Diazepam and alcohol... Am I paranoid? [Archive]

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nick1994

11-02-20, 16:11

Hi all,

I have a flight at 9.45am. I had about half a pint of beer the night before at about 5pm.
I have awful flying anxiety so my doctor prescribed diazepam with my usual propranolol to counter the panic attacks I have on the flight.

If I had a maximum two units of alcohol (half a pint) about 13-14 hours before my intended use of Valium, will I be ok? I’m paranoid about mixing the two as I’m well aware of side effects.

Thank you

nomorepanic

11-02-20, 17:34

Yes you will be fine.

panic_down_under

11-02-20, 22:10

If I had a maximum two units of alcohol (half a pint) about 13-14 hours before my intended use of Valium, will I be ok?

No problem. The alcohol will have been metabolised out of your system within a couple of hours.

The danger with combining alcohol with benzodiazepines (BZDs) is that both suppress brainstem activity, including the breathing reflex, so at very high doses of both alcohol and BZD there is a risk of asphyxiation during sleep. Another risk at high doses is inhaling vomit. However, you would need to have drunk much more than half a pint of beer, much more recently and be on a much higher diazepam (Valium) dose than I suspect you've been prescribed for your flight.