so ive started to take zoloft. is drinking pretty much out?

if you're serious about getting better, you probably shouldn't be asking ilx for third opinions on something already deemed a 'terrible idea' by both your doctor and existing users.

wow, xpost.

alcohol is a DEPRESSANT.

Congrats, you're likely going to feel a whole lot better very soon. But don't drink for a very very long time and then only a tiny bit. I've seen people go mental on too much booze + meds

i just have two freinds with birthday parties this week (at bars), and im gonna feel bad to miss them (because im not sure i trust myself to be there and not drink.)

i used to think i was a drug addict, then i started taking my antidepressants. for a while, i fucked around w/ mixing drugs + antidepressants, then i got anti-depressed enough that i didn't really feel the urge to do any more drugs. i didn't need to self-medicate w/ street drugs because i had a prescription for more effective (and mostly side-effect free) antidepressants.

the flip side = serious side effects between drinking + zoloft (and other antidepressants) is pretty rare. probably more dangerous to drink + take aspirin.

the real point is that if you are depressed, you should prob rethink drinking as a lifestyle choice.

xpost

Just saying.

I seemed much more aggressive and dangerously uninhibited than usual. e.g. trying to pick fights with strangers (fortunately, they ignored me, because I am a puny nerd who couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag), shrieking insults at passers by, throwing things at parked cars. Sober, I am shy as hell and even drunk I'm usually fairly polite and reserved. But on prozac+vodka I was basically a violent, belligerent cunt. Assuming that it was the prozac that was responsible and I wasn't just in a violent and cuntish mood that night.

Anyway, I try to be cautious with combining the two now, since I got this prescribed. Be careful.

though i've found that zoloft has weakened my memory, and obviously alcohol isn't going to help that one bit.

Oh and 50mg is not a very large dose FWIW.

Taking Zoloft with alcohol isn't recommended.

(from Zoloft website)

I just started taking Zoloft today. I am going on vacation next week and am wondering if it is safe to drink while on this medication. I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone. I'm not talking about drinking to oblivion; I'm talking about having a couple of drinks by the campfire. Is this okay?

Dear Reader,

Many people who take Zoloft, Prozac, and other depression-related medications drink light to moderate amounts of alcohol without serious side effects, or any effects at all. However, it's important to know what the possible interactions may be so that you can be on the lookout.

When there is a noticeable reaction from mixing alcohol with anti-depressants, it's often an amplified response to the alcohol, i.e., one drink may end up feeling like two. If you usually feel tired, or even a bit depressed, after drinking, then you might feel even more so if you're on anti-depressants. Zoloft (generically known as sertraline) is an anti-depressant in the class known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. It affects your brain's ability to absorb serotonin, which acts as a neurotransmitter, transmitting nerve impulses between nerve cells and affecting mood. Alcohol also affects serotonin levels in your brain by altering your brain's production of it. That's why using these two drugs together could produce unexpected and unwanted emotions. The use of alcohol could also possibly affect Zoloft's ability to do what it is supposed to do.

1. Drinking with Zoloft might make you get more drunk and emotional.

2. People who have depression most likely shouldn't be drinking, so if you're taking Zoloft for depression, don't drink.

I always thought that alcohol doesn't really influence your behavior (chemically), that it's always due to culture learning how to react to too much alcohol. (One case showed that people being exposed to alcohol were first very gay 'n' happy... Only after seeing sailors visiting the island being aggressive after too much booze, made these islanders also react aggressive.) I don't know about the combination of Zoloft and alcohol though. On top of that, how dependant are you on alcohol? Better to remain as *clean* as possible to focus on recovery. Good luck. :-)

uh, the depression is WHY we drink!

From wikipedia:

A depressant is a chemical agent that diminishes the function or activity. The term is used in particular with regard to the central nervous system (CNS). In that case these chemicals are known as neurotransmitters. Depressants intended to act on the CNS do so by increasing the activity of a particular neurotransmitter known as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

GABA's task is to calm the CNS and to promote sleep. Drugs that stimulate the production of this amino acid produce slowed brain activity and a drowsy or calm feeling, and so depressants are generally prescribed to relieve symptoms of anxiety or insomnia. Internal systems regulate the body's production of GABA, but when medication is taken to stimulate GABA production, it is possible to induce hazardously high levels, which can dangerously slow breathing and heart rates, and may result in death.

CNS depressants require a period of adaptation. Typically, initial side effects include slurred speech, dizziness, and loss of coordination, in many respects similar to the effects of alcohol (which is itself a CNS depressant).

I haven't come across any pyschotropic medication (and I've taken more than a dozen) that doesn't come with a 'no drinking' warning. Have I been sober for the last ten years? no. But my drinking certainly has waned. I find these days I don't even enjoy a drink (which is a good sign your meds are working). As said above, everyone's different. But if you do drink on Zoloft and find the results tolerable don't take that as carte blanche to drink all the time. It's a waste of your money. They don't work they way they're supposed to if you're throwing a wrench in the works with bootleg meds.

I'd also recommend having your doctor move you to something other than zoloft after your mood is more stable, as everyone I've known who's taken it has had the lows AND the highs removed from their emotions under the drug. It's great for evening you out, but it will leave you unnaturally even, zombielike even.

or you could have a violently different reaction. nyquil puts me to sleep, but it seems to make some people wired. as fred from scooby-doo used to say, "there's only one way to find out."

you have to remember everybody's chemistry is different. e.g. I was on 200 mg of Zoloft for about 4 years and had to get off b/c it made me so panicky and manic-like. Turns out that's because I was bipolar not just depressed. But, yeah, I've never had an AD make me feel zombie-like. Not even mood stablizers have done this and they are meant to "level" you out.

Days 2-4 of being on it I felt completely spaced out (there was a point where I was crossing the road and I just felt like I was floating across it oblivious to cars), but that cleared up fairly soon. So that should get better.

I'm glad my doctor told me not to drink when I first went on it and wish I'd followed his advice more closely when he said after about two months that I could start to drink again but only a little and to be careful. It made me a much louder and more impulsive/reckless drunk than before and lowered my alcohol tolerance considerably, plus the drink would hit me really suddenly - I'd feel pretty much sober one minute and feel horribly nauseously over-drunk and/or become an emotional mess five minutes later. Getting stoned on top of sertraline and a few drinks was something I wouldn't try again; it may have been a coincidence or just bad luck but the closest I can get to describing it is a 24-hour-long panic attack with frequent blackouts. Not fun at all.

Point taken about the meaning of "depressant", but when I started to feel a bit better I would really notice feeling a lot lower a day or two after drinking, even if I'd only had a couple of drinks and not felt even tipsy. This was after I stopped the SSRIs, so it wasn't because of the interaction. It doesn't happen so much now and I probably wouldn't have been able to notice any difference at my lowest point, but after that I saw the sense of the idea that depressives should mostly avoid alcohol. (I don't now I'm on more of an even keel, but I certainly cut down a lot.)

I constantly felt like I was on a really BAD e-rush all the time on everythign I tried :( Which is why I just dont, anymore. I'm not depressed tho, not these days, so its ok.

yeah, OTM, as far as that crossing the street feeling goes. I ended up leaving my apartment to go to a 7-11, and ended up miles away at a giant, wondering why i couldn't find sour cream amongst the cottage cheese.