View Full Version : Drinking alcohol while taking citalopram
Hello all.
Thought this would be a helpful guide to people who are feeling better when taking citalopram, how much alcohol have you drank and felt well after,
I'm off to a wedding in a month, and want to know how people felt, I don't drink often so thats not an issue
thanks MO
i was on them for years from my experience you cant drink at all you feel terrible for the week after and your symtons are worse than ever,i used to get very angry and at the time ur drinkin you get drunk after about 4 beers then after about 8 you dont remember anything
I find you do get drunk easier, but the more you drink the worse you feel, its not happy drunk more tired!
I went out drinking for 4 nights in a row, the anxiety on the 5th day was terrible, the symptoms stayed wth me for quite a few good days, not very nice. I would suggest that if you do intend on having a good wash, then I would drink quite moderately, you feel crap the next day but don't we always! Just take it easy and enjoy the wedding!
Thanks all, from looking at the vote results there's quite a lot of difference, just shows we are all individuals
Thanks all, from looking at the vote results there's quite a lot of difference, just shows we are all individuals
People are not always honest when it comes to how much they drink:ohmy: :ohmy: You only had a two of replys but eight votes????
steer well clear of alcohol is what i read from the answers given:blush:
I DID NOT vote - I don't drink or take meds - therefor this is a personal opinion on what i have read
June
Also you are asking how many drinks? But is that how many alcoholic drinks you have per week or how many pints do you get through on a regular night out?
just on a typical night out, I just want to know if it send people sad/happy etc..
I'd stay of the alcohol anyway due to it being a depressant. Goes against how the anti-depressants work and so forth.
As far as I can tell citalopram does not react badly with alcohol. I would question the wisdom of getting plastered though due to the depressive nature of alcohol so make sure you limit your intake and avoid spirits.
Hereford Al
18-06-09, 21:46
Yeah, I've been OK the next day after 2 or 3 pints. A bit tired, but no real problems with anxiety for having a few beers. I did overdo it once at a BBQ a few weeks back and felt really crap the next couple of days, but we are talking 7 or 8 beers (and dodgy food!) as an extreme. I won't be going mad like that again. Best advice I can give is know your limits and absolutely stick to them.
Also, do not drink every night. I tend to have just a couple on the weekends now and go the whole Sunday-Thursday evenings without a drop.
I've read somewhere that Citalopram taxes the Liver, so maybe that is what causes some people's problems with alcohol and the med?
FreeSpriritedLiss
19-06-09, 09:57
I find you do get drunk easier, but the more you drink the worse you feel, its not happy drunk more tired!
I went out drinking for 4 nights in a row, the anxiety on the 5th day was terrible, the symptoms stayed wth me for quite a few good days, not very nice. I would suggest that if you do intend on having a good wash, then I would drink quite moderately, you feel crap the next day but don't we always! Just take it easy and enjoy the wedding!
Same!!! These days, one glass of wine and I'm anyone's :p I used to be a hyperactive drunk, but now I'm sleepy and lethargic. Good thing is though, it's made me drink less on a night out if I want to stay late; I'll crash at midnight if I don't stop drinking:bighug1:
I know I shouldnt say this but I love drinking on these meds and have found i get less of a hangover than I used to before. Prior to taking these meds though i have always reacted well to alcohol eg not getting angry or upset just happy and it never effected my mood badly the next day. If though you have found alcohol causes your anxiety/depression to be worse then I would go easy at first and see how your body reacts
I noticed no difference in drinking/hangover whilst on citalopram. I didn't drink too often but when I did it varied from a glass of wine to the odd big night out now and then. The only difference was that since being on citalopram I've drunk less often - but that could also be to do with moving house & a change of lifestyle.
I have been on Cit for 8months and I had my first drink on Sunday.Ihad a glass of champagne and a glass of wine,not small glasses.I felt like i had drunk more but didnt feel bad in any way. I would definately say know your limits as ,it can make you bad if you drink too much. Sue
I have stopped drinking, mainly because, when I do even a couple of glasses of wine, the next day my anxiety is 100 times worse. currently taking 10mgs citalopram, and on good days Im a little anxious.
