Benzos and methadone

[Lord Armagoth]

I personally dont like or take benzos even when they are prescribed but I have heard from many diffrent sources that the combination of methadone and benzos can kill even at low doses. Ive heard that it depends on the time frame. I am an opiate addict. the reason Im posting this is because my sister loves methadone and she loves valium and she is constantly asking if she can take a dose of methadone or valium after a certain amount of time since shes taken the other. First of all, can you die from the combination, secondly, does a time frame matter and thirdly, does the dose matter?

 

[Pjkt2501]

Of course you can die from the combo, but very unlikely if the doses of each are kept within reasonable limits for the drug, and the individual. The main concern is respiratory depression (slowed breating, pulse will also slow).

I have personally mixed 20mg of methadone with my normal 1-1.5mg klonopin without adverse effects (quite positive, actually, but I've been successfully mixing benzos and opiates for a while now).

Go slow. Don't give her 40mg of the diazepam or let her take a large dose of methadone with the benzo, and she'll be fine.

I typically take the long-acting benzo first (diaz as a VERY long half-life, long than kpins even), and then take the opiate. However I'm sure someone will suggest the opposite as benzos can inhibit proper decision making - much as alcohol does.