over did it

have some problems in my life im having a hard time with and my drinking got out of control last week. im on xanax for panic attacks,and b.p. meds. last week i was drinking at my local bar and just passed out started having a siezure my friend had to clear my airways cuz i was choking on vomit. i was rushed to the hospital and they said i had an alcohol level .465 they said they didnt even know how i was awake and ripping my i.v. out (of course i wanted out) they said i should have been dead or in a coma at that level. one of my concerns is that i didnt have enough to drink that night to have a level that hi. i talked to the bartender the next day and she was so confused she said you were fine one minute and then just out. she knew i didnt have enough to drink for that to happen. im sure i passed out cuz of the xanax i had taken during the day, but why would my level be so hi? i had 7 light beers and a shot over a 4 hr period that is not enough alcohol to put a 200 lb man at .465 the hospital insisted i had to have been drinking all day but that was not the case.

Psych meds and alcohol really don't mix well. You have to be super careful around them as they can really maginfy alcohol's effects. Xanax and alcohol are both central nervous system depressants, so they magnify each other's effects.

As for your blood alcohol level, do you really know how much you had to drink? If you were in a black out you could have had way more to drink than you think, and simply not remember it. Blackouts are scary and dangerous. If you were having a seizure, vomiting and out of, I'd tend to believe the blood work.

And sorry to sound like a nag, but what you describe drinking actually is rather a lot, it's well over the safe drinking guidelines mental health / addictions org's put out as a guideline, and qualifies as binge drinking.

It sounds like you had a bad scare, that could have been potentially deadly. Might be worth reconsidering how much you're drinking and definitely rethink mixing alcohol and meds.

---splitimage

i guess you and i both fortunate we didn't die. i was on zanex some years ago (and prozac) and was drinking. i had done this often enough that i'd disregarded the warning on the zanex (prozac) bottle. i had two drinks that i remember and then went into a black out. at some point in the night i must have fallen cause i was bleeding all over the house...fell, and my glasses cut into the top of my nose. later in the night i laid down on the bed with pillows propped behind me. (that might have saved my life). i have no recollection of any events for 12 hours. i have no idea how much i drank. i never once wiped off the blood..i'm basing this on the fact that the house looked like helter skelter the next morning. a friend insisted i go the ER for stitches. he said i argued with him about this and i said all i needed was a band aid. (!) it took 15 stitches to close up the gash on my nose. i decided to leave the scar there to remind me where mixing drinking and zanex took me. the doctor told me that the zanex magnifies the alcohol and the alcohol magnifies the zanex.
so i realized that all along my drinking history i was doing russian roullette because i was on meds for anxiety disorder and bipolar. i learned they don't mix the hard way. i should have known previous to this that the zanex and alcohol didn't mix cause a friend said sometimes i seemed liked another person and i had long lapses (up to 2 weeks) of memory.
so very glad you're going to be ok and there were people to help you get medical help.
in my case i had to take a serious look at my drinking and decided i had a serious drinking problem too. that was the last time i ever had a drink of alcohol and sobriety for me has been the best thing i ever did for myself....and i have the battle scar to prove it...i see it every day when i look in the mirror.

Do you have a plan now 1confused?

With care,

Lenny

well i cut the xanax dose in half and that seems to be helpful ive cut the drinking down but havent been able to completely stop. i was seeing a therapist but i dint like her aproach so on monday im setting up an appointment to see a different therapist. that and coming on here.

i thought i had a blackout and drank more but i talked to the bartender and she remembered exactly what she served me. i know thats allot of alcohol but that probably wouldnt bring me any higher than.20 if even that hi. the meds must have something to do with it. either that or my livers not functioning properly. im gonna have to see my doc im kinda scared to tell him what happened. the xanax are keeping me from completely freaking out and having panic attacks. wich ive never had before. this anxiety is all new to me. im generally a very laid back relaxed person,slight social anxiety in large crowds but thats it. now im a wreck .

i think i took one while i was drinking i know had at least 3 that day. i had a therapy session that day before work and was a total mess after(im switching therapist) ive cut my dose down of xanax but have not stopped drinking, cut down but i know i should stop completely if im taking these meds. easier said than done

I agree drinking and taking meds is not safe....
My sister went into rehab.....have you considered that?
She went in for drinking and doing drugs ((not your kind))
This will be her 2nd thanksgiving clean...
Please take care of you as you and your health does matter
hope things get better
muffy

well the first thing is that you've taken a look at all this and now know that the zanex can be scary when mixed with alcohol. i don't presume to advise you if you have a drinking problem, but if it's getting in the way of the effectiveness of your meds, why do you drink? i discovered i used alcohol to self medicate my BP and that's how i developed into an alcoholic. i abused it and it bit me in my butt.
alcohol can actually cause panic attacks in some people..i'm one of them..so it's like you're on a slippery slope anyway. glad you're going to see another T if you think that will help. small steps toward better things i hope for you.
there are some anxiety medications out there that aren't so volatile as zanex. not promoting one but i do take something else now cause zanex on it's own has caused many people problems. i for one am scared to death of it!..and i don't drink anymore "one day at a time".
keep us posted on how you're doin', k?..

