Antidepressents and alcohol

[maltipoobear]

Has anyone noticed an intensification of alcohol effects, especially in the areas of fine motor skills, speech etc. while on SSRI's? I find this to be true in myself but maybe it's just part of getting older. Please don't just respond if you agree with me. I am just curious!

[tommyk]

Yes, when I drank while using anti-depressants I found myself getting very tongue-tied and I would grossly slur my speech.

Drinking without using anti-depressants never created that effect.

[frstnm]

alcohol = a depressant
antidepressants + alcohol = not a good combination
jmho

[Tazman53]

Read the warning label and your question will be answered.

First of all why would one waste thier time and money taking an anti-depressant while they were drinking a depressant?

Second of all, mixing the 2 can and does sometimes result in death, an excellent reason to not mix the 2.

[tommyk]

Originally Posted by Tazman53

Read the warning label and your question will be answered.

First of all why would one waste thier time and money taking an anti-depressant while they were drinking a depressant?

Second of all, mixing the 2 can and does sometimes result in death, an excellent reason to not mix the 2.

You are correct.

I did it because I enjoyed the totally loopy goofy tongue-tied brain numbing sensation of being completely f*cked up it gave me. And I do believe that during that period in my life I was probably trying to find a non-painful way to die.

Sad, huh? I learned a lot from the experience.

[justanothrdrunk]

I drank while on antidepressants for a while (wellbutrin, lexapro, and effexor).

I didn't notice any intensified effects of boozing. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, I just didn't notice if it did or not.

The one thing I did notice is that the antidepressants didn't work worth a darn when I was drinking. Funny how when you mix a depressant with an antidepressant they cancel each other out.

[Toomutch]

I drank while on antidepressants and narcotics.
Thank you lord for letting me wake up each morning stll alive.

[Mala09]

When I drank on top of Prozac, Zoloft as well as various tricyclic depressants I not only slurred my words but had bouts of amnesia and muddled words up. I was too afraid to tell the doctor -- when he prescribed them for me at various points I didn't say I was an alcoholic and that I couldn't help drinking on top of everything I was given. I probably also hoped that I would stop if the depression lifted -- but as the depression was alcohol-induced, that didn't happen.

Not everyone believes alcoholism is an illness of denial, but while drinking I couldn't tell anyone the truth about most things, and I was lying to myself as much as to others. I would assure myself that I would be able to stop if the situation was serious enough because I wasn't alcoholic and had control over my drinking. I had no control and the illusion of control was just another lie.

I would say to doctors that I was worried about the side effects of medication and not realise that two or three litres of wine each day, or a a bottle and a half of vodka was quite enough to impair my health.

I am so grateful I made it through all that and was able to sober up in AA.

Thanks

Mala

[beach101]

I'm not sure that this will answer your question, but I really couldn't tell you if mixing caused the slurred speech or dimished motor skills, because mixing the (alcohol and p-zac) exacerbated black outs and the really "big" drinking nights would put me in a depression I never experienced before. So - I'm sure during my blackouts, lots was dimished.

I did however (before p-zac) enjoy mixing alcohol with xanax and some pain killers (healthy, huh??), because it would give me a warm tingly feeling (or at least I thought), and would help with hangovers.

Different uses for meds sober while sober! I actually take what I need to take as prescribed and the xanax actually does it's job and reduces anxiety and I go through one prescription in several months rather than several days or weeks.

[Zencat]

Antidepressants and heavy drinking made me hyper. Not good!

[tiburon88]

I had a very knowledgeable addiction psychiatrist get angry with me when I told him I stopped taking my meds because I started drinking. He basically told me I should continue the meds anyways because some of the medication will still get into you. From my experience though mixing Serequal (mood stabalizer) with drinking is downright dangerous.

tib

[roche]

without a doubt

to digress ever so slightly,id even go so far as to say an ssri caused, or more aptly triggered my alcoholism.

always had addictive make up prior to goin on fluoxetine,but never had an issue with drink-in fact i genuinely hated booze-dirty hit i used to say.

i can pinpoint exactly when my drinking got out hand-within a month of startin prozac.-this time line has even been objectively backed up by others.

I remember havin my usual 3 or 4 beer session with a mate one evening,but i distinctly remember feeling v different.- so in my naivity i actually thought to myself "so this is how alcohol feels to someone who isnt depressed"!

within a few months from that point i was a bottle of vodka a day man

ive actually read a few studies explorin the possibility of ssri s precipitatin alcohol dependancy-citin many examples of people with yrs of sobriety fallin off the wagon,other practically t totallers becomin problem drinkers followin treatment with an ssri.

obviously theres a million variables involved, but most researchers seem to have homed in on physiological effects of ssris-some of which result in massive fluctuations in blood glucose levels,mainly due a/ds effect on the pancreas.

wish this was a bit more widely studied,especially as ad s are often given as treatment for alchohol dependancy!