Constant stresses, misunderstandings with loved ones, difficult working conditions - all these factors lead to mental and nervous system disorders. as a result - insomnia appears. This is not only the inability to fall asleep in the evening, but also early awakenings, intermittent sleep and nightmares. Such problems extremely negatively affect the psyche and nervous system.
The patient is forced to consult a doctor and take sleeping pills. Many people choose a sedative themselves, and start drinking it without consulting a doctor. Often combine sedation with alcohol. However, rarely does anyone think about the consequences. Is it possible to take sleeping pills with alcohol - this question should interest everyone who dared to drink pills for insomnia.
Varieties of sleeping pills
In modern clinical practice, an anatomical, therapeutic and chemical classification of drugs with sleeping pills is used. This approach simultaneously takes into account the structure of the active substance, and the anatomical structures that the drug affects, and the spectrum of its therapeutic activity.
All sleeping pills can be divided into the following groups (according to the principle of action and composition):
- barbiturates (drugs whose main active ingredient is barbituric acid);
- benzodiazepine derivatives;
- GABA receptor antagonists;
- aldehydes;
- aldehyde derivatives;
- hormonal drugs with melatonin;
- orexin receptor agonists;
- other sleeping pills.
Some classes of drugs are used as sleeping pills only in a hospital setting. High toxicity and the occurrence of physical and psychological dependence make it impossible to use these drugs at home.
How to choose a sleeping pill
Most sleeping pills can cause many side effects. They are toxic to internal organs and exceeding the recommended dosages can cause chronic diseases. Taking some sleeping pills with alcohol can be fatal.
Therefore, it is strictly forbidden to prescribe such drugs to yourself. Only after consultation with a psychiatrist and neuropathologist can you get a prescription for a sleeping pill. Also, the doctor will advise the optimal dosage, based on the individual characteristics of the patient and the course of the disease.
If a person is disturbed by constant night awakenings, difficulty falling asleep and a superficial sleep, then he should choose a drug among means with an average or short duration of action.
If sleep disturbances are not severe, then new drugs should also be chosen, abandoning benzodiazepines and barbiturates. Neuropathologists recommend the following relatively safe drugs when combined with alcohol:
- Chloral Hydrate;
- "Doxylamine";
- "Melatonin."
The effect of alcohol on the nervous system and psyche
Before answering the question - what sleeping pills with alcohol can be, the effects of ethanol-containing drinks on the body and psyche of a sick person should be especially noted.
Ethanol is the very substance that causes intoxication. Euphoria (and in some cases, sadness, longing), impaired coordination of movements, dizziness, fun and inadequate state - this is what a drunken person means. This effect is achieved due to paralysis of the nervous system. Hundreds of thousands of neurons (nerve cells) die, which subsequently go out with urine.
Two to three hours of intoxication result in real stress for the body. Without touching on the effect of alcohol on the state of the liver and organs of the gastrointestinal tract, a literally "deadly" effect on the psyche can be noted.
In the morning after alcoholic fun, a period of hangover and then withdrawal symptoms inevitably begins. If there was binge, then on the second or third day, in the absence of sleep, the patient develops acute delirium, or, as it is popularly called, "squirrel."
It is when the patient cannot fall asleep during the period of withdrawal and hangover, he decides to take sleeping pills. Some drugs are indeed compatible with alcohol. But most often, concomitant use is fraught with serious consequences, including death.
Sleeping pills with alcohol: consequences
Both drugs and ethanol-containing drinks have a depressing effect on the nervous system. As a result, such a double influence can lead to an alcoholic coma.
If the patient’s health was initially weakened by chronic alcoholism, the liver is damaged and unable to cope with double intoxication, a fatal outcome may occur.
The metabolites of almost all sleeping pills harm the liver. Fatty degeneration of the organ begins. In case of an overdose of sleeping pills with alcohol, toxic hepatitis can develop, which will inevitably lead to cirrhosis over time. especially if you continue to abuse alcohol. The liver is the only human organ capable of regeneration, but with constant poisoning by drugs metabolites and ethanol the organ will fail even in the most healthy person.
Derivatives of benzodiazepine with alcohol: consequences and effect
List of the most commonly prescribed benzodiazepine derivatives:
- Midazolam
- "Flunitrazepam";
- Nitrazepam
- "Cinolazepam";
- Oxazepam
- Triazolam;
- Temazepam
- Flurazepam;
- Estazolam.
All of these drugs have a mild sedative effect. They are effective for anxiety, motor anxiety, hyperactivity, increased excitability of the nervous system. All of them can cause psychological dependence - often with a long course of treatment, the patient is scared to abandon the effects of drugs and return to life without pharmacological support.
Benzodiazepine sleeping pills with alcohol will provoke only deep sleep, the so-called alcoholic coma. It can last about twelve hours. The danger to the patient’s life is that vomiting may open during sleep, and since the person is in a coma, she will go with her nose and block the airways. Death as a result of mechanical asphyxiation is the name of this process.
The thought of alcohol with sleeping pills comes to many patients. Someone is interested in trying new sensations and experiencing severe intoxication (which you can not wait for - a person will simply fall asleep and that's it). And someone decides in this way to take scores with life.
