Thelma

So I get home from work tonight and my drunk AH informs me that hes gone off his anxiety/depression meds and hasn't taken them in almost 2 weeks. He's been drinking like a fish. His reason is that they me him throw up every morning so he's done taking them.
The reason he throws up is because he barely eats, drinks all the time when hes not at work and the meds are interacting with the alcohol still in his body the next morning.
I'm in shock, I'm scared of the reprocussions of this and I have no idea what to do.

Cyranoak

The reason nobody is responding is that this is a medical issue and we don't give medical advice. I'll say only this-- the meds are pointless if he's still drinking. Literally, there is no point in him taking them if he's getting drunk every night.

If you want help for yourself you will find it here by reading the stickies above, reading and posting in the threads, and at Alanon meetings.

Take care,

Cyranoak

Pelican

Thelma,

I will share my personal experience with treatment for depression and anxiety. I have taken meds for both conditions.

Stopping the meds abruptly causes problems, but in my case it was mostly physical inconveniences - not life threatning issues like stopping alcohol suddenly. I am telling you my experience to ease your mind, but can not guarantee that your husband got the same result. I know that when I stopped a med suddenly, I was not drinking at the time.

I also have experience with mixing alcohol with anti-depressants (many years ago). Alcohol is a depressant. Taking an anti-depressant while actively drinking was pointless. The very symptoms of depression I was trying to treat were amplified by the consumption of alcohol - and the effect of alcohol consumption was intensified (drunk faster) because of the anti-depressant.

Your post states that you are scared of the repercussions of this current situation. Can you identify your fear?

Are you afraid of his anxiety becoming worse?
Are you afraid of his depression becoming worse?
Are you afraid of his alcoholism becoming worse?

In my experience, all of the above will happen with continued alcohol abuse.

Are you afraid of having to witness the fallout of his choices?

Remember the three C's of addiction:
You did not Cause this
You can not Control this
You will not Cure this


What can you do today to help yourself?

Thelma

Thank you both, and I truly wasn't looking for medical advice although what I am worried about was the side effects of stopping the meds. And your right, Pelican & Cyranoak the meds were doing him no good anyway with the drinking.
I just remember how he was for the 5 years it took me to finally get him ON the meds and the relief I felt when he finally did. I guess in the back of my head I was hoping he would figure out he needed the meds more than the alcohol. Yeah, I know it's stupid, but it's the truth.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Pelican. I think I was in a panic last night. Things look a little clearer today.

Florence

Agreed.

It's easy to get paralyzed. You don't have to decide what to do all at once, but it's worth thinking about whether you want him and this kind of behavior in your life indefinitely, and what your life would look like if you didn't have to deal with his chaos. He will promise a million things, but he's not going to change anything he doesn't want to. You still have the capacity for a full, vibrant, happy life regardless of who he is or what he does.