mimir

Anyone here drink or drank while using anti-depressants? Has it affected or worsened your drinking problem? My brother who is an alcoholic has noticed his drinking and cravings worsen over the past 3 years since he began taking Seroxat (Paxil). I read that Paxil can worsen a drinking problem. Problem is, its not an easy AD to stop, one needs to withdraw from it very gradually over a period of several months and even then unpleasant after-effects may linger for a long time. Its a two-prong battle many alcoholics face and I'm wondering if anyone has found it made their drinking more difficult to quit.

Tazman53

mimir I am not a doctor, has your brother been honest with his doctor about his drinking?

Tell him to see a doctor, ADs are pretty useless if one is ingesting a liquid depressant while taking them. It is kind of like taking sleeping pills followed by a line of coke!

mimir

Depressant and anti-depressant refer to different things in this instance. Alcohol as a depressant referes to the bio/chemical effects on the central nervous system where it slows it down. Anti-depressant refers to the mood alleviation role that these drugs do.

Yes my brothers doctor knows he's on Seroxat (Paxil), but if he were to stop it he would have major side effects to deal with. Theres a forum called Paxil-Progess (cant link to due to my low post count) with thousands of members many of whom are going through hell trying to withdraw from it. Paxil is an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, supposedly one of the less problematic types of AD) and I believe many alcoholics may be on it, hence my wondering if any here are using it or something similar (ie Prozac).

jjaaam

Just my two cents...

I have been on Paxil, Lexapro, Lamictal, Lithium, Wellbutrin, Abilify, Trileptal, Tegretol, and I'm sure a host of others that I can't remember. I always thought that they just didn't work. I was still moody (VERY moody) and depressed all the time.

Of course, I was drinking most of the time as well. Not all the time, but for a good part of it. I never stopped long enough to give the drugs a fair shot.

Also, the side effects were terrible. No matter what I took I was ALWAYS tired all of the time. No energy at all. I have a one hour commute to work and I was constantly falling asleep at the wheel in the morning. Scary as hell.

Some of them also made certain body parts not work at the appropriate times (if you know what I mean)!!

I have not been drinking in the past month, and I have been trying a more holistic approach; using supplements like a St. John's Wort blend instead. No side effects, and I DO feel better. Maybe it's just my state of mind, maybe not. I thought my shrink would laugh me out of the office when I told him I was going to try it, but he said that "if it works, why not?".

My way may not be for everyone, but for now...things are good. I pray that they stay that way.

CarolD

As SR members we may not give medical advice or
advice on medications.

Please do remember that rule if you reply.

Thanks Everyone...

least

I've been on Zoloft for years but in the last 15 months of drinking I was more depressed than ever. The times since the first of this year that I've managed to stay sober I've noticed that I was much less depressed than ever, maybe due to the zoloft being able to work now that I wasn't depressing myself with alcohol.

Maybe just a bad idea for me to take an anti depressant while taking a depressant. Just my opinion...

tommyk

I was taking an anti-depressant while drinking. I noticed that I got sloppy-stupid tongue-tied drunk on less alcohol.

Insanely, I liked the anti-depressants because of how they amplified my drunkeness.

RufusACanal

I use Paxil daily and I have not had a drink in over five years. Paxil helps me and at a low dosage; 12.5 mg. If I want to drink I will, period. Paxil does not contribute to any unstablity in my life and seems to provide the necessary help that I require from it.

Serenity2008

Hi, I am sorry to hear that your brother is suffering so badly.

I took fluoxetine (prozac) for about 4/5 years, and was still heavily drinking all through that time, I cant personally say it made my drinking worse, but I certainly felt worse for it, of course one was totally counteracting the other, I dread to think what I was doing to my body at that time.

I hope things begin to work out for your brother soon.

justanothrdrunk

My experience (not advice):

I was (and still am) taking Effexor XR for depression and general anxiety. I was drinking heavily while on Effexor about a year ago.

Bottom line is the Effexor did zilch for me while I was drinking. And my shrink told me this would happen. Mix an anti-depressant with a depressant and, funny, the net is zero.

In thinking back, I don't recall whether the compulsion to drink was greater or not. If it was, I'm sure I just chalked it up to the progression of the disease and not the meds. Now whether this is sound reasoning or not I have no idea. I'm not known for quality reasoning when I'm drinking.