Barbiturates with alcohol: a mortal danger
This is the most dangerous combination. Strong sleeping pills with alcohol can be fatal.
Barbiturates are sedative sleeping pills of the past generation. Modern doctors have not prescribed such drugs to their patients for a long time, since they cause a strong physical dependence. But pharmacies still continue to bargain with such drugs, and often without a prescription.
In addition to essential oils, the well-known Corvalol contains phenobarbital in its composition. This substance is just a barbiturate. In Corvalol, the specific fraction of phenobarbital is extremely small, but when combined with alcohol, it is enough to achieve severe intoxication.
A decrease in respiratory center activity is a common result of concomitant use of barbiturates and alcohol. Alcohol and so reduce respiratory activity, taken tranquilizers exacerbate the situation. As a result, a person can simply die in a dream without waking up. Mixing ingredients like alcohol and barbiturates to lull a person is extremely risky.
Which sleeping pills are compatible with alcohol?
This question worries some patients with an already formed addiction. There is no need to mix over-the-counter sleeping pills with alcohol. There is only one condition in which such a measure is justified.
This is a state of alcoholic psychosis, or delirium. It occurs on the third day after binge. Ethanol is almost completely eliminated from the patient's body by this time. But often the metabolites of alcohol still walk through the blood. So, a person cannot fall asleep, and hallucinations begin to haunt him.
How not to get into a mental hospital in such a situation? There is only one way out - to take sleeping pills. If there is no way to call a private narcologist at home (he can write a prescription for sleeping pills and prescribe the optimal dosage, make a medical dropper that will help you fall asleep), you will have to buy the pills yourself.
Recently, even for the purchase of "Phenibut" require a prescription. What can we say about more serious drugs.
You can try to buy "Melatonin" or "Donormil" - these drugs belong to soft sleeping pills, compatible with alcohol.
The opinion of narcologists about such a combination
Psychiatrists and narcologists are involved in the treatment of alcoholism. They can write prescriptions for pills to relieve a hangover and withdrawal symptoms. It is a narcologist who can correctly answer the question - what can sleeping pills with alcohol?
Any competent doctor understands that taking pills in parallel with alcoholic beverages is polydrug abuse. This condition is very complex, and is treated longer than regular alcoholism and ordinary pharmacological addiction. The combination of these two dependencies is literally the word "ticket to the next world."
Polydrug abuse is not treated with pills, it is impossible to operate on. Only a competent psychotherapist can help a patient with such a diagnosis. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that heals the soul, not the body.
So no honest narcologist who wishes good to his patient will advise sleeping pills after alcohol if there is no threat of delirium development. Such a recommendation can cost a sick person life - it is only necessary to slightly exceed the dosage.
Taking sleeping pills during withdrawal symptoms
A completely different matter is the need to take sleeping pills during withdrawal. This condition is characterized by mental depression after a long period of use of psychoactive substances. It develops not only after years of abuse of alcoholic beverages, but also after substance abuse and drug addiction.
Condition characteristic of withdrawal symptoms:
- motor anxiety;
- frequent awakenings in the middle of the night;
- insomnia;
- tremor of limbs;
- irritability;
- unmotivated aggression;
- unwillingness to communicate with people and participate in social life.
Such a state after prolonged intoxication is quite normal, and can continue throughout the year. It is during this period that you need to take sleeping pills to smooth out the healing process. It is worth noting one most important point - in no case should you allow re-use of alcohol, since a sick person will not be able to stop on one glass and, as a result, will again fall into the cycle of binges and a hangover syndrome.
To avoid such problems - the period of remission should be under the strict supervision of a competent narcologist. It is great if the patient can attend the counseling of a psychotherapist in which he can share his thoughts on whether you can drink sleeping pills with alcohol or not.
The main point of such therapy is the patient’s realization that polydrug abuse (taking pills with alcoholic drinks) is a slow and painful suicide.
First aid for alcohol and pill intoxication
If you witness alcohol poisoning mixed with sleeping pills, you should provide the following assistance to the victim:
- the patient has lost consciousness - be sure to turn him face down, because if he is lying on his back, vomit will fall into the respiratory tract and he will suffocate (mechanical asphyxia);
- then call an ambulance, describing the situation by phone;
- if the patient is conscious and nauseous - this is good, the body is cleansed;
- you need to give the patient as much clean water as possible in order to cleanse the stomach to the maximum;
- you can’t eat any food - just drink clean water for a day (you can drink the patient "Regidron");
- if there is a suspicion of intentional poisoning, in no case should the patient be left alone, as he may repeat his attempt.
Calling an ambulance is a prerequisite if a person faints or has indomitable vomiting. Most likely, after the doctors find out the reasons, the patient will be hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. Such hospitalization will cause an inevitable record of a person as mentally abnormal.
If the psychiatrist considers that the person drank alcohol with sleeping pills intentionally, in order to harm himself, then the patient will be registered for many years. He will not be able to get a driver’s license and get a prestigious job in government bodies and large corporations that always check employees for registration in the IPA.