Only me? Mixing alcohol and medication.

[meander]

Everytime I post my topic gets moved cos I don’t know the proper nomenclature for certain things like depersonalisation (no z cos I’m English!)...I’m pretty sure this is the right place this time...

My meds say no alcohol- I don’t listen. Is it really that bad to take with alcohol? I hate being drunk and out of it that’s like hell on earth but I drink everyday and I’m on an SSRI and have just been prescribed a different sleep med...don’t need to be disciplined just reassured perhaps.

 

[somerandomguy]

I mean, alcohol is contraindicated with pretty much every single medication, including antibiotics.

And people who use medications drink everyday, all the time.

Bottom line, no one's going to recommend it, ever. But you'll probably be okay if you do.

 

[Chris-duck]

It depends. It depends on a crap ton of factors like your general tolerance for alcohol/meds, how much youre drinking, the dosage you're on etc.

It depends on -why- you're not meant to drink while on them, sometimes it can cause an interaction, sometimes it's "just" increased drowsiness, my best advice would be to be honest that you're drinking while on them and see what your team say.

 

[ImSad]

It depends on the medication. Mixing it with things like benzodiazepines can be dangerous because they both suppress the autonomic nervous system, affecting respiratory functioning.

However, I feel like most SSRI’s typically warn against drinking due to possibilities for increased side effects, such as dizziness or drowsiness (I’m no doctor though). I know another concern is that these medications are metabolized through the liver, and alcohol is also hard on the liver, so you just want to be careful about not drinking *too* frequently, or there could be some problems down the line.

 

[meander]

Great thoughts here thanks guys- the liver one was something I overlooked as was the info on benzos.

 

[littleoc]

Everytime I post my topic gets moved cos I don’t know the proper nomenclature for certain things like depersonalisation (no z cos I’m English!)...I’m pretty sure this is the right place this time...

Haha, me too, no worries! They organize it better so more people can find it later. Doesn’t mean anything else!

Is it really that bad to take with alcohol?

I would say it’s a risk that you don’t necessarily need to take. It can have a lot of effects, depending on the medication, that are best avoided.

Some medications mix with alcohol in dangerous ways. Nerve cells speak to each other with neurotransmitters, which can be disrupted with alcohol. So, to put it super simply, alcohol may inhibit the med or enhance it, either way making it impossible to know if the medication is really helping you or not.

That, and we can’t just expect you to take alcohol like medication, so mixing them isn’t great.

If you’re drinking often, maybe you should think about why? Unless you mean just a glass of wine with dinner or something like that. If it’s in your routine or something you don’t do regularly, it’s possibly fine. But if you’re always mixing alcohol when maybe you’re drinking to feel better, maybe not. It depends!

I hope that helped and wasn’t confusing!

 

[meander]

I am def drinking cos it’s 5pm and I’ve been waiting since 10am to crack open a ‘sharpener’...I just don’t know how not to.

 

[littleoc]

Hm. Maybe you should mention that to your doctor and then decide if it’s an issue? To me that shows up like a red flag, but you and your doctor would probably be able to figure this out better than I could. :)

 

[somerandomguy]

If you've been thinking about drinking for 7 hours ... even if you haven't actually been drinking ... you might be dependent ?

 

[meander]

Which returns the original question
‘Only me?’

 

[The Albatross]

Here's the thing. I would and have for myself at one time... had to self examine why I felt either "rules were not for me" or "why I was unable to do med treatment as it was prescribed.

Is it okay? No, not really. But it can point you to deeper understanding about why/what the core issue is.

Some random guy said, "... people who use medications drink everyday, all the time."

Do they? Do they really?

No they don't. Every day all the time?
Broad generalization - I'd be cautious of heeding/buying this rationalization of med non compliance.

 

[Sideways]

Which returns the original question
‘Only me?’

Absolutely not only you. But given how difficult a lot of people find this issue to acknowledge, let alone talk about? Take a moment to give yourself a high five. It’s an incredibly important topic.

There is no generalised advice that is going to apply to all medications. The impact varies hugely. For a lot of psychotropics, regular alcohol consumption can basically make the medication completely ineffective. For some, as mentioned above? It’s incredibly unsafe - mixing alcohol woth benzos for example? Is the cause of many intentional and unintentional overdoses, and can result in death. For reals.

The only person who can give you advice about what is safe for you? Is your prescribing doctor. And it’s an important conversation to have. Having that conversation may not only save your life in the short term, it may end up having massive benefits for your symptoms in the medium term.

“Don’t mix this medication with alcohol” is a warning on many medication for serious reasons. Absolutely prioritise speaking to your doctor about what is safe for you - the advice may be urgent, or it may be “no issue, let’s switch you to a different safer medication”.

Again, high five for asking about this. It’s not an easy topic.