Masking Depression with Alcohol
 

Hi Everyone I am about 130 days sober, I went to the doc and told him about the constant brain fog and not wanting to get out of bed in the morning and generally being in a cranky mood most of the time, slightly dizzy, denationalisation, repetitive thinking about past events etc etc and just feeling crap generally. I asked him to renew my campral prescription and he asked was I craving alcohol and I said no, he said that the drinking was possibly masking the depression and anxiety I was having. He said I was suffering from depression, I was kinda taken aback and asked him was the medications addictive and he said no. Anyway taking my doctors advice I begun the prescription, 1 tablet 50 mg a day in the morning, first week was great and felt the fog had lifted and had more energy. then the side effects came a week later, severe low energy and just wanted to sleep during the day and coming to life at night and cannot sleep, I have other side effects still at 25 days like passing gas, low appetite, mild headaches on and off fatigue. I try and get a walk everyday and eat good but sometimes hard exercising when you have no energy. I am supposed to go back to work in 2 weeks time and just hope the tablets click in before then otherwise . Just wondering if anyone had experience of ssris at 25 days or am I still suffering PAWS, Its really dragging on and don't know whether to quit the ssris or give another while. I will go back to doc after next week if no change and see what he says, he might up the dose or change or stop, also I am very worried about quitting the ssris say 6 months down the line and still having the depression /anxiety after that time, will I be on they pills for life. Any experiences similar greatly appreciated as I am new to these types of drugs. Imagine, I was masking the depression with alcohol and became addicted to it, what a load of crap and sorry I was not diagnosed before I became addicted to Alcohol, what a bag of ****. Thanks. Sorry for long post.

I've been on sertraline (Zoloft) for almost 20 yrs and will probably always be on it, and that's ok with me. My anti D levels the playing field of my emotions and helps me to not feel depressed. Also, when I was on it, and still drinking, it didn't help my depression. I was drinking to numb myself from the depression but the drinking was making the depression worse. :(

It's really helped me and it has one side effect that I really like: bizarre dreams. I call it the Zoloft Cinema. It's like going to a different movie each night. :)

Hi Least, Thanks for your reply, yes I forgot I get them too and remember them as well, for a little while anyways, normally I don't remember dreams. I will see what happens over the next few weeks and see what doctor says, I might be on them forever, I don't mind if I still get back to work and this dam fatigue goes, I am hoping that I am still adjusting to the new meds and what I read 50mg is the started /lower level of dose. Thanks again Least,

What did your doctor give you, if I may ask?

He gave me 1 months supply of 50 mg of Sertraline (Zoloft) 1 tablet a day, but I will need more to see if they work as it might take up to 6-8 weeks to work according to what I have read on different sites. Hope they work soon as main complaint is the fatigue especially in morning time and insomnia at night, its nearly 3 am here and i'm wide awake. Need to get back on track and back to work. I don't think about drink at all now but my mental health and its quite scary.

I had to try 2 different anti d's.

The first one caused me too many side effects and the second one had some side effects but I lowered the dose and they went away and did not return when I went back up to the regular dose again.

Maybe you could try a different anti d?

Paxil 20 mg for 30 years. And I have had the same marvelous dreams . . fun and weird.

Kudos to you Carling for trying. Unfortunately Anti Ds are a bit of a shot in the dark and don't work for everyone. They have made my life livable and I hope, hope, hope for your sake that it will help.

Let us know how you get on. In a way we are all part of a developing body of knowledge on this.

I never took SSRI's when I drank.

They were invented the year I got sober, I believe.

But I took a lot of blue Valiums, Ativan and Xanax when I was drinking.

Now, I just take the same meds I have been taking for the last 18 or so years and they remedy my anxiety and depression.

And I am an adherent to AA for my alcoholism.

And I try to stay close to God all day long.

Glad you're here with us.

I was one also that had bad anxiety and depression I tried to mask with booze. I also was taken a little back when I first got a depression diagnosis years ago, but for many with depression, we may have it and not even realize it as it's become so embedded over the years.
I also am on zoloft which has been very helpful for me. You can talk to your doc about it as it does take some time to figure out what the right meds and dosage works best for you.

A-D's take a while to kick in, forme about 8 weeks. Your body is healing and your mind is rewiring. It takes time. Try staying in the moment and work out stuff to deal with that moment. HALTS, journal, meeting, walk- whatever.
Support.

It's kind of funny that we talk about numbing or masking our depression with alcohol, because it ultimately accentuates depression - at least it did for me.

By the time I discovered that, though, I seemed to have to get drunk every day and I didn't know how to stop.

But then, I had an epiphany - maybe I should ask for help.

I did, I got help and I have tried to do what they told me to do in treatment and it's worked ever since.

Thanks everyone for your reply's and support, the last 3 days (which is my fourth week) have been amazing and finally I am thinking clearly and have more energy, the sleeping has also improved. I even nearly forgot to take my morning tablet as I forgot as was feeling so good. I had a telephone interview for a new job today which I got and gave myself a start date for 3 weeks time so hopefully I am fully back to myself by then 100% or near as. On wards and upwards. My doc has given me 6 months supply of tablets and I hope in 2-3 months to taper off them and see what happens? Thanks again everyone for your comments and support and thank you SR. Great Place :) bye for now until I taper in a few months time, God Bless, Carlingford.

I'm so glad it's working for you. Psych meds can take a long time to adjust to, plus the mental changes that happen when you stop drinking. Good to hear you are stabilizing.

Zoloft made me insane and caused me to drink a lot more. Turns out I have bipolar disorder, so I can't take SSRIs. If your mood and energy level continue to rise to the point where you're above what you feel is your baseline, you should tell your doctor because that's a sign of bipolar disorder, and continuing to take SSRIs can make you manic. Just letting you know because nobody told me that.