Once I stopped drinking, the Effexor has been working great for me. Combined with the program of AA, I'm feeling better than ever. Even my mother commented that she has noticed a big change in me (for the better).

nandm

Has your brother tried a program of recovery? I ask this simply because I have been on AD's both while drinking and in sobriety. The AD's did not help much during my drinking years, although I must say they probably helped enough to keep me from commiting suicide. But in sobriety for the most part they have worked well although it took trying several of them to find the right one. I even tried the "natural" herbal route (the interesting thing about these are although people do not consider them drugs they act like a drug in your system and do have side effects and can interact with other medications just like regular medications). In sobriety I have combined a program of recovery, therapy, medications, as well as exercise to help with my mental health issues. This combination works well for me. My obsession to drink was lifted before I was 6 months sober and has not returned since then (I am a little over 7 years now). In sobriety I have been on Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, and Cymbalta. I finally found that Cymbalta has worked for me so far. While drinking I was on Paxil, Welbutrin, and Prozac. I do not feel any of these contributed to my obsession to drink, I had that long before I was on any of those meds. So I guess my 2 cents worth is unless you brother is trying to stop drinking using more than just AD's his chances of success are pretty slim in my opinion.

tennis71

I was taking Paxil for about 4 years and my drinking got progressively worse over that period. My alcoholic mind would blame the paxil for making my drinking worse and my conclusion was that I need to stop taking the anti depressant because it was making my drinking worse. Now that I am sober I realize how messed up my original conclusion was.

I drank because I am an alcoholic, alcoholics drink no matter what. I neglected to look at the situation from the rational stand point that maybe the anti depressants aren't the problem, maybe it's the alcohol.

First off, alcohol is a depressant, so it counters the effects of anti depressant medication. I have had Dr's, Treatment Counselors and a Psychologist all tell me that, although my alcoholic mind disagreed for the longest time. Second, the warning label on anti depressants clearly states not to consume alcohol while using them. I disregarded that in true alcoholic form. Lastly, the anti depressants serve a legitimate medical purpose if you are following a Dr's advice and if you are honest with the Dr. about your alcohol consumption, alcohol does not.

I am not a Dr. yet I was putting myself above the entire medical community for fear of not being able to drink anymore. Before I sobered up, I was looking for every excuse in the book as to why anti depressants were responsible for my alcohol consumption. I was not ready to admit that the alcohol consumption was the actual problem.

That being said, your brother should talk to his Dr., get their opinion of the subject and follow their advice.

Good luck and thanks for posting!

splendra

boy as bad as street drugs are it seems that RX drugs are totally worse...

tommyk

I'm not sure about the 'worse' part, but RX drugs not used as prescribed can be just as dangerous as street drugs in my opinion.

Conversely... RX drugs used as prescribed have saved my life.

TTOSBT

I am with a lot of folks here. I have been on Celexa for quite a while and did not think it helped much.
Then I got sober and now they do seem to be working!

MyPaperAnchor

I drank on Zoloft from about 2001-2003. It was during this time where blacking out went from being something that happened infrequently to the norm. I'm not sure if this was due to the Zoloft or if it simply coincided with the natural course of my downward spiral.

My .02

colagirl

Just my experience... I was on Celexa last year for about 9 months. I never felt like it did much, but I thought it was because the situation that made me depressed in the first place went away and I didn't need it anymore. Of course, I drank regularly (a half to whole bottle of wine most nights) while I was on it. I always wondered why I didn't feel at least something while on it.

After another month-long episode of depression that I can't really explain, I started Prozac yesterday. I'm still drinking, but I'm aiming to make tomorrow my last night out after a planned excursion with friends. I desperately need the drugs to help me restore my sanity and happiness, and I know that can't happen if I'm combining them with alcohol.

Just my opinion of course... good luck.

Zencat

I drank on Effexor. Wile my symptoms of depression returned, the nervous buzz I got from the Effexor helped my stay up longer and I drank more.

beach101

My own personal experience with prozac and alcohol is not very positive. I didn't heed the warnings of anti-depressants. I take prozac for anxiety and after "big" drinking weekends - it would put me in a state of depression, which I had never experienced before prior to mixing. I have decided that my mental health is more important than my alcohol profession. While I'm excited to come off prozac at the end of the summer, I am frightened that will be an excuse to drink.

Prozac exaserbated my problem, I believe and basically meaning that the problem would have come to surface sooneer or later. Whereas I would drink a bottle of wine or two (very healthy, I know), I could drink 2 glasses now and have the same effect. So when I went out and did shots, beer and mixed drinks, the blackouts began and they began often. Since I've decided to quit drinking for the many reasons, the last 2 months (62 days today - I had to go back and Count!!) of sobriety have taught me that 1 - I don't need alcohol to have a good time; 2 - that my drinking was not normal and it was not healthy; and 3 - I'm grateful for not hurting anyone or myself during this time. It has taught me a lot about myself and others.

Mixing was not healthy to me, the anti-depressants didn't provoke cravings, but I didn't know when to stop and didn't want to stop once I had started. I would encourage your brother to be honest about consumption to a medical professional as well as note any changes.

Iloow

I was taking Citalopram for a period of two months whilst I was drinking. They had given this to me to control both my mood and anxiety. It magnified my anxiety to a point where I was curled up in a ball on the sofa due to it. They gave me diazepam (valium) and this only took the edge off it. I was put on chloripramine before I came clean about my drinking and this just knocked me out cold at night.

In my experience they do not mix, but the drs cannot do a thing unless people are straight with them. Just my two penneth.