Alcohol and sertraline

[alfredo1]

I'm just about to go into my third week on 100mg of sertraline. Whilst my mood has lifted somewhat, I've become more anxious over the past week. Lost a bit of weight.

Does anyone get very bad anxiety the day after they have had a drink?

[vetran32]

Yes alcohol will have a bad effect especialy when youve only been on your meds for a short time.The reason alcohol will affect you is because it flushes some of your medication out of your system then it takes several days to get the medication back upto the same level. I know this because i have worked in the mental health sector for years and antidepressants dont work in people who drink regularly. Also people who suffer with panic attacks who take meds or dont are prone to panic attacks the day after drinking because it affects blood sugar levels the day after which can lead to panic attacks.Best advice if your going to have a drink just have the one or two

[alfredo1]

wow, that's really interesting. I felt suicidal on Saturday after a skinful on Friday . Saturday night i didn't drink and i felt fantastic yesterday. I had a bottle of wine yesterday and feel absolutley rubbish today. I'm now going to try and give it up completely, like to say, especially as its so early days with my meds

---------- Post added at 11:44 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------

thank you for the advice by the way!

[vetran32]

No worries mate i have worked alongside psychiatrists and and psychiatric nurses and they have told me plenty of times about patients not responding to antidepresents because of drinking alcohol. When you drink alcohol it makes you want to go to the toilet alot (urinate) this is because alcohol is a poison like all drugss and it is your bodys way of getting the alcohol out of your system.So obviously if your taking antidepressants which take a long time to build up in your system the alcohol will have a detrimental affect by flushing alot of the antidepressant out of your system. So when you start an antidepressant it takes a couple of weeks to build up before getting any positive affects so alcohol would seriously affect it.

Not saying dont drink i have a pint or two once a week/fortnight no problems but its moderation if your hitting the bottle every night you might as well not bother with antidepressants because they wouldnt work.

Also wouldnt recommend drinking any alcohol untill you are stable on your medication as in been taking it a few months and know it works for you then a cheeky pint or glass of wine shouldnt hurt.

Im currently trying to stabilise on Sertraline and untill i know its working i wouldnt even risk one drink because i will just be prolonging it having any positive affects.

All the best Karl

[cathycrumble]

I agree but I did have 2 medium glasses of red wine on sunday and I went to bed at midnight and woke up at 8 which was good as I been waking at 5 or 6am I still had the nerves in the tummy and the horrid fear. but not as bad as usual but I have gone down to 50mg as I feel the 100 was too much for me.

I have been on sert for 18 days today.

Cathy xx

[alfredo1]

OK, that's it then for me. I'm giving up the drink for 2 months to see if it helps. I do drink quite a lot, sometimes to self sooth even, so will try my very hardest to give up.

Makes total sense

[vetran32]

no worries how you getting on with your sertraline alfredo ???

[xhyperyogix]

I've been on sert 7.5 weeks I think and I really really couldn't drink at first - it gave me a hangover before I even finished one drink! But now I can drink normaly again and don't seem to have any / worse hangovers than I deserve! I had not been drinking much anyway before since when I have bad anx I can;t deal with alcohol much too. So I'm enjoying being able to go out and have fun again!

Very interesting about the alcohol making you pee the sert out. Makes much sense. It;s also odd that one of the few side effects I got at first was raging thirst (for water!!)

Love and hugs to all. xxxxx

[Scared_11]

Everytime I drink I have a hangover the next day and feel abit down and anxious. This is before I took meds.

I am in day 18 and I was scared to drink on them. I went out on Saturday and had a good few drinks, nothing too much and felt fine the next day. I am only 25 and have a good social life so I realy don't want to have to give up drinking as I like it. I am just going to take it easy and maybe just try to drink less often!

[cathycrumble]

Scared 11 how you getting on on them I am on day 18 also. what dose you on I went upto 100mg after a week. but my anxiety was awful. really bad so I have gone back down to 50 and I seem to be a bit better.

Cathy xx