I have to admit I'm a bit of a lightweight at alcohol so I don't drink too much. I do like a nice shandy in summer tho' as its so refreshing.
I met with a friend on Monday and we went to the pub, and I had a couple of pints of shandy... OMG :scared15: :blush: Usually it goes down fine but, I don't know if it was the meds of what, but I was tipsy... off shandy!!! I mean, lightweightness aside, I don't get drunk off shandy... or well, I never used to :roflmao: :blush:
I'm just going to watch it from now on!!!
jenniferrrrrr
29-06-09, 03:40
i started on citalopram two weeks ago.. just upped my dose from 10mg to 20mg & i had a about 5 alcohopops on a night out last weekend & i felt very happy, but not drunk at all (usually that would get me rather tipsy) i was extremely tired tho and when i got home i couldnt sleep. i was not drunk, but in the morning felt like rubbish!
i was also sweating an abnormal amount!
id just advise to take it slow & not to go crazy with the shots!
Deepest Blue
29-06-09, 04:13
I would question the wisdom of getting plastered though due to the depressive nature of alcohol so make sure you limit your intake and avoid spirits.
I would agree with this because that's how I feel too if I have had a few beers I tend to go into a very deep depression, it's not a happy feeling either because I feel even worse when I first get up and then could last even into the next day. Nowdays when I have a drink I just make sure I drink just a couple so that I just feel relaxed and nothing more, I think 2 pints is just about right, stretching at 3 but anything after that I think you're not really in control of your emotions properly anymore.
I am glad to see this post because I have wondered about this myself. I currently take 40mg of Citalopram. I have a history of being a pretty heavy drinker. I was anxiety/depression free for a good year or two and then I had a couple consecutive weekends of partying and about 3-4 days after that, I felt the "weirdness" coming on with the anxiety which then led to the depressive feelings.
Drinking on the medication had no effect on me, it the "coming down" a few days later that really bothers me. I have monitored this for a year now and it's pretty consistent that my depressive or anxiety mood is amplified the Wednesday after a weekend of any drinking.
Hope this helps...
Definitely right, when I have a drink (a good drink that is!), It takes at least a couple of days for the anxiety to fade away. Its annoying but I guess we need to get on with our lives and not hang about waiting for things to happen.
I have been on Cital for 4 months and had one night where I've had alcohol. I used to drink every Friday and Saturday night. The one time I drank on Cital I had three Buds - and all the next WEEK i felt worse than when I'd started Cital.
My advice is stay off the drink.
Hi i used to binge drink but not every weekend and when i went on a typical night out it would have been 5+ drinks and i would feel really bad for the next few days and my anxiety would be through the roof. I have not had a drink for 24 days as some of the alcohol threads on this site have encouraged me to cut down on drinking and I have been out twice and just stuck to soft drinks. I am hoping to get to day 36 as i am going to a christening and we are going to have a few drinks afterwards so i just hope to have about 3 drinks at the most and know now that i can do that. I am not going to be a hypocrite and say i am never drinking again but it would just be nice to cut down if i do go for a night out as i am on 20 mg citalopram and can't see me coming off citalopram for a long time.
Hi there. Im on 40mg Citalopram. Alcohol hasn't affected me yet with Citalopram, but I always feel down. does anyone notice me kind of thing
Hi there...Im sort of a newbie. Im on 40mg a day and my Dr said I needn't worry about Citlopram and alcohol.
That said, I Od'd when my medication was changed from Citalopram to Amitryptaline so be safe yeah,....
Its 5 days since I had a good drink and the anxiety is pretty bad, feel like I've gone back more than one step! I think I am going to kick alcohol into touch for a while. I had 2 months without a drink of alcohol and caffiene and I didn't feel much better for it, the anxiety did not reduce that significantly so I decided to drink on a weekend but steady.
