Hi,
I am a college student and am currently taking .5 mg of klonopin twice daily. I still struggle with anxiety so my doctor just prescribed me busiprone (10mg twice daily). Should I be taking these at the same time?
Also, being a college student I tend to drink a lot on the weekends. I don't notice many side affects from drinking on klonopin besides the fact that I don't need to consume as much to get drunk, but I'm wondering if the new medication will change this. My doc recommends to just have a drink or two, but I want to go out and enjoy myself when I'm out drinking with friends.
Any advice would be appreciated
I take klonopin twice a day and my doc just prescribed me Busiprone?
Question posted by lmac4 on 26 Dec 2014
Last updated on 27 December 2014
Answers
DrDavidB
27 Dec 2014
You may not like this part of my answer, but drinking excessively while taking Klonopin is a bad idea. My son graduated from college about 6 years ago, and I would visit him on Campus from time to time. I wasn't surprised with the consumption of alcohol, it was the Drinking Games that gave me pause. You know the games I mean. Most of them require the winners, or losers, to consume a great deal of alcohol at one time. Once, when I was there visiting, we had to take a kid to the hospital for Alcohol Poisoning. And this kid wasn't taking any kinds of meds, he just drank too much, too soon. What a lot of your peers don't understand is that alcohol is poisonous to our bodies. I am the first to admit that drinking on the weekends is fun, and that most everybody does it.
But you are in a more dangerous position, because you are taking Klonopin, along with the booze. All you have to do is look at the info you get with every refill, and you will see that the drug manufacturers tell you not to drink while on this medication. They don't put it there to wreck your fun. It's there for a reason. You said yourself that it doesn't take as many drinks for you to get drunk. That should be a warning sign, in itself. As far as the busiprone goes, that also has negative affects when mixed with alcohol, but not quite as bad as Klonopin. Taking busiprone with Klonopin will have no complications, as they are completely different drugs. Now, keep in mind that I am not suggesting this, but if drinking on the weekends is more important to you than your anxiety, get off the Klonopin before drinking to excess. You will suffer less complications from the busiprone alone.
I can only offer my opinion, not dictate your life, but drinking and Klonopin really don't mix, and I'm sure you do not want to suffer the complications from mixing the two. And also remember I am not advocating heavy alcohol consumption while taking busiprone, frankly, I am not advocating heavy drinking in a short amount of time, whether you are on meds, or not. It's a lot more dangerous than fun.
lmac4
27 Dec 2014
Thanks for your input. I am very cautious about how much I drink and how long after taking the medication I start to consume. A big part of my anxiety is related to my health. I watch my friends binge drink all of the time. I like to be at a good level drunk where my anxiety goes away, but I am not doing things like drinking games or taking so many shots to the point of blacking out. I have cut down on my drinking, but I don't think I could just completely stop. I'm not sure how long klonopin lasts in your system, but I usually will have a drink or two around 6 hours after I take .5 mg.. I'm just surprised that so many people are very ani-drinking with this medication when people try to buy it to get more drunk and my doctor said it was okay to be drinking as well
DrDavidB
27 Dec 2014
Thank you for your comments on my answer. Drinking two hours after taking Klonopin is not enough time. If you know you are going to drink, perhaps you should take the Klonopin earlier, or maybe even skip that pill. The Klonopin will stay (full strength) in your body for 8 hours. It has a "Half Life" of about 4 hours. Half life means that after the 8 hours, when it strong in your system, it tends to remain in your body for about 4 hours, at a lesser strength. Let's say you are taking it 3 times a day. Once at about 10AM, then again at 4PM, and lastly at bedtime. If you know you are going to drink a lot starting at about 8PM, maybe you should either take the Klonopin earlier, say at about 2PM, or if you are not comfortable with that, skip the 4PM dose completely. You will still be taking your busiprone so you won't get anxious. And you should probably not take that when you are close to start drinking.
The bottom line is that you don't want to take the anxiety meds close to the time you will start drinking. You understand?
