# drinking on zoloft safe?



## child of bodom (Jan 15, 2007)

hi, i have been taking zoloft for about 2 months, maybe 3 and ive been doing amazingly well, i got a job and i dont really feel that anxious around anyone anymore (well, except a few cute girls i like  ) anywho, i want to start drinking a bit again, and my doctor said i shouldnt drink, but he didnt tell me what would happen if i did. i was just wondering, would it be safe enough for me to drink again, and what if anything would happen if it isnt safe to drink on it. 

if someone could reply fast, it would be appreciated.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

child of bodom said:


> hi, i have been taking zoloft for about 2 months, maybe 3 and ive been doing amazingly well, i got a job and i dont really feel that anxious around anyone anymore (well, except a few cute girls i like  ) anywho, i want to start drinking a bit again, and my doctor said i shouldnt drink, but he didnt tell me what would happen if i did. i was just wondering, would it be safe enough for me to drink again, and what if anything would happen if it isnt safe to drink on it.


I notice that you're 16, which if my math is right makes you far too young to legally drink.

Ignoring the legal issue, many people do mix SSRIs and booze. In fact I'm sure the number of people who've done is in the millions. SSRIs do come with a warning about not drinking to provide legal cover for the drug maker. The FDA label will often warn not to drink despite the fact that in clinical trials they were unable to find that the drug + alcohol produced any greater reduction in motor skills than the same amount of alcohol all alone. But in a world where you can be sued for anything, the legal staff will demand that warning to avoid lawsuits from morons who wash down Zoloft with a bottle of whiskey and then sue Zoloft after they wrap their car around a tree while drunk.

I've never personally combined Zoloft of any other SSRI with booze. I'd totally given up on SSRIs before I started drinking. I only mix booze & benzos -- another thing you're not supposed to do, so don't follow my example on that.


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## child of bodom (Jan 15, 2007)

so, all that could happen is ill get more drunk that if i wasnt on an ssri?


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

*Re: re: drinking on zoloft safe?*



child of bodom said:


> so, all that could happen is ill get more drunk that if i wasnt on an ssri?


Most likely, yeah. However, you should wait a little before you start drinking more than the occasional social drink here and there. Zoloft will take 6-8 weeks before you start seeing results (if you see any at all), so it is best that you find out if your med works or not before you start drinking heavily (i.e., hard alcohol and/or more than a couple beers)


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

Drinking temporarily interrupts the effects of an SSRI and will also make you more drowsy.


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## scotthallkevinnash (Dec 19, 2006)

I was on Zoloft at 200mg and I drank a lot. You get drunk alot faster on Zoloft. Also, the hangovers are TERRIBLE. 

Everytime I drank, I basically woke up with a panic attack and this was due to the Zoloft for some reason. When I quit, this side effect went away. 

It also may be harder on your liver because both Zoloft and Alcohol are primarily broken down by it. 

Plus, on top of your inhibitions being dulled by Alcohol, they are also dulled by Zoloft, and this led to me doing many embarrasing things while drunk (more then usual anyway). 

I did have some fun times drinking on Zoloft though.


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## child of bodom (Jan 15, 2007)

im only on 50mg zoloft, you mentioned that you were on 200mg when you had the huge hangovers, and bad side effects, do you think it was because you were jsut taking a high dose, or will it probably happen to me too


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

Dose doesn't really matter when it comes to SSRI-alcohol interaction. It either happens to you or it doesn't -- you either get drowsy or you don't, you either get more drunk much quicker or you don't. However, dose does matter in one aspect since once you reach a steadier dose (a higher dose in some cases) your mood and depression will also be stabilized. Once you are more stable (assuming that your med works and takes 6-8 weeks to work) you are in a more capable mental state to drink alcohol without needing to gravely worry about it.


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## opivy22 (Mar 1, 2005)

The biggest thing you're looking at when drinking & taking any medication is the strain on your liver. Having a few drinks here and there isn't going to kill you, but frequent drinking is going to wear it out faster than being a straight up alcoholic.


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## foxtrot (Feb 17, 2007)

opivy22 said:


> The biggest thing you're looking at when drinking & taking any medication is the strain on your liver. Having a few drinks here and there isn't going to kill you, *but frequent drinking is going to wear it out faster than being a straight up alcoholic*.


I dont know about the boldened part, a straight up alcoholic is doing very bad things to their liver. having said that it's not like i know much about the topic in detail.

all liver discussion aside, i have drank on all the antidepressants and antipsychotics (for anxiety, bloody ridiculous and now banished) ive tried aswell as benzos ive tried. i dont think its affected me any differently except xanax which screwed me right up. least i dont touch that now. and in fact, i have very few benzos anyway.

i agree with what others are saying, you should wait to drink until the med is giving you full effect after a month or two and then give it a test, people will react differently to drinking whilst on meds.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

Some excerpts from the _Encyclopedia of Nutrition and Good Health_:

"Alcohol interacts with many medications. Drinking alcohol can alter the way the body metabolizes drugs. As an example, the liver adapts to alcohol consumption by increasing its battery of drug-destroying enzymes. Because a heavy drinker may metabolize a sedative rapidly, its effects could wear off sooner than in a non-drinker, leaving the heavy drinker undersedated."

"Taking any one of several antidepressant drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft, can increase the effects of alcohol, including drowsiness and impaired motor skills."

"Combining alcohol and tranquilizers such as Valium and Thorazine can lead to oversedation and extreme drowsiness."


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## child of bodom (Jan 15, 2007)

thanks for the info everyone, my question is pretty much answered.


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