Lethal Combination? Bupropion, Alprazolam, Zolpidem, Codeine and APAP/Paracetamol

[BahstunFF1375]

I have recently been diagnosed with a few medical issues involving my ambulatory and circulatory system. I am on a series of medications that include anti-anxiety such as 300MG 2x daily Wellbutrin, .5 MG of CR Zanex 2x daily, Tylenol 3 2-4x a day, and Ambian 10mg a day. a colleague mentioned that this is actually a fatal combination. Does any one have any feedback on this>? I also am on several cardiac related meds that is way to long to list here. Any feedback is appreciated, I value my life.

[cra$h]

it's a lot of downers, which is dangerous, but if swiy's been taking them as discribed and had slept and woke up, it sounds like a borderline dose between therapeutic use and death. if it were swim, he'd look around for some other options.

[Goshawk]

Swim would definitely see your doctor and give him a list of every medication you take and voice your concerns. He may have missed something.
Also do not take opiates if you are on Ambien. Swim drank poppy tea in the morning and by night time Swim figured any effects had long worn off
and took one Ambien to sleep. Swim woke up and when swim stood up he was thrown across the room into the wall. Swim staggered into the kitchen
and passed out from a standing position. Swim woke up on the floor and made it back to the bedroom and tried to stay awake but kept passing out hitting
swim's head on the table. This was some pretty scary shit.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Sound advice for harm reduction and good example of the dangers of mixing chemicals.

[Jatelka]

It helps immensely if pharmaceutical names are used. This helps avoid confusion on this international forum

[Pope Albacore]

Originally Posted by BahstunFF1375

I have recently been diagnosed with a few medical issues involving my ambulatory and circulatory system. I am on a series of medications that include anti-anxiety such as 300MG 2x daily Wellbutrin, .5 MG of CR Zanex 2x daily, Tylenol 3 2-4x a day, and Ambian 10mg a day. a colleague mentioned that this is actually a fatal combination. Does any one have any feedback on this>? I also am on several cardiac related meds that is way to long to list here. Any feedback is appreciated, I value my life.

SWIY's best bet is to seek out a professional medical opinion. SWIY's doctor would be a start. SWIY needs to let the doctor know his/her entire list of medications. A doctor should be able to tell SWIY if he/she is treading on dangerous ground.

Until then, SWIM suggests that SWIY refrains from such a cocktail of medications(unless stopping certain ones could be detrimental to SWIY's health). Please be safe.

-Pope Albacore

[Dickon]

Drug cocktails make any evidence based approach to treatment all but impossible, and leave the prescriber more akin to a witch seeing if more eye of newt, or alprazolam in that cauldron might work better.

I can see nothing inherently lethal about that particular brew, but only because of the small doses involved. Mixing Alprazolam (Xanax), Codeine (present in Tylenol) and Zolpidem is not generally considered a good idea: benzodiazepines (alprazolam) and opiates (codeine) can be fatal in overdose, and adding a "Z-drug" (zolpidem, i.e. Ambien) into the mix isn't going to help. One thing I would strongly advise is to avoid alcohol.

There is a potential interaction between buproprion and diazepam listed on wiki concerning the CYP 2D6 enzyme that may influence the balance between buproprion and one of its metabolites, hydroxybuproprion. This may well carry over to the alprazolam (Xanax) as this is also a benzodiazepine. The information is sparse and difficult to decrypt so I can't be more helpful here.

A possible effect of burproprion is to reduce the metabolism of the prodrug codeine to the active drug morphine, so perhaps adding buproprion makes things safer! That said 600mg a day of buproprion significantly increases the chance of seizures (2%) over 450mg a day (0.4%) and 100-300mg a day (0.1%). Maybe adding the anti-seizure benzodiazepines reduces these odds.

There's a lot of interactions going on here, and I hope your prescribing doctor knows what he or she is doing. That said, you're alive and writing the above post! Sorry to tease, but I can't stop laughing about the "ambulatory system" thinking it must be a pompous synonym for your legs! We live in a world of too many "systems" and "solutions" these days.

Speak to your doctor if concerned or you are feeling unwell

Dickon

Reputation Comments on this post:

Great advice with good info. Also, it is nice to see someone suggest that the OP refrains from alcohol consumption.

[Mr.A]

it's a lot of downers, which is dangerous, but if swiy's been taking them as discribed and had slept and woke up, it sounds like a borderline dose between therapeutic use and death. if it were swim, he'd look around for some other options.


Please explain that statement. About sleeping on it and waking up? Im on MMT and i wake up constantly, so are you saying that im close to death?

Mr.A added 2 Minutes and 9 Seconds later...

Oh and what dickon said about mixing opiates and benzos is correct. You need to be EXTREMELY careful when doing this as i have had two friends die from it. They of course werent taking as prescribed and were using something alot stronger than codiene, but still, be careful.

[Spucky]

Look for "Interactions" there are some very good medical-Websides
who provide Information for free!

Edit: it is very important that all your Doc`s know well all the Medicaments you are getting,
maybe even a Counselor is a very good advice!

(swim see swiny live in Manhatten so there must be a lot of Money!)

[soma]

Yes, these are a lot of downers, however, under a doctor's supervision, SWIM cannot see this being lethal under any circumstances - these are very small doses, sub-recreational for most. He would highly suggest avoiding booze *ANY AMOUNT*, and to take SWIY's medication EXACTLY like his doctor prescribed.

[ConcertaXL]

As dickon said ZERO alcohol is the only safe amount with this cocktail of drugs. SWIM drinks moderately with SSRI's but would never use alcohol with a benzo or hypnotic. But if your MD rx'd them all to you I cannot see him providing you with a fatal combo... Maybe your friend thought you were taking higher doses. All the quantities prescribed to you are low. 1mg alprazolam, 90mg codeine (=10mg morphine) and some Ambien are not going to kill anyone unless they are allergic.