I also want to commend you for not playing those drinking games, or passing out, or not having blackouts. If you should start having blackouts, that's a signal from your body that you are drinking like an alcoholic. So, I am proud of you for that. You are a good guy, and I know that being in college means that you have to relax on the weekends, and party. It's just a part of college life. You have to blow off some steam, cuz college can be stressful, especially this time of year when you have finals and stuff. Once again, I don't think poorly about you. You are just doing what every college student does on the weekends. I believe in you. Just keep some distance between the meds and the booze, and you should be fine.
Keep up the good work.
David
lmac4
27 Dec 2014
Thank you so much for your input. I am actually a female and my friends are very heavy drinkers and blackout most nights. I have been taking my klonopin at 11 and 4:30 each day, but I think I might try taking both doses earlier just to be safe. I haven't started the new medication yet so I will probably wait to see how that affects me before I go back to drinking like I do now. One last question, I know when you wake up in the morning that people are sometimes 'still drunk' or just really hungover. Is it okay to take my medication in the morning when I potentially still have some alcohol in my system when I wake up? I do notice my anxiety sometimes worsens the day after drinking
DrDavidB
27 Dec 2014
Sorry - I made a mistake when I suggested that you drink 2 hours after you take your Klonopin. I misread your question. Like I said in my original answer, 6 to 8 hours after the Klonopin should be enough, or just skip that dose if you can.
lmac4
27 Dec 2014
I worry that if I skip a dose my anxiety will be even worse in the morning. How long after a night of drinking can you take another pill? On average, I take consume my last drink around 12 or 1am.
DrDavidB
27 Dec 2014
Sorry to call you a "guy", you see what happens when we assume? Again, I am sorry.
If I were you, I would absolutely take Klonopin the next morning. Part of your anxiety is coming from your hangover. The won't be enough booze in your system to interfere with the meds. That's the "good" thing about alcohol. We piss most of it out. Now what I am about to say is not medical advise, it's just something that I have learned from experience. I drank a ton when I was in college on the weekends, and I always made sure that I had something to stop the shakes, and lessen the effects of the hangover. Take the Klonopin. Especially if you are taking your last dose long before the night is over. Not only will it help your hangover, it will make you feel better in general, since your body will need it anyway.
Sorry to think of you as a guy. I should have known better to ask.
So, to alter my remarks, I think you are a good girl - responsible and intelligent. Keep it up...
David
lmac4
27 Dec 2014
Thank you so much for all of your help. I finally had to make a profile on here because most people just say that you shouldn't consume any alcohol right off the bat. I am very cautious with drinking on my meds, I know I have to be more careful than most people, but my goal is not to get hammered. I just want to be able to have a good night with my friends. No worried about calling me a guy! I only said something because I didn't know if the effects would be different for a female as I am shorter and weigh less than most guys my age. I am glad you commented back about taking my medication the morning after. I hate the feeling of my heart racing and getting all shaky the next day. I will make sure to start taking my medication right when I wake up to try and help that issue
kaismama
26 Dec 2014
Buspirone is not related to klonopin. You can take both. Hopefully in a few weeks you won't even need the klonopin anymore. Buspirone is a drug all on its own and is not related to anything else. You have to take it everyday for it to work, but after a few weeks it should be helping you. I'm not going to joke with you and say its fine to drink a lot with either of these drugs. Your dr is right. You have to decide what is more important, getting rid of the anxiety or drinking. I was in school too. I know its fun to drink, but I held a lot of hair back while my friends barfed and where miserable. I was always the designated driver. I got to take care of a girl who stopped breathing because she was on medication and drank when she wasn't supposed to on one fraternity weekend. You might even find out that its fun to remember what you did the next day, and not be hung over.
lmac4
26 Dec 2014
I'm definitely going to take it easy at first to see how my body handles it. I'm hoping that the Busiprone helps me out more and that I can eventually get off of the klonopin. She told me that it's safer to drink on Busiprone then klonopin. I never get drunk to the point where I don't remember my night, I just don't have fun being sober around drunk people which makes it difficult as a college student where people are drinking around me all of the time
Related topics
klonopin, anxiety, buspirone, doctor, prescription
Further information
Similar questions
Search for questions
Still looking for answers? Try searching for what you seek or ask your own question.
