Alcohol & Sertraline

First time I drank on sertraline, I woke up anxious, only lasted a couple hours though .

If you really need it take the diazepam , but if you can try and tell your self it's a hang over and just the consiquence of the alcohol , it will pass.

Drink water have a bath, and deep breaths xxx

hi sarah, i also had a bump in my road of recovery a few weeks ago, when, after taking sertraline for several months and doing well, i took some pain pills for a couple of weeks, but ended up having a bad reaction, where i found those feelings all coming back like when i was not taking sertraline.. so:   bad anxiety, depression, negative thinking, and so on