Sleeping Pills and Alcohol

Many individuals think mixing sleeping pills and alcohol will increase both effects and encourage greater sleep because both substances have sedative effects. Contrary to popular belief, combining the two drugs might have harmful and unexpected effects.

While overdosing on sleeping pills alone is unusual, it is not impossible. Changing the dosage of any prescription drug is dangerous, and mixing alcohol and sleeping tablets would be considered abuse.

People have used sleeping drugs to injure themselves, frequently combining them with alcohol to hasten the process. Researchers have made sleeping pills safer as drug development has advanced to reduce the possibility of suffering a deadly overdose.

Insomnia and PTSD may increase the risk of using alcohol as a sleep aid, increasing the risk of unhealthy drinking and mixing alcohol with sleep medications. [1]

Mixing Sleeping Pills and Alcohol

Can you drink alcohol and take a sleeping pill? No. While alcohol may initially produce sedating effects, potentially reducing the time it takes to fall asleep, it may also interfere with an individual’s ability to maintain sleep throughout the night and lead to increased middle-of-the-night awakenings. However, the initial sedating effects of alcohol diminish after a few days, as tolerance is rapidly established, while the disrupting effects of alcohol use on sleep persist.

Skip To:

• Can Alcohol and Sleeping Pills Kill You?
• Mixing Sleeping Pills and Alcohol
• How Do Sleeping Pills React with Alcohol?
• Alcohol and Sleeping Pills Side Effects
• Sleeping Pills and Alcohol Overdose
• Alcohol Addiction Signs
• Alcohol & Drug Abuse Treatment

Learn More:

• Alcoholism Treatment
• Alcohol Detox Program
• Alcohol Withdrawal Timeline
• Inpatient Alcohol Rehab
• Mixing Prescription Drugs with Alcohol

How Do Sleeping Pills React with Alcohol?

Mixing alcohol and sleeping pills can have additive sedating effects from both drugs, and the combination can cause someone to stop breathing, which could cause death. Sleeping pill labels warn against using alcohol while taking the drug. Mixing sleeping pills and alcohol is never safe, as both are powerful drugs potentially lethal if abused.

The immediate risk of mixing alcohol and sleeping pills arises because both substances depress the body’s central nervous system (CNS). Since the CNS controls activities such as breathing and sleeping, a large overdose can have lethal consequences, such as people dying in sleep because they stop breathing.

A secondary consequence arises from the addictive nature of both alcohol and sleeping pills such as benzodiazepines. The likelihood of substance abuse and dependence increases when taken together over a period. Other risks for people mixing these drugs can arise through their subsequent behavior while half asleep or in an alcohol blackout due to the effect such drugs have on memory, coordination, and inhibitions.

The mix of alcohol and sleep pills can put people into an intoxicated state in which their consciousness is asleep while their body is awake. This is called a blackout. They will not remember their actions when they finally wake up. Blackouts commonly happen to people struggling with alcoholism, and the behavior is exacerbated by mixing sleep pills with alcohol.

Furthermore, dangers may arise from involuntary actions, such as inhaling vomit while asleep. Allergic reactions are possible to any medication, and combining them with alcohol may make an allergy more severe or perhaps more challenging to detect. Severe allergic reactions such as Anaphylaxis may be more challenging to treat where alcohol is also present in the body.

Alcohol and Sleeping Pills Death

Sleeping pills and alcohol death is not rare. Combining alcohol with sleeping drugs increases the chance that you’ll hurt yourself or someone else. Because they are both sedatives, many individuals wrongly think these medications cancel each other out. This is untrue, though, and there’s a far greater risk you’ll have negative side effects. While combining the two may not instantly result in death, doing so might nevertheless negatively affect one’s judgment and coordination, which can cause harm and even death.

Alcohol and Sleeping Pills Suicide

As sleeping pills work by depressing the central nervous system, the overuse of the drugs can slow body functions to such a degree as to cause unconsciousness, respiratory failure, and death. An overdose may be a deliberate suicide attempt. However, not all suicide attempts succeed, as vomiting is common when the drug is taken in excess. If this happens, the person may survive but have brain damage due to the lack of oxygen.

If you are thinking of suicide by alcohol and sleeping pills, benzo sleeping pills and alcohol suicide, or taking a lethal dose of sleeping pills and alcohol, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

Sleeping Pills and Alcohol Hallucinations

Sleeping pills and alcohol can have other dangerous side effects, especially parasomnia. You have no awareness or control of this behavior and actions, such as sleepwalking and eating; even driving while half-asleep is a form of parasomnia. Such events are rare but potentially dangerous to the subject and anyone who might contact them in this state.

