Mixing Carisoprodol and Alcohol

Carisoprodol is a muscle relaxant that is usually used for relieving muscular pain after severe injury. It has an extremely high potential for addiction, and it is often available through illicit channels. The effects of mixing carisoprodol and alcohol are especially dangerous, as both substances are depressants. Even inadvertent consumption of carisoprodol and alcohol together can result in a coma or even death. If a patient somehow becomes addicted to carisoprodol and alcohol, and ingests both substances on a regular basis, tolerance does become a factor so that the immediate results may not be as deadly. However, addicts who abuse carisoprodol and alcohol, and who do not suffer immediate adverse effects that require treatment, are at very high risk for severe and permanent damage to the brain and other vital organs. Therefore, an addict who uses both substances, or his or her family or colleagues, should seek treatment for addiction to carisoprodol and alcohol as soon as even the initial signs of dependency on both substances manifest themselves.

Hotline to Call

If you or a loved one is mixing carisoprodol and alcohol on a regular basis, please call our 24-hour help line so that we can help you find the right treatment for addiction to carisoprodol and alcohol.

Effects of Mixing Carisoprodol and Alcohol

Both carisoprodol and alcohol produce a feeling of euphoria by blocking certain signals to the brain. Since carisoprodol is a potent pain reliever, alcoholics take it in order to prolong the effects of their alcohol use as well as to prevent or treat headache pain and other unpleasant feelings that may result from high doses of alcohol. Mixing carisoprodol and alcohol will lead to extreme dizziness and fatigue, as well as seizures. Seizures can, in turn, result in permanent brain damage.

Therefore, responsible physicians will not prescribe carisoprodol to alcoholic patients or even social drinkers, whenever patients indeed do inform their physicians of their use of alcohol. However, considering that one of the major symptoms of advanced alcohol and drug addiction is denial, addicts often are able to obtain repeat prescriptions for carisoprodol. Since they themselves do not believe they are addicted to carisoprodol and alcohol, they do not inform their physicians that they are alcoholics. If need be, they will switch doctors until they find a practitioner whom they can convince to write a prescription for carisoprodol. The need of a patient to deceive a physician in order to obtain carisoprodol while also having an alcohol addiction problem, or to engage in “doctor shopping” until he or she finds a practitioner who is willing to write a prescription for this muscle relaxant, clearly signify that this patient is addicted to carisoprodol and alcohol.

Depressants

• Soma
• Barbiturates
• Benzodiazepines
• Opioids
• Alcohol

Treatment Options

Treatment for addiction to carisoprodol and alcohol begins with detoxification, and this is usually carried out in a residential rehabilitation center or even a hospital. Dealing with the physical effects of withdrawal from more than one substance requires complex measures and monitoring, and such measures require constant medical supervision. After the detoxification process is completed, counseling and behavior modification treatment are necessary in order to help the patient who is addicted to carisoprodol and alcohol identify and overcome the root cause of his or her dual addiction.

If you or your loved one goes from doctor to doctor until finding a physician who will prescribe carisoprodol even when there is evidence of alcohol abuse, please call our 24-hour help line. We will help you find the right treatment program that helps patients deal with the addictive and harmful effects of mixing carisoprodol and alcohol, so that you or your loved one can break the grip of addiction and return to a healthy, sober life.