Heading Off Alcohol Use Disorder

For instance, low to moderate consumption can result in fewer and less severe effects than those who habitually drink in larger quantities. As mentioned, Valium is a type of benzodiazepine that impacts the chemicals in the brain in a way that reduces anxiety, muscle spasms, and causes sedation. Valium increases the activity of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid and neurotransmitter that acts as a depressant in your central nervous system. Dopamine is another neurotransmitter that is involved in alcohol withdrawal states. During alcohol use and the increase in the dopamine levels in CNS contribute to the autonomic hyper arousal and hallucinations. Withdrawal seizures are also thought to result from a lowering of seizure threshold due to kindling [16].

Clinical Question

This includes other benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and sleep aids like Ambien and Lunesta. Opioids are separate from central nervous system depressants, and they work in the brain differently, but they can also have a sedating effect on the body. Like alcohol, they can cause respiratory depression, especially when mixed. When you take a Valium prescription, you may be warned by your doctor or pharmacist to avoid alcohol consumption. But if they have similar effects, why is it dangerous to mix them?

Valium and Alcohol: Dangers, Withdrawal, and Side Effects

Diazepam is used to treat anxiety disorders, or alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Valium may be used occasionally to relieve anxiety and some other conditions such as acute muscle spasms and alcohol withdrawal. It usually doesn’t happen after one night of drinking or a single Valium pill, but it can happen after a few weeks of consistent or excessive https://soberhome.net/alcohol-addiction-drug-rehab-centers-in-california/ use. Both of these substances slow down the activity in your nervous system, and your brain may adapt by adjusting your brain chemistry to counteract these effects. This can make you feel like you’re becoming tolerant to the alcohol or Valium, which means that it doesn’t seem to be as effective as it was when you first started taking it.

What should I avoid while taking diazepam?

Addiction is a disease that affects the part of your brain that’s designed to encourage you to repeat tasks called the reward center. Addiction treatment is a personalized process that’s designed to address addiction and its underlying contributing factors like mental health problems. Addiction treatment involves multiple levels of care, with medical detox being the most intensive.

Actually, it’s dangerous to mix Valium and alcohol because they have similar effects. When you take two or more drugs that have similar effects on your brain and body, it can do something called potentiation. Potentiation is when drugs combine to cause more intense effects than they normally would because they are both working on your brain in similar ways.

1. Avoid eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice while using this medication unless your doctor or pharmacist says you may do so safely.
2. The War on Drugs taught us that once a certain behavior is criminalized and incarceration is accepted as the solution, it’s extremely difficult to change course—no matter how devastating the consequences.
3. The graph is not there simply to debunk a myth (5), but rather as a teaching tool for one of the main tenets of pharmacology—drug-drug interactions (6).
4. The patient’s condition must be reviewed from time to time for the appearance of signs of medical or neurological illness which may not have been evident at admission but may develop subsequently.

Drugs & Supplements

You may also go through inpatient/ residential treatment, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and outpatient treatment. When an individual’s heart rate becomes so slow that blood and oxygen are no longer delivered how to smoke moon rocks to the brain, and respiration become so shallow that the body is no longer receiving oxygen, the user is at risk of death. While some fatal overdoses are accidental, others are intentional and planned carefully.

Do not take other medicines unless they have been discussed with your doctor. This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines and herbal or vitamin supplements. If you feel that the medicine is not working as well, do not use more than your prescribed dose. This medicine may cause some people, especially older persons, to become drowsy, dizzy, lightheaded, clumsy, unsteady, or less alert than they are normally. Also, this medicine may cause double vision or other vision problems.

Grapefruit juice may increase the amount of diazepam in your blood. It’s a good idea to avoid grapefruit or grapefruit juice while taking diazepam. There are different types of medicines for treating anxiety or seizures or fits. Avoid driving or hazardous activity until you know how this medicine will affect you.

Withdrawal symptoms occur after you develop a chemical dependence on a drug. Dependence occurs because your brain adapts to the presence of these chemicals. People who mix Valium and alcohol may do it intentionally or accidentally. If you start taking a new depressant like Valium and don’t pay attention to warnings to avoid drinking, you may mix them accidentally by going about your normal routine. When you take a new medication of any kind, it’s important to ask questions about what you can and can’t take alongside it.

According to Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), benzodiazepines like Valium were involved in over 408,000 emergency room visits in 2010. In patients who have overdosed on Valium, alcohol is often mixed with this prescription medication, augmenting https://sober-home.org/lsd-overdose-symptoms-risks-response-and-treatment/ its sedative effects. Keep in mind that no matter what, it isn’t safe to mix substances, and if you’re having a hard time stopping, there’s a help. In fact, there are people who make it their life’s work to help others recover from addiction.

Do not operate machinery or tools if you get any side effects, such as feeling sleepy, being forgetful, or poor co-ordination. Even if your ability to drive is not affected, the police have the right to request a saliva sample to check how much diazepam is in your body. Diazepam can be given as a pre-med to relax you before an operation or dental treatment that may be uncomfortable or make you feel anxious. Your doctor will usually start you on a type of antidepressant called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), such as sertraline, paroxetine or escitalopram.