If you just can’t sleep, your doctor may prescribe you zolpidem tartrate (Ambien), a sedative primarily used to treat insomnia. While this drug may help you sleep, some who have taken it report potentially serious side effects, such as hallucinations, dizziness, and increased anxiety. Alcohol and sleeping pills effects, such as Ambien, can cause mild to dangerous side effects, including confusion, dizziness, sleep apnea, or overdose.

Decreased Sleep Quality

The effects of sleeping pills and alcohol are far worse than you can imagine. Your liver is in charge of metabolizing alcohol, and as the liver enzymes try to do so during the night, your blood alcohol level drops, increasing the likelihood that your sleep may be disturbed. While taking sleeping drugs and alcohol together might make you feel more fatigued and appear like you’ll fall asleep faster, the quality of your sleep will be poor. Many individuals are unaware of the mental chemistry changes that follow alcohol consumption, especially when combined with sleeping drugs. When you wake up feeling unrested, these alterations may have disrupted the brain waves connected to sleep.

Diphenhydramine and Alcohol 

Diphenhydramine is an antihistamine occasionally used for sleep (Benadryl, Aleve PM, Tylenol PM, Sominex). Diphenhydramine and alcohol interactions can lead to more attention impairment than is predicted, which can be harmful. People process information and follow directions more slowly when using alcohol and otc sleeping pills, such as diphenhydramine combined. When the two drugs are combined, these effects increase, enhancing the impact of each substance. People who combine these two drugs may be at an elevated risk for developing a substance use problem.

Doxylamine (Unisom) and Alcohol

Doxylamine is an antihistamine used for sleep, similar to diphenhydramine. Due to the possibility of additive side effects, including decreased judgment, reasoning, and motor abilities, alcohol should be avoided when taking doxylamine. According to a warning to consumers, it is strongly suggested not to take this drug with alcohol due to its serious consequences.

Melatonin and Alcohol

In addition to being available over the counter as a sleep aid, melatonin is a natural hormone that plays a role in the sleep-wake cycle. There are no known pharmacological interactions between alcohol and melatonin. According to research, melatonin did not help people who had trouble sleeping after they used alcohol. Because of this, it is uncertain if melatonin, combined with alcohol, has any positive effects on sleep. [2]

Valerian and Alcohol

 Valerian is an herbal supplement often taken as a sleep aid or to treat anxiety symptoms. Avoid drinking if you take valerian, as mixing them can increase side effects like dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and difficulty concentrating. In rare cases, mixing valerian with alcohol may increase the risk of alcoholic liver damage.

Some of the more commonly prescribed barbiturates include:

• Luminal (phenobarbital)
• Nembutal (pentobarbital)

In recent years, benzodiazepines have supplanted barbiturates as the sedative drug of choice. Among the most commonly prescribed and misused with alcohol are:

• Ativan (lorazepam)
• Halcion (triazolam)
• Klonopin (clonazepam)
• Librium (chlordiazepoxide)
• Tranxene (clorazepate)
• Valium (diazepam)
• Xanax (alprazolam)

Alcohol & Drug Abuse Treatment

The use of more than one drug, also known as polysubstance, is common. This includes when two or more are taken together or within a short period, intentionally or unintentionally. Intentional polysubstance use occurs when a person takes a drug to increase or decrease the effects of a different drug or wants to experience the effects of the combination.

Unintentional polysubstance use occurs when a person takes drugs that have been mixed or cut with other substances, like fentanyl, without their knowledge. Whether intentional or not, mixing drugs or substances, such as sleeping pills and alcohol, is never safe because the effects from combining drugs may be stronger and more unpredictable than one substance alone, and even deadly.

Those suffering from alcohol and sleeping pills addiction for long periods at high rates of use usually experience more severe withdrawal symptoms, making the medical detox process more difficult for them. The symptoms may seem to get worse through the treatment process. They need constant care and attention to help manage the symptoms. Delirium Tremens (one of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms) may lead to death if they are not managed well and in time. Alcohol addiction treatment is within your reach to ensure your recovery starts on a comfortable and safe step.

If you, your friend, or your family need help with alcoholism, contact us today at We Level Up today.