I have flirted with the idea of drinking while on Citalopram - on one occasion I had half a glass of champagne and felt drunk (unsteady on my feet, slightly blurred vision) without the euphoria. On another occasion I had my arm twisted to have a white wine spritzer and couldn't bring myself to have more than a few sips.
I'm going to steer clear from booze for a while and see what happens a few weeks/months down the line.
My friends take citalopram and has three or four drinks when we are out having a meal. She's absolutely fine and suffers no after affects. They just seem to affect people so differently. She doesn't give it a second thought.
Myra:shrug:
lonely leanne
21-09-09, 10:10
So just as i thought things were getting better i had a Major incident on Friday. I went out for a celebration of my friends promotion with a few friends and as my doctor said i would be fine to drink, i had 2 small glasses of wine. i didnt feel drunk just very fuzzy and my heart was racing and i felt sick. next thing i know i have passed out in the centre and am being violently sick, i was sweating and everyone around me sounded like it was underwater. when i could focus a bit better everyone was looking at me, paramedics and police had come over and my anxiety was a million times higher than it has ever been. i ended up crying hystericelly and getting a taxi home in a right state. i didnt sleep very well at all on friday night i felt very sick and shaky adn kept crying my heart was racing i felt awful, so so low. i woke up on saturday feeling tired and still sick and with a headache that was unbearable. i couldnt get back to sleep and i felt so ill ihave never felt that bad before in my whole life i could barely drag myself to the toilet. i rang NHS direct and told them about the situation and they said this could be a reaction to citalopram (40mgs) so i said to myself right then and there that i will not let a tablet that is supposed to help me make me feel so ill and ashamed ever again. i have stopped taking them and i will never take one ever again. i now feel like i cant go in to my local town for fear of people remembering me. i have never been so ashamed low and embarassed.
i just dont no wat to do now?! any help please? xx
I didn't touch a drop for the first 14 days on 20mg ,but last week I've had a glass of red wine each evening with my dinner and really enjoyed it , can't say it's had any reaction with the cit.
I am on 20mg Citalopram and have been on it for 4 weeks now and haven't had any reaction to alcohol with it at all.
I'm sure the odd glass of wine spaced out over the day won't hurt but it isn't a good habit to get into if Citalopram can tax the liver - always drink plenty of water between drinks - I prefer not to be drunk anyway it's much more amusing watching other people make fools of themselves!
I'm sure the odd glass of wine spaced out over the day won't hurt but it isn't a good habit to get into if Citalopram can tax the liver - always drink plenty of water between drinks - I prefer not to be drunk anyway it's much more amusing watching other people make fools of themselves! :whistles:
I've drunk heavily on all my meds including Citolopram. You do get drunk a lot quicker so just take it easy. Feeling rough the next day is nothing unusual but the extra depression really does not help.
I have been on 20 mg citalopram for 2 years and drink alcohol. Its fine but cannot drink too much , say four beers or a few wines. If i drink too much i have a blank apart from that everything alright. Drink no more than four is my advise. :yesyes:
shotokansho
02-04-10, 21:08
I have been on Cit for quite a few months now and drink normally on it. I have never had an y reactions from it. However I do sometimes feel depressed on it if i wasn't in the right frame of mind in the first place, i think it depends on your current mood. I can put away 8 cans of beer in one night at times and don't feel any different....except a little tipsy lol
Hi, When I took citalopram on and off for around 9 years I used to be fine when drinking on it. I am not a big drinker though couple glasses of wine etc sometimes a bit more. I think when your body is used to it as long as you dont drink too often (most nights) you will be fine....but then we are all different and react differently.
JO
I've been taking citalopram (20mg) for 2 months now, and I've been told be the doctor that it's fine to drink on them. However, when I do, I get really really happy, to the point where I've been asked if I'm on drugs, get drunk very quickly and have total memory blackouts off a couple of drinks :huh:
I used to be able to drink a lot without even being drunk, so it's a huge change for me! Does anyone else get this? Definatley stopping the big drunk nights haha
Pill-Popper
06-04-10, 16:20
Are there any drinks in particular which would be more ok to drink than others?
