Do Benzos + Alcohol Raise BAC Expontentially or Just Synergize?

[ParappaTheRapper]

Do benzos + alcohol raise BAC expontentially or just synergize? Anybody know? Any sources too?

 

[Black]

they are metabolised by completely different enzymes, so a raised BAC would be extremely unlikely. it's all synergy.

i hope you're not asking because you want to pass a breathalzyer test when stopped while driving on the combination.

 

[ParappaTheRapper]

Im not promoting drinking and driving or even combining these drugs; Im just curious of the specifics of the neurochemistry..

 

[ParappaTheRapper]

It just seemed logical to me. Let me know when you find some info.

If klonopin plus beer multiplies it by four it seems strange to me that your BAC would stay very low while very intoxicated on alcohol. That was my thought process.

 

[sekio]

If klonopin plus beer multiplies it by four it seems strange to me that your BAC would stay very low while very intoxicated on alcohol.

Why is that? Alcohol is already well absorbed from the GI tract and is usually metabolized slowly enough that you can appreciate the buzz for an hour or more, so taking Klonopin isn't going to get beer from a stone (to borrow a saying). It could not possibly make you have 4x as much alcohol in your system because that would require the ingestion of like, three more beers

BZDs and alcohol do not increase BAC... certainly not anywhere near 4x... they are synergistic because they both act to increase the activity of GABA at GABA-A receptors but they do so in different ways (binding at different sites on the same GABA receptors).

I think you would need to take a fair amount of BZDs (read: you'd be a chronic multi-year abuser) before liver enzyme changes would be apparent.

 

[atara]

The BAC is not a measure of intoxication, it's the concentration of alcohol in your bloodstream. The only thing that changes this is an enzyme inhibitor (GHB, e.g.) which prevents the alcohol from being metabolized.

Benzos bind to the same GABAa-linked chloride ion channel, so you get fucked up (and potentially in a bad way) by combining them, BAC doesn't change.

 

[ParappaTheRapper]

So GHB affects BAC you're saying? Never heard that..

 

[engineercchad]

I can't imagine that it has any effect on BAC. I would think the main synergy would be caused by the fact that alcohol performs it's work through GABA and so does Klonopin, so just a combination of GABAnergics can be enough to cause the effect without altering a person's BAC.

Given the very serious nature of the possible negative side effects of the combination, I would hope that they haven't performed any official study of the topic.

 

[serotonin2A]

This issue has been studied extensively. There are no significant pharmacokinetic interactions between BZD and ethanol, so drinking doesn't increase BZD blood levels (source: see the citations below)

The really interesting (an potentially counterintuitive) thing is that BZDs and ethanol produce only additive effects and they do not act synergistically or potentiate each other. Experiments have consistently shown that BZD drugs and ethanol DO NOT produce supra-additive effects (i.e., 2+2=5). Many people are under the impression that they are supra-additive because you can get very intoxicated by using BZDs and ethanol in combination, but it turns out that it is just the sum of the individual effects of the BZD and ethanol. Here are a few studies (Pubmed ID#s):

6140699
6138055
8799523
7870919
2201724
6142906

There are certainly other studies that have examined this issue, but I don't remember seeing any other reports that reached the opposite conclusion.

It may be that when someone is drunk, it is much easier to perceive the effects of benzos because there is already alcohol-induced impairment.