Citalopram and alcohol

[happybunny13]

Hi
I have been on citalopram a long time and ive drunk before and never had any proble while drinking alcohol. Only recently something i read Must of stuck in my mind which is drinking alcohol raises the level of seretonin in the brain and now im anxious that its goin to cause seretonin syndrome if i have a drink. Is this true? Never had an issue in the past

[MyNameIsTerry]

I would go with the interactions warnings. They are Moderate whereas Serotonin Syndrome usually appears as Major.

Alcohol does cause spikes in Serotonin hence why we drink more & more. And that probably contributes to the aftermath as the brain is trying to rebalance itself.

The brain regulates it's Serotonin levels. The issue with meds is not only increased production but also prevention of re-uptake and allowing more receptors to become saturated.

Often meds are combined, or switched which causes an overlap, which comes with Major interaction warnings but doctors do it every day and how frequent is Serotonin Syndrome? Also SS can be mild, it's not always what the horror stories out there say.

[happybunny13]

Thanx terry well explained

[mark84]

I really lowered my intake of alcohol when I started citalopram, and continued to do so throughout. However to my knowledge there aren't too many risks consuming them together- the alcohol should really be the thing that comes with the warning sheet, not the medication imo!

[happybunny13]

Still worrying about this 3 years on :(

[Pamplemousse]

Still worrying about this 3 years on :(

Well, I was on citalopram for twelve years and am now on escitalopram.

I often have a 500ml bottle of beer a day, sometimes two: sometimes I don't have anything for a while (I was teetotal from 1992 to 2014). I would say my alcohol intake is within government guidelines.

As you can see, I'm still here. Of course, the question has to be asked as to why I take an anti-depressant along with alcohol, a known depressant...

[panic_down_under]

There are 2 issues with alcohol and antidepressants (ADs). The first is alcohol causes atrophy of parts of the two hippocampal region of the brain as do high brain stress hormone levels (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC60045/). The loss of these hippocampal neurons manifest emotionally as anxiety and/or depression. Antidepressants (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3025168/) (also the cognitive/behavioural - CBT, REBT, etc, and mindfulness therapies (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.05.017)) stimulate the growth of new cells in the hippocampi. The new cells produce the therapeutic response. Even moderate drinking can result in significant hippocampal atrophy (Article (https://www.popsci.com/moderate-drinking-bad/) | Study (https://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j2353)) - see also: Anderson ML (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4568748/), 2012; Morris SA (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2861155/), 2010; Crews FT (https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/197-204.htm), 2003).

The second problem is ADs and alcohol can be an unpredictable combination. Some days you might be able to drink a herd of alcoholic elephants under the table without raising a sweat, on others a small shandy may turn legs to rubber. Definitely do not drink and drive while on ADs!