo

More often? The big question is, why do you feel the need to drink?

I used to drink. A lot. But I converted to Islam and haven't had a drop since. That was three years ago. I could be legally swinging from the chandeliers, but I don't. And I don't take meds...

Not say you should become Muslim like me, but why the fixation with alcohol? Discover the magic of tea. : )

Now I'm calmer, I'll add:

I had so much more fun than my friends who did/do drink. OMG. Did better in school (never hung over or out late). Less vulnerable to predatory males at parties (I wasn't tipsy, so I didn't forget my safety). Remember what I did, where, with whom, and why (always useful info).

I don't get the thing with boozing either, but then, 1. my mom was an alcoholic; 2. I did pre-med stuff on alcohol's effects on the body; and 3. if that wasn't enough, I tried booze at 15, and decided it was just not all that fun, and that was my drinking career---all of two weekends! So really, I was a non-drinker anyway.

From what I saw/have seen? Alcohol is a lot like Xanax, or crack for that matter. You get your buzz, then you fall off the cliff and feel like crap, and it takes more and more to get that "good feeling" and... yeah.

BTW, alcohol is regarded as a Central Nervous System depressant---a drug, in other words. Not going to stump for Prohibition, but to me it's like not smoking, and not running with sharp knives in my hand. Common sense to not do something that's risky to my health. Like, y'know, I don't bungee-jump off cliffs or play with venomous snakes.

One lion's opinion.

Some risk.

Verrrrry little reward.

Like plane crashes: they're rare, but the consequences are disastrous.

It is a difficult position for you to be in. So young and drinking does seem to be almost a right of passage for young kids. My Dad always use to say if you are old enough to being doing that kind of thing then you better be old enough to tell me about it. I used this as a gauge for my life when I was young. If I did not think I could tell my Dad, I did not do it. Applying that same logic, you want to drink but you cannot sit down and talk to your doctor about doing it safely? Then I say you shouldn't be doing it.. We can give you all the advise in the world here, but the bottom line is a lot can go wrong when you drink taking some of the drug we do. You need to be open and honest with your doctor so you can get the best advise.

Alcohol is a depressant and that is counter productive to trying to get well.

PS:
http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html

When I was 23 to about 27 I lived in the area where are the bars in my city were located, so while I never was an alcoholic, I had my years partying.

I wasn't on meds then. I got on meds when I started therapy, which was right about the time I quit partying, in my case. It wasn't a plan. It just worked out that way.

Since then I've gone easy on the alcohol because of the meds. In fact, like Deli, I don't drink at all now, and it's been years and years. Just too risky at my age and at this stage of PTSD recovery.

So I'm not judging. I did my partying and then did my meds, and have kept them separate. That's what worked for me.

Muji rightly points out about not judging.
Sorry about my posts.
When it hits that close to home, the reflexivity of reaction kicks in and I should've just waited a day to respond.

Apologies.

Okay, I see a lot of freaking out in this thread. I didn't meN to trigger you Leo, I'm so sorry for your loss. I knew benzos are a no go with alcohol but anyway.. I most definitely understand better now how this could affect me.
I suppose y'all are right, i need to speak with my dr about this. Lemme be clearer: I was not

Oops. iPad malfunction and posted too soon. Anyway, to be clear, I wasn't afraid to speak with her, but the laws here mean I'm not supposed to be drinking, even though I'm with family and family friends. I guess that's what I meant by it being a no no. Just because well.. Alcohol is a no no.
I wish I had asked this question before I decided to drink, I'm really lucky I didn't get sick or worse.. Thank you all for being honest and caring.
I don't plan on drinking again unless I get medical clearance to do so.. Even then, I doubt I'll be doing it socially again.. Most likely celebratory (champagne at weddings for example).
I don't remember who asked why I feel a need to drink, but I'll answer it anyway. I don't feel a "need". It's more like.. It's just nice to have a beer by a bonfire when I'm with the people I love.
That being said, I still have fun without it, it's not something I need or crave or whatever.

Tylenol, acetaminophen, and alcohol has has a Russian Roulette type syndrome with alcohol. Some have died and others have ruined their organs, with just one glass. Granted the percentage is not high...but many meds contain that as an added ingredient to them.

Depending on what meds you are taking, ask your doctor, pharmacist about reactions.

If you don't need it to have "fun" then don't drink, but if you must...get the info from qualified medically trained personnel.