For some reason, i imagine that having several glasses of vodka on the rocks would have a more negative reaction with the medication, in terms of depression occuring after "sobering up", than several glasses of wine, due to all the alcohol units?
Spirits would tend to have more units than wines or beers, right?
So does it matter what drinks can be drunk with this medication or not?
Thanks in advance :)
PurpleLady
10-10-10, 19:10
When I was taking 20mg Citalopram awhile back I noticed a big difference in what I had to drink and how I felt at the time and after;
I have always had a high tolerance for alcohol anyway but found a couple of beers or a glass or two of wine I was ok, but I felt very very tired afterwards.
I had a blip and drunk a fair bit of white rum and I had a fit in my sleep according to my partner. I felt so down for days afterwards so I personally I would stay away from spirits completely, but everyone reacts differently.
I have been put back on 20mg a few days ago and by the time it's my birthday the doctor will have gradually upped my dose to 40mg so no jack daniels for me :(.
I have drunk a little, moderately and quite a lot.
A little and moderatley have been ok, although I have found it really affects my sleep. I feel exhuasted the next day, a bit depressed and anxious.
Last week I had one of about three benders. I didn't bring out the best side of my personality lets just say that. And I have no idea how I got home. A complete black out. That's not a safe place to be in a busy city, stumbling around unaware of what is going on. Somehow I made it home but I dont' remember. I don't recall what happened and its not a nice feeling. I was so ill the next day I couldn't go to work. It took about three days to be able to sleep properly, I spent the weekend recovering still.
I have found BEER much worse than other drinks, so my advice would be do drink (if you want to) but keep your quantity down. After about three drinks I lost all track of not drinking and the next thing was being off my rocker.
Last thing you want is causing a scene at a wedding. :)
Johnboy2426
16-06-13, 11:57
Well I take 1 tablet of 10mg n drink not loads
But a fair bit say 7 pints every weekend and it does not
Effect me
When I drank and was on 20mg Citalopram, I would drink normally. I dont think alcohol and citalopram affected each other at all. I was a student also, so drinking at some points were very regular and excessive!!
Sparkle1984
16-06-13, 13:34
I can't vote on this poll cos there's no option for zero!:roflmao:
nikkispencer
19-01-14, 02:51
I have been on citalopram since Wednesday, and been drinking socially, I find the alcohol didnt effect me any quicker than before taking them but I did need a coffee after just a couple of drinks because I instantly feel absolutely shattered. I am defenantly planning to cut down drinking while on them as when my GP prescribed them I was advised not to mix them with alcohol frequently as it lessen the citalopram effects x
Booze and anxiety don't mix. It's playing with fire and I got burnt.
Sure it makes you feel good and your problems seem to go away for a bit but when you wake up the next morning they are all still there and you're not closer to having made peace with them.
Your two options are make peace with your problems or take another drink. It can only go two ways and one path becomes one of self-destruction.
If your SSRI is a tool to help you deal with the anxiety - you need to be dealing with the anxiety.
I only make this post because as a serious and committed drinker, I saw the light.
I do like the odd drinkie but I have cut down since going back on the meds.
I really want to feel better and if that means drinking less than that's fine.
Antonio2301
19-01-14, 21:35
Booze and anxiety don't mix. It's playing with fire and I got burnt.
Sure it makes you feel good and your problems seem to go away for a bit but when you wake up the next morning they are all still there and you're not closer to having made peace with them.
Your two options are make peace with your problems or take another drink. It can only go two ways and one path becomes one of self-destruction.
If your SSRI is a tool to help you deal with the anxiety - you need to be dealing with the anxiety.
I only make this post because as a serious and committed drinker, I saw the light.
Exactly my view on drink and medication
I don't touch alcohol now (7 years)
Most of us know that alcohol is a depressant so if you are suffering with low mood /depression then your asking for trouble and will increase anxiety & Panic
7 years ago , I also saw the light ..I can certainly live without it
evary one is differnt but i personally stay away from drinking on citalopram, i have tried a couple times but decided best to avoid form now on! Its ok though, i really dont mid it, surprisingly!!
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