will do thank you

i honestly think ive used alcohol to self medicate slow my head down slow my thought process. but what im going through now is completely foreign to me. i never had panic attacks, severe anxiety, im strong, when a relationship ends i move on i dont waste time on grieving and feeling like its my fault. i dont know why i am so weak right now. its totally not me. im literally praying and hoping this is temporary and somehow i will end up back on my feet and looking at the glass half full. i am worried about the xanax ive had allot of side effects. dreams that i cant tell if it was a dream or reality. sometimes i get completely lost. like i forget where i am or where im going, i know that sounds really bad but im almost ok with it cuz the alternative, the panic attacks and extreme anxiety i really dont like

im not ready to do rehab, i want to get this under control myself without disrupting my family life and my kids. my dad went through several rehabs when i was a kid i dont want to put my kids through that. they wont understand, i know i didnt. i asked my dad for advice and he said, get it under control and if its controlling you then you need to stop and you need help. theres a but, he said i really dont think you wanna do that its not easy, so get control of your life and try to realise your in a bad spot in life and drinking isnt good for you right now. im not sure if that was good advice but that was the first real conversation ive had with my dad in my life. my father has never talked to me before, not at all as a child, and whenever i tried in adulthood it was impossible. ive actually gone to him for advice in the past. he usually walks away and starts doing work outside. so the fact that he talked to me about that, my past relationship, and my moms cancer was a huge step.

I've had situations like this happen several times in the past when I relapsed with alcohol. I was on an anti-depressant and drank two beers at a bar and blacked out and didn't remember anything but waking up in my bed the next day not knowing how I got home. Based on my text messages from the day before I had been out drinking for at least 10 hours in a blackout. There have been more incidents like this too.
I'm an alcoholic and usually drink a lot more than that amount to blackout in the past. Then there have been times on an anti-depressant and Ativan (same type of drug as Xanax) that I drank more before blacking out. I guess what I'm getting at is even if you are able to drink more on the half-dose of Xanax, you really never know when this type of thing will happen again. It could be after 2 beers or after 12. Just cause you are managing it somewhat now doesn't mean it will not happen again. It's very unpredictable. It is really dangerous to drink on psych. meds. I've also found in the past that my behavior was different drinking a lot on psych meds than when not on psych meds. And not in a good way. Other people I know have had similar experiences drinking on psych meds. It is a really dangerous position you are putting yourself into. Make sure when you see the new therapist that you tell them about this incident and how much you drink. Otherwise there is not much point to the therapy. I hope you stay safe and get healthy.

thank you. i will keep all that in mind. i told my last therapist i was drinking too much and it seemed that was all she focused on. i am a problem drinker, i drink more the more serious a situation in my life. i know im an alcoholic im just not your typical, hard to explain. i have found through therapy in the past that i can get back on the right track and i think with the right therapist i can do that. im seeing a new one next week thursday. the night i ended up in the hospital was after a therapy session , im not blaming it on her but i really think her approach with me was just wrong for me. im trying to keep my head up and just had a conversation with my closest friend who really showed her concern for me. she said she would go to a meeting with me if i wanted to try. that meant so much to me. i have gone to AA once before and thought it was not for me,but my friend told me maybe i need to go to one not alone so its not so scary for me. i do have slight anxiety in a crowd of people and especially sharing intimate details of life and admitting i cant do something all on my own. im a very independant person. i feel i can beat anything no matter how hard the trial. im giving it one more shot. if this consumes me or is dangerous to my health im going to take her up on going to a meeting and try not doing it alone. thank you for your concern and i will try to stay healthy

iconfused, i'm so glad you're considering AA. it was the only thing that really worked for me cause i'd always end back up where i started...drinking...i just wanted to be "normal" but what i really am is a (recovering) alcoholic- one day at a time. it's been some years since i picked up a drink but i just wanted you to know that for some reason that simple 12 step program has worked for me. having someone go with you is a great idea! many people will reach out to you cause they have been where you are at now...struggling with problems relating to alcohol...keep us posted, will u?
those wierd dreams i believe are from the zanex. i had them too.
ok, i'm going to see if this will go through...klonopin...that's the substitute for zanex-safer and not such a severe half life...it was designed this way due to the side affects of zanex. i take it for anxiety. ..but as already said..drinking and the benzo's (zanex, klonoipin, valium, etc.) don't mix.