1. Do benzodiazepines affect other medication?
Always discuss with your doctor which medication you take before you start or stop a new medicine. Also mention any supplements or homeopathic remedies. It can happen that medication you already take does not combine well with a new medicine.
Benzodiazepines can make you sleepy. Other medication can make this worse, such as:
- some painkillers
- antidepressants
- antipsychotics
- valerian
- antihistamines (allergy tablets)
2. Does alcohol affect benzodiazepines?
Alcohol and benzodiazepines (sleeping pills and tranquillisers) are not a good combination. They strengthen each other’s numbing effect, sometimes with unpredictable consequences. Besides enormous sleepiness, the combination can also promote aggression and hostility.
Drinking alcohol when you take benzos is therefore strongly advised against.
3. Can you drive when you take benzodiazepines?
The use of sleeping pills and tranquillisers reduces your ability to react and to judge, and can make you sleepy. Whether you may drive depends on the dose and on the time that has passed since you last took the medicine.
The rules differ from country to country. Check them with the driving licence authority in your country, and ask your doctor or pharmacist.
4. Can you use benzodiazepines when you are pregnant?
Always discuss medicine use with a doctor or midwife if you are pregnant or want to become pregnant. During pregnancy benzodiazepines are only used on strict indication, in a low dose and for as short a time as possible. That is the advice of the Dutch national formulary.
With high doses, long-term use or in combination with other medicines, the unborn child can get used to the medication. After birth the baby can then get withdrawal symptoms.
Prof. dr. Jim van Os, Chair Division Neuroscience, Utrecht University Medical Centre. Jim works at the interface of ‘hard’ brain science, health services research, art and subjective experiences of people with ‘lived experience’ in mental healthcare.
Jim has been appearing on the Thomson-Reuter Web of Science list of ‘most influential scientific minds of our time’ since 2014. In 2014 he published his book ‘Beyond DSM-5‘, and in 2016 the book ‘Good Mental Health Care’. In 2026 he published 'Wat psychisch lijden is'.
Want to read more?
Blogs by Jim van Os can be read here
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