Boyfriend drank alcohol and took anti-anxiety meds on the plane

[psytroprt12]

Am I right to be a bit concerned about this? My boyfriend and I travelled to the US. from Europe on a 9 hour flight. He's struggled with anxiety, ADHD so his psychiatrist prescribed him some extra diazepam to travel. He had two glasses of wine and took 5mg of valium. We arrived in the afternoon, met my parents and then they took us to a hotel as they didn't have enough space and we slept it off until the morning when we had breakfast.

It was only until the next morning that he said he had little recollection of what happened. I was a bit upset and concerned for him. As a nurse, I know that benzos and alcohol can cause blackout where a person appears functioning but is "not there". On the other hand, he says that he's been prescribed benzos and sleeping tablets and the doctor even said it was fine to take them with alcohol in low doses.

Its not great but 5ml of valium and 2 glasses of wine is not likely to be dangerous. Taking 20ml or more and drinking would be concerning if he doesn't use it regularly. He will have slept like a baby though! I can't imagine a doctor would day it's ok as they tend to be quite cautious to cover all bases.

On the other hand, he says that he's been prescribed benzos and sleeping tablets and the doctor even said it was fine to take them with alcohol in low doses.

Seriously doubt a doctor said that. They are usually quite keen to protect their posteriors.

Having said that, your boyfriend was OK so i'm not sure what the problem was?

I mean it’s not really a great idea but it wasn’t a huge amount of either alcohol or diazepam.

what is making you so upset, does he give you other cause for concern? Does he say he is going to continue mixing those things or just the odd time in a flight?

A one-off because he's afraid of flying wouldn't worry me. A regular occurrence would.

I don’t think 2 wines over 9hours is something to worry about though as an anxious person I couldn’t imagine anything worse than getting on a flight and mixing alcohol with a medication you shouldn’t take alcohol with, that in itself would give me a panic attack as I would think of the worst case scenario of mixing 2 things that have no business being mixed with (though my anxiety can get in the way of rational thinking in the moment) x

I wouldn't worry too much although I would have stuck to one glass myself (my psychiatrist said one glass of wine + 5mg Valium would be fine).

He’s slept it off, he’s ok now, and if it’s just to help with the anxiety around flying I wouldn’t worry.

I wouldn’t worry about this.

Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

Extra diazepam? Does that mean he already takes it for anxiety and took more for the flight.

Benzos are so so addictive. I have ADHD and a fear of flying but benzos are the only time I've taken something and thought, "ooooo I could get addicted to these". Not a good thing.

5mg and a couple of glasses of wine would be fine for me as a very once off. But mixing long term is a very bad idea.

Well he’s obviously ok now so what’s the issue?

I know a couple of people who do this before a flight (they are very nervous) though they drink more wine and take at least 10mg, to no ill effects.

Wait, are we not meant to do that?

Baffled as to what the issue is tbh