Let's not get too cozy in fantasy land though. Saying that something "should be fine" doesn't really mean anything.
This is not an attack on any of the preceding posts, just a reminder that mixing alocohol and benzos is playing with your internal equalizer. Inhibitions go down, chance of spontaneously doing something weird and regrettable go up, and the short-term-memory slider actually falls off the panel entirely. It's one of the most dangerous combos I can think of. THere's physical danger - CNS depression from too much booze and benzo - but the risk that concerns me is what one might do to themselves AND others while on the combo.
Benzos creep in under the radar of self-regulaton and tell you that you are fine and normal as ever. It's not hard to be in control while drinking and taking benzos - it's impossible. Sense of self-preservation can quickly go out the window. Sense of boundaries and what's appropriate can distort so massively that a 'normal' person can act out in ways that scare their friends enough to ruin the relationship forever. If there's some secret fetish, perverse fantasy hiding away in your sub-conscious, then benzos and alcohol are more likely to bring it out (and make it seem like the best idea ever!!) than just about anything else.
A couple of beers and a benzo of choice or two isn't necessarily going to cause apocolyptic mayhem instantly, but the percentage chance of you doing something that is out of character goes up up up. I still use that combo sometimes. Not often at all. I'm scared of it, and I haven't even had any disasters with benzos (aside from getting addicted and suffering WDs...huhuhuhhuh).
It's the black outs that scare me. It's really fucking creepy. I'm not talking about the last couple hours of the previous evening being hazy, I'm talking about a solid 4 to 5 hour chunk of time entirely erased from memory, during which you were still completely active. Walking, talking, socialising, possibly driving, shopping....
It only took one time of the Xanax/beer combo where I had a little more than usual and I had one of those experiences. Nothing bad happened. But the only reason I know nothing bad happened is because I was with people. They didn't even know I was on the shit (I was a heavy poly-drug abuser at the time so I was always on something, it was just normal for me), and to this day they don't know that I can't remember a good four hours of that evening. I'm too embarassed to admit it. It's the creepiest feeling to have people talk about what you did and even show you photos of which you have ZERO recollection. Creepy.
And like I said, I must be pure of heart or some shit becuase apparently I just behaved myself as normal. So nothing went wrong, but that void of memory still scared me. Imagine waking up somewhere, not knowing how you got there, and wondering what you'd done..... FUCK.....THAT....
