Benzo and alcohol cross tolerance.

[ovo1024]

so i know they are both GABAergics i have tooken a break from benzos for 3 weeks to lower my tolerance a bit, its not to bad but i anything under 5mg of xanax isnt enough for me. so i plan on getting xanax in a few days but plan on drinking heavily tomorrow night. will the alcohol ruin my tolerance break?

 

[ovo1024]

So know one knows? lol

 

[neurotic]

i believe alcohol and benzos have a little of cross tolerance

i don't think it will completely ruin your t-break but it could be like taking a benzo earlier

 

[ovo1024]

how is there a cross tolerance? like i know they are both GABA agonists

 

[sghouston5]

how is there a cross tolerance? like i know they are both GABA agonists

How is there a cross tolerance? + like I know they are both GABA agonists = oxymoron lol

You just answered your own question. Both of them enhance GABA activity in the brain, providing the "soothing" and "sedative" effect. Anything that stimulates GABA in your brain you will have a cross tolerance to. You will and should however, only have a tolerance to the mechanism of action of the drug, meaning that you won't be able to just equate "one xanax to three beers" etc. Doesn't really work that way.

Xanax is very lipophilic, and enters your system rapidly reaching your brain and begins working in 15-20 minutes in most cases, and it is engineered to act that way. Alcohol however varies greatly on a person's body shape, size, metabolism etc, making it's ability to affect the brain a bit different than Xanax. They are both GABAergics, they both effect the brain's GABA activity in a similar manner, however Xanax's mechanism of action and ability to better bind to those receptors is what makes it more addictive. You may find that it is "easier" to drink more alcohol than normal if you have frequently been taking Xanax, but once again it's mechanism of action is not going to be as quickly or as strong as Xanax, so it will sort of "feel" similar and you will have more of a tolerance over a non-drinker/non-benzo user.

Xanax is, in my opinion, is a much "cleaner" and more efficient way to enhance GABA activity, acting within just a few minutes and includes none of the negative side effects that alcohol does. They are both drugs that let more GABA enter the postsynaptic neurons, however, Xanax does it more quickly and more efficiently.

In short, I highly doubt that if you are taking 5mg+ Xanax a day recreationally, then consume alcohol heavily one night it will have little if any impact on your Xanax tolerance. Now, if you were a heavy drinker and heavy benzo user, that's an entirely different story.

Careful taking too much of either one for a prolonged period of time. Benzo withdrawals are a bitch

 

[downerhead]

Been taking xanax and drinking for a long time,often together.I've never noticed alcohol consumption to have any effect on my xanax tolerance when I take a "tolerance break" from benzos.In fact, I generally drink more to compensate against my anxiety during the periods when I take a few days off xanax to let my tolerance drop.When I start up the xanax again after 5-7 days of abstinance it works much better,despite my fairly heavy consumption of whiskey during this period.

 

[twerk]

im certain they do, im not sure how much but anytime ive been a heavy drinker im able to tolerate more xanax, or vise versus, well....well ive been taken alot of xanax it doesnt seem to cross over as much?

 

[downerhead]

A phenomenon I've noticed when drinking on benzos is that if you drink too much the alcohol seems to kinda "overwhelm" the benzo feeling but they do stiil kinda"stack" on each other so be careful if benzos make you prone to black-outs.Both can trigger the"fuck it" impulse.Know your limits.You don't wanna lose a bunch of stuff,have people calling you the next day telling you about the crazy stuff you did,or even worse wake up in jail with no memory of how you got there.I've known a few people who did the latter.Of course it's common knowledge that you shouldn't drive on either,much less on the combo of both.