# SSRI's and drinking - the right stance



## Cold (Aug 29, 2010)

Hey,

I admit, I freaking love drinking. :/ When asking for an SSRI I didn't realize I might have to cut down on it. I've had 10mg Citalopram for two days and I don't feel bad at all. (Is this weird?) Anyway, since I'm a student there's alcohol included in every event. What should I say to people so they won't know I can't drink because of an anti-depressant? I'm not good at coming up with excuses, so what somewhat harmless medicine would cause me to not want to drink? It'd be great if you helped me out here. 

And, well, could I just drink tomorrow? Say, 4-6 pints at the very least. I tried Googling but people have such different views on this thing. I will never hurt myself, I know that much, but I don't want to do anything to my brain. Could simply "not taking" tomorrow's pill help?

Also, do you guys drink any? Heavily, possibly? Since most of you are proabably on something.


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## Area88 (Oct 4, 2010)

It varies from drug to drug and person to person but overall, in most cases, it's defintly 100% fine to drink alcohol with the majority of SSRI's. They are among the safest medication. Because of this, I would just recommend experimenting and you will find out for yourself how much is the right amount to drink for you personally.

Other people will have different advice but in the end it's what's right for you. Frequent socialising, with or without drinking, is a very important part of adult development for the brain. The most important thing is to have fun


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## wjc75225 (Jul 24, 2010)

Drinking while on an SSRI never had any ill effects for me. Of course, I usually just drink socially or sometimes until I get a buzz. I've only been truly drunk off my *** once, and I was on an SSRI.


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## euphoria (Jan 21, 2009)

They're fine together. Not very much of an interaction in my experience. Antidepressant product leaflets can be a bit over-cautious when it comes to their warnings.


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## wjc75225 (Jul 24, 2010)

euphoria said:


> They're fine together. Not very much of an interaction in my experience. Antidepressant product leaflets can be a bit over-cautious when it comes to their warnings.


Ya, I still drink some on an MAOI, and there is a thing on the bottle that says "DON'T CONSUME ANY ALCOHOL". Oh well, it hasn't effected me.


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

wjc75225 said:


> Ya, I still drink some on an MAOI, and there is a thing on the bottle that says "DON'T CONSUME ANY ALCOHOL". Oh well, it hasn't effected me.


You gotta be carefull for tyramine rich alcohol on MAOI's, otherwise its fine.


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## wjc75225 (Jul 24, 2010)

crayzyMed said:


> You gotta be carefull for tyramine rich alcohol on MAOI's, otherwise its fine.


Yeah, I know. I've avoided Chianti because it specifically says that one. Is there a list somewhere of high tyramine drinks? I've had beer and ales, and I've been fine, but that may have been risky?


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

wjc75225 said:


> Yeah, I know. I've avoided Chianti because it specifically says that one. Is there a list somewhere of high tyramine drinks? I've had beer and ales, and I've been fine, but that may have been risky?


Old beers and wine can be risky, i'l have to find some better info, i'l look into it.


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## wjc75225 (Jul 24, 2010)

crayzyMed said:


> Old beers and wine can be risky, i'l have to find some better info, i'l look into it.


Ok, cool. Thanks for doing research for me! I've searched google to find a high tyramine list, and I couldn't really find anything.


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## rainbowOne (Sep 26, 2010)

I've been told by my doctor to definitely NOT drink whilst on SSRIs...


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## Duke of Prunes (Jul 20, 2009)

I didn't drink much when I was on Sertraline, but my friend is on a high dose of Citalopram and can drink loads with no adverse reactions other than getting drunk, which is to be expected.


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## Area88 (Oct 4, 2010)

rainbowOne said:


> I've been told by my doctor to definitely NOT drink whilst on SSRIs...


 Unless he has some special reason as to why, he's just being over cautious. One night of drinking a week shouldn't hurt anybody on an SSRI. I'm sure there are some rare cases where hyper sensitive individuals have unfortunately had a reaction when mixing their SSRI with alcohol but again, it's extremely rare.


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## ambidexter (Jul 17, 2010)

wjc75225 said:


> Yeah, I know. I've avoided Chianti because it specifically says that one. Is there a list somewhere of high tyramine drinks? I've had beer and ales, and I've been fine, but that may have been risky?


Definitely avoid any alcohol on tap, even if you have had the same brand from the same tap before. Mainstream brands in a bottle should be okay. Be cautious with smaller scale craft brews.

And officially you're not supposed to have more than -- hmm, I can't remember the ounce recommendations but I think of it as one to two drinks basically. If you've already gone over that quantity with a mainstream brand in a bottle and been fine, then you'll probably continue to be fine


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## km628 (Oct 7, 2010)

crayzyMed said:


> Old beers and wine can be risky, i'l have to find some better info, i'l look into it.


i drank for the first time on my meds this past weekend since i was very weary of doing so. i stayed away from liquor and chose to drink wine instead. the next day i had a pretty bad hangover which is rare for me. im not sure if the hangover was due to my meds or the wine but i felt pretty uneasy the following day. just a heads up


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## wjc75225 (Jul 24, 2010)

ambidexter said:


> Definitely avoid any alcohol on tap, even if you have had the same brand from the same tap before. Mainstream brands in a bottle should be okay. Be cautious with smaller scale craft brews.
> 
> And officially you're not supposed to have more than -- hmm, I can't remember the ounce recommendations but I think of it as one to two drinks basically. If you've already gone over that quantity with a mainstream brand in a bottle and been fine, then you'll probably continue to be fine


Yeah. A friend actually got me into beer/ale/lager drinking these past few weeks, ironically. I wasn't much into the stuff before. I won't do tap. It's not worth the risk. I'll keep to the bottled stuff . What about tap tequila? Haha. There's a place here that has that! Most people are shocked when I tell them that one.
I actually had a beer and an ale at this local Irish pub, so they weren't mainstream. At least, I haven't heard of the brands, and neither had my friend, and he knows more about the brands than I do.


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## wjc75225 (Jul 24, 2010)

km628 said:


> i drank for the first time on my meds this past weekend since i was very weary of doing so. i stayed away from liquor and chose to drink wine instead. the next day i had a pretty bad hangover which is rare for me. im not sure if the hangover was due to my meds or the wine but i felt pretty uneasy the following day. just a heads up


Hmm. Interesting. I've done a little white wine drinking on Nardil. I like red wine, but I can't recall having any while being on it. I did 3 tequila shots and had a Mojito last night, and I felt fine that night and the next morning.


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## tutliputli (Feb 22, 2009)

I love drinking too and wouldn't stop for the sake of SSRIs. I drank as much as I wanted to while on 40mg Citalopram and had no adverse effects. Drinking while on Prozac made me feel really depressed. Drinking on Sertraline was fine, except I got drunk stupidly quickly.


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## Area88 (Oct 4, 2010)

I'd quite like to hear how Cold got on. I'm sure he had a great time


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## Cold (Aug 29, 2010)

Went out yesterday, first time since starting the pills, and again today and didn't drink until late in the evening. The drug shouldn't even be working yet but it is.. I don't blush (which I did ALL the time before), I feel sufficiently disconnected from negative thoughts... Hell, I almost feel fixed! All I need to do next is keep going out since this drug is enabling me to do it. :O 

Some people I talked to said "pshh, you might as well be eating a placebo, SSRI's don't work until after a couple of weeks". Is it really impossible for me to feel the effect already? I mean I literally blushed all the time before and the fact that I don't anymore is like wtf wtf. Feels good man.


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## crayzyMed (Nov 2, 2006)

Cold said:


> Went out yesterday, first time since starting the pills, and again today and didn't drink until late in the evening. The drug shouldn't even be working yet but it is.. I don't blush (which I did ALL the time before), I feel sufficiently disconnected from negative thoughts... Hell, I almost feel fixed! All I need to do next is keep going out since this drug is enabling me to do it. :O
> 
> Some people I talked to said "pshh, you might as well be eating a placebo, SSRI's don't work until after a couple of weeks". Is it really impossible for me to feel the effect already? I mean I literally blushed all the time before and the fact that I don't anymore is like wtf wtf. Feels good man.


Its not impossible, thats great news!


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## cellophanegirl (Sep 21, 2009)

I drank while on citalopram and didn't feel any effects except that I got drunk a little quicker. Unfortunately I didn't feel like the drug did that much to raise my mood. Though now that I'm off it I do feel a little more depressed. Anyway, that's another story. 

But yeah, I wouldn't suggest not taking your dose on days you want to drink. Ssri's don't really work that way. They stay in your system for awhile even after you stop taking them. I mean I've never personally had any issues with drinking and ssris, but i also don't usually drink more than 3-4 drinks in a night. Just remember that alcohol is competing with your meds in your liver, and you don't want to overdo it.


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## bben (Oct 24, 2009)

alot of people can drink alot more on ssris once they get used to them. ssris also tend to reduce the next day hangover and make the drunk feel somewhat different, like the motor effects are more pre-dominant over the euphoric effects which are somewhat blocked. 


I think ssris probably block serotonin release somewhat in most people which is why alcohol effects you differently, alcohol is a potent serotonin releaser. The gaba effects are left untouched and the dopamine effects might be blunted by the serotonin reuptake overflow.


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## Canadian4Life (Sep 27, 2010)

Duke of Prunes said:


> I didn't drink much when I was on Sertraline, but my friend is on a high dose of Citalopram and can drink loads with no adverse reactions other than getting drunk, which is to be expected.


How did you find drinking was on sertraline when you took it? I was on celexa and drinking was fine...hangover a bit worse.


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## Area88 (Oct 4, 2010)

Great news cold, glad you had a great night out, thats whats it all about. And for the record they say 'up to 3 weeks' so it's perfectly plausible for the drug to be doing something right away.


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## Cold (Aug 29, 2010)

Right, I went drinking again yesterday.

I use SSRI's and I still have to pop 10mg of propral a few times a day, because even though I'm not anxious I still might blush. Weird. Anyway, I was drinking quite heavily and literally washing propral down with alcohol. :um That made me think if I shouldn't do that.. But I had such a great time again, and I didn't want any physical symptons to come in the way. Propral + alcohol bad like this?


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## AliBaba (Nov 16, 2005)

I've taken at least up to 100 mg of propranolol in a single day and engaged in heavy drinking without an issue. I've also been on every SSRI known to man & have engaged in heavy drinking with all of them without a problem. Unless, of course, you count the heavy drinking as a problem. Which, most of the time, it is.

Effexor on the other hand.....watch out with that one!


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## SBP21 (Jul 21, 2006)

I've also taken almost every SSRI available as well as SNRI's and Parnate. I drank while on all of them with no ill effects. I even drank tap beer and red wine on Parnate without any problems. I've also taken propranalol before drinking, but usually try not to. Propranalol makes me dizzy when I'm sober, and since alcohol also can make me dizzy, I figure it's better not to risk fainting while I'm out on the town! I'm sure everyone has different responses to alcohol + SSRIs, but it sounds like you didn't have any problems, so you should be fine!


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## Canadian4Life (Sep 27, 2010)

Drank on zoloft. Was very hard to get drunk and I was up all night drinking. Hangover was worse than I had ever had before zoloft. Felt like I was going to have a seizure on day coming off a long night of drinking. Not good to drink on ssri'sI dont think or it could just be my reaction to zoloft. Tired it with other drugs with no problems though


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