Alprazolam for alcohol addiction

[d3Xo-fan]

Someone in my family has a pretty hefty use of alcohol, everyday. I myself am prescribed 2mg alprazolam a day, but luckily I'm not addicted to benzos, which means I can accumulate up to 14mg alprazolam per week.

Now, do you think there would be any point in trying to convince this family member of mine to take these benzos and drink less? Or perhaps stop altogether? I really want to save his liver. The only problem is, I don't know how big a cross-tolerance there exists between alcohol and benzos.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Pjkt2501]

I don't see much of a cross-tolerance, per se, but the combination can be very dangerous as they're both CNS depressants and can alter perception a situation. Benzos give me the "meh whatever, it's okay" feeling. Just my personal experience that mixing alcohol and benzos haven't been some of my wisest moves.

 

[nAON]

It depends on a lot of things, particularly how, why, etc. he drinks. There's no point giving him a benzo if he just ends up wanting a drink and getting drunk anyway, and indeed as Pjk said it can be quite dangerous. If he's serious about quitting, he should see his doctor and have him taper him off properly, much better than attempting to do so yourself.

 

[nsauce]

If he is truly a hardcore alcoholic, he will wind up with a xanax addiction as well as a dependence on alcohol .

 

[effie]

I'm so sorry you are in that situation, it is horrible worrying about a family member. They are lucky to have you! Ultimately they have to want to help themselves really.. if you want to talk about that side of things, I really recommend The Dark Side forum (link in my sig) - lots of people who have been through similar situations and can ofer you advice.

From a practical perspective - taking a couple of Xanax a day won't help the alcohol addiction I am afraid; mixing downers is dangerous if he still drinks, and the duration of action s so short that they are completely unsuitable for a detox - also as others have mentioned there is a definite risk of developing a Xanax addiction. If he wants to stop drinking and detox then he should see a doctor, and long-acting benzodiazepines are usually used (chlordiazepoxide/Librium or diazepam here, or sometimes gabapentin/pregabalin) - but it should be done under medical supervision. The best thing you can do is encourage him to see a doctor.. good luck!

 

[d3Xo-fan]

Thank you all, you have been most helpful. I think you are right, I think he'd just drink anyway

 

[Allein]

Hi Fan, He needs to go to his GP and get refred to an alcohol and addiction service, it worked for me. They offered me Librium but since I already had a Diaz problem I didnt need it.

Couselling is vey important, at no stage did the service say I had to stop drinking they just kind of guided me that way until I came up with my own date and plan, however much you might want him to stop unless he does giving him benzos will just make things worse IME.

 

[effie]

^ agreed, some sort of counselling or support is very important.

There is a thread on alcohol addiction in TDS here which might be useful for you and your family member to take a look at

Good luck - remember you can't do it for them, all you can do is offr support

 

[Not_Me]

I take 2-3 mg of xanax a day and honestly, it usually makes me want to drink more then not to drink at all.

 

[Doug2113]

My guess they were looking at it like vallium is used for alcohol withdrawals...don't know if it would be anywhere near the same thing as vallium lasts A LOT longer than xanax...

 

[Tommyboy]

I take 2-3 mg of xanax a day and honestly, it usually makes me want to drink more then not to drink at all.

I also found that alprazolam would make me want to drink and take other drugs. I would be fine, not wanting to do any drugs, then after taking 1 or 2mgs I would be on the phone with my dealer. Drug-seeking behavior is actually listed as one of the side effects (source).