Mixing Cocaine And Ambien: Risks And Side Effects

Cocaine and Ambien work in completely different ways in your body. Cocaine is an illegal stimulant that speeds up your heart rate and keeps you awake, while Ambien is a prescription sleep medication that slows down your brain activity to help you fall asleep. These drugs have opposite effects, which might make people think they balance each other out.

Many people who use cocaine have sleep problems because the drug can keep them awake for hours or even days. This leads some people to take Ambien to try to get rest after using cocaine. While these two drugs don’t create a dangerous chemical reaction when mixed, combining them can still cause serious health problems. The way they affect your breathing, heart, and brain can put you at risk for overdose and other life-threatening complications.

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Why Do People Mix Cocaine And Ambien?

There are many reasons why people mix cocaine and Ambien, but the majority of people do so in order to counteract the effects of either of the drugs.

Falling Asleep After Cocaine Use

As a stimulant, cocaine activates the central nervous system (CNS), causing effects like high blood pressure, increased heart rate, breathing problems, and insomnia. These effects can make it difficult to fall asleep after using cocaine. Many people then use Ambien after cocaine in order to help them with the comedown effects, namely insomnia.

Long-Term Sleep Disturbance

Cocaine use also creates physical changes in the brain that affect sleep. Chronic cocaine use leads to changes within the nucleus accumbens, which control pleasure and reward. Researchers have found that sleep, sleep disturbances, and the body’s circadian rhythms are all affected by neurological diseases like cocaine addiction. One study revealed that people who use cocaine take much longer to fall asleep and experience much less deep sleep. A person may use Ambien and cocaine together, or one right after the other, because they’re experiencing significant and regular sleep disturbance.

Effects Of Combining Cocaine And Ambien

Mixing cocaine and Ambien creates a dangerous situation where your body gets conflicting signals. Cocaine speeds up your heart and keeps you alert, while Ambien slows everything down for sleep. This puts serious stress on your heart as it tries to respond to both commands at once, and your brain struggles to process these opposing messages.

The combination creates several life-threatening risks. Your breathing can become irregular or stop completely, and the stress on your heart can cause dangerous blood pressure changes, heart attack, or stroke. Your liver and kidneys work overtime processing both substances, which can lead to organ damage. One of the most dangerous effects is that people can’t tell how impaired they really are. The cocaine might mask the sedation from Ambien, leading to risky behaviors and poor decisions that could be fatal.

Is It Safe To Mix Cocaine And Ambien?

In one case study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, a 30-year-old man was prescribed zolpidem (Ambien) for insomnia that came from cocaine abuse. After using cocaine and up to 300 milligrams (mg) a day of zolpidem, he became euphoric and hyperactive. This revealed that both zolpidem and cocaine can have a stimulatory effect on the brain, which can lead to addiction.

Risks Of Mixing Cocaine And Ambien

A person can quickly become addicted to both substances when they begin a pattern of regular cocaine-Ambien use. One of the biggest risks in combining these substances is addiction. If a person can’t sleep without Ambien after cocaine use, or can’t seem to stay awake after using Ambien, this can lead to a dependency on both of these substances simultaneously.

In addition to addiction and physical dependence, there are multiple other risk factors linked to mixing these drugs.

Increases The Risk Of Overdose

It is possible to overdose on both Ambien and cocaine. Taking too much of one or both of these substances can result in severe consequences, including death. The primary concern with mixing these substances is that a person might be under the false impression that they’re taken a safe amount.

Ambien may mask the effects of cocaine, creating a false sense of control and safety. It goes the same way with taking Ambien and cocaine shortly after to bring the body back “up.” This can quickly lead to an overdose, as a person may not feel the effects of one or both of the drugs in the same way they would when taken alone.

Respiratory Depression

Downers like Ambien slow down bodily functions. If a person ingests too much Ambien, they may experience severe respiratory depression. However, when cocaine is in the mix, a person may be unaware of the warning signs of respiratory depression because of the stimulant effects of cocaine. Cocaine does not mitigate these effects, it only masks them. Respiratory depression may set in, and it could be too late before a person sees the signs and seeks medical attention.

Risk Of Heart Attack

Similar to the way cocaine can hide respiratory depression, using Ambien may mask signs of cardiac arrest.

Ingesting a large amount of cocaine can cause:

• increased heart rate
• thicken the heart muscle wall
• stiffen arteries
• inconsistent oxygen supply to the heart
• abnormal heart rhythm

Any of these factors can lead to cardiac arrest. However, Ambien works in the opposite way. The sedative depresses the CNS, decreasing heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. A person may be under the illusion that their body is in order when in reality the stages of cardiac arrest have begun.

Treatment For Cocaine And Ambien Abuse

Breaking the cycle of cocaine and Ambien abuse is extremely challenging, especially when dealing with both a stimulant and a depressant at the same time. The withdrawal process can be complicated because your body has become used to these opposing effects, and stopping both drugs can cause intense cravings, sleep problems, depression, and other difficult symptoms. Professional treatment is usually necessary because trying to quit on your own can be dangerous and is often unsuccessful.

You or your loved one don’t have to go through the recovery process alone, as help is available through various treatment programs. Inpatient rehab centers can provide medical supervision during detox and comprehensive therapy to address the underlying causes of addiction. Outpatient programs, counseling, and support groups are also effective options depending on your specific situation. If you’re ready to look into addiction treatment, reach out to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) or browse our directory.

Written by the Addiction Resource Editorial Staff