LilLady asked
I am on 0.25 mg of Xanax as needed and only average 1 per week. If I had some wine 12 hrs ago can I take a Xanax today if needed?I Will never take them together as I don't like meds. I suffer from anxiety. I am 58 female and weigh 96lbs.
Answer
Twelve hours between the consumption of alcohol and the administration on Xanax (alprazolam) is a sufficient amount of time to avoid any sort of interaction.
As a general rule of thumb, the average person metabolizes one drink (5 ounces of wine) per hour. After twelve hours, your body most likely has completely metabolized all the alcohol you consumed. Therefore, there shouldn't be any reason to worry in your situation in regard to taking Xanax twelve hours later.
Drinking alcohol at the same time as taking alprazolam however, is not recommended as the combined use of alcohol and benzodiazepines (such as Xanax) can cause excessive sedation and high doses could potentially cause respiratory depression.
While alcohol is metabolized quickly, Xanax has a relatively long half life at 11 hours (time is takes the body to metabolize 50% of the drug), although this can vary by person. Based on the drug half life, Xanax can stay in our system for 2-3 days.
