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Re: Klonopin + caffeine +Alcohol - input sought » temoigneur

Posted by yxibow on December 13, 2006, at 0:37:45

In reply to Klonopin + caffeine +Alcohol - input sought, posted by temoigneur on December 12, 2006, at 22:48:12

> Hi Ed, how are you doing... are you almost ready for Christmas... Ed... ever since Ame's death I've been thinking about my own use of medications and alcohol....
>
> I went to a nurse practitioner last week to get abilify... I think I'm feeling a little better.. my mind is a little clearer and there's been no weight gain, so that's great...
>
> The thing is, on clomipramine I'm still lethargic groggy etc.. and have no motivation to get my day started.

Anafranil is unfortunately a tricyclic and has those side effects :/


> For the past few weeks, maybe four, I've been courting this romantic prospect I like in Calgary... but I've been using alcohol to calm my nerves, in conjunction with the clonazepam, (~ 6 mg/day t.i.d. that I'm taking)

Might as well take 12 mg a day because the alcohol is just increasing the effects and is harsher on the liver...

> I was warned by an american nurse and then by my pharmacist about respiratory failure, - that woke me up... I had two questions if I can.. ).... is it possible that by drinking lots of warm water, I might cleanse my liver and help the medications work better so that I didn't have to take so much clonazepam... and


Yes -- respiratory depression is a definite possibility with high benzodiazepine use and alcohol. Without the alcohol, the small danger is there with high dosing but not like barbiturates.


Nothing out there that advertises "liver cleansing" short of a transplant is anything more than near quackery (e.g. Liverite, which was fined). The liver will manage itself on its own if it has the power to do so (and one should get liver tests at a physical on polypharmacy [multiple meds]) and you can live on surprisingly small portions of it as it is regenerative.


> I'm seriously thinking of leasing a hot water machine if that's the case....
>
> and #2 could the clonazepam and alcohol (~ 2-3-shots a night) with pop... cause respiratory failure, or cardiac arrest.... and lastly could this potentially be offset my taking a respiratory stimulant such as caffeine


Respiratory depression is a hospital emergency and with benzodiazepines can only be reversed with a GABA antagonist called Flumazenil.

Caffeine has nowhere near the potency for such reversal as its cousin theophylline which is also used in the ER along with beta agonists to save what is a life threatening situation.


.. I drink coffee every night with the alcohol and clonazepam... could drinking coffee reverse the effects of respiratory supression caused by alcohol and benzo's


No.


And the combination of all of this seems counterproductive, because it seems to me that you are taking Anafranil for an anxiety or depressive condition, clonazepam for anxiety, and then adding alcohol, which just makes one more depressed in the end and one might as well have more benzodiazepines, and then throwing in a fourth drug, caffeine to block all of the above.

Now I don't know your history so I am only going by what you are saying, I'm not trying to offend...


I am not standing as a teetotaler, I have taken alcohol with benzodiazepines on occasion, but I'm just trying to say that one should be very cautious if it is on a daily amount of any fair size and one is at that level of medication. It can also increase the CNS depression of the tricyclic, but that's a side issue (just additive tiredness). As far as caffeine, well, a tad of instant coffee in the morning to wake up in the morning from Anafranil I can't see that it hurts but it may exacerbate a little any anxiety disorder you have, of course.

-- tidings

Jay

 

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poster:yxibow thread:713105
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061212/msgs/713128.html