Alcohol & Citalopram... Thinking of coming off..

[Bob47]

I have always liked a drink but packed in, in the New Year when I was put on 20mg of Citalopram. Been on it 6 weeks now and have had a real up & down time but getting better. I have a mate at work who has been on 40mg for about 6 months - he feels much better but when he goes out on the beer, all the benefits start to go into reverse! I have given it a wide berth to be honest. Give yourself a chance - you don't *have* to have a drink until you're in a good place, do you?

[hazy]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to these forums but saw the threads on Citalopram and had to reply. I was prescibed them about 2 months ago and for the first 3 or so weeks the side affects were hurrendous, my panic attacks were tenfold and I had horrible cold sweats felt shakey and paranoid, it was awfull, I went back to the Doc who just advised I stick with it and I did. I soon turned a corner and can say that all is well.

Last night I went round to a friends as she was holding a children's book party "Usbourne Books", I haven't drank anything since being on the 20mg a day Citalopram as to be honest I have been scared to as I had heard they can have quite a detrimental affect. I rarey drink as it just doesn't float my boat anymore, can't stand feeling rough the next day etc so like I say I barely drink now. Anyway last night I had 3 large glasses of white wine and lemonade, I felt quite tipsy by the end of my third. Today has been a bad day, I have felt very panickey and tight chested and have even taken earlier, a Proprananol to calm me down, after reading everyones posts I am assuming it was down to this wine that I had last night, I just hope I feel better tomorrow, its amazing, when you feel well you forget to a certain degree how it feels to have a panic attack and then when you get one its hurrendous. But surely 3 glasses of wine can't make me still feel bad after nearly 24 hours?? Any thoughts?

[just]

Hi,

I'm sixteen and my doctor just perscribed be 20mg of citalopram. I've got an alcohol problem and I don't have a clue how I'm going to stop drinking. I was wondering if anyone knew if there were any drugs similar to citalopram which you could take with alcohol?

[yinyang]

Hey 'Just' my friend, did you tell your doc about your levels of drinking?

It is difficult sometimes to say but you have to be honest with your doc so that this can be taken into consideration when issuing meds.

As you will read above, taking these meds and drinking will have differeing effects on each person. I for example don't seem to want to drink as much as I did but still have a few and feel ok. Although, when I do drink heavy I have blacked out and this is new and not like me....so be careful.

I can lay claim to being around long enough to be pissed off enough to have learned (wrongly) to lean on booze....you're 16 Just. I am not preaching at you Just, but I am worried for you. I am wondering what is going on in your life to mean that you drink so much and need this medication so young? I hope you have someone there to talk to about this huh?

[spritzercat81]

Hi, I'm new to this site but everyone seems so friendly, so I hope you all don't mind if add my experience of citalopram and alcohol?

When I was first put on citalopram I stayed away from alcohol for a long time. There were two reasons; I had awful side effects in the first few months as my doctor continued to increase my dose as I didn't seem to be getting any better(that was less to do with tablets and more to do with my personal situation). The other reason was, I didn't want to risk anything making me worse/counteracting the powerful little pills. I knew I was ill and didn't want to chance it.

When I stabilised, both personally and when the pills started working, I would have a cheeky little brandy on an evening. I have to say the only effect was that I was mildly sozzled on less than a shot! Luckily I never had any problems the next day. Oh, Apart from the one time at the works do where I got very drunk.

The above were my personal choices based on my circumstances at the time.The only advice I would give is that when someone is getting started on the tablets then *maybe* consider leaving it alone until you start to feel better/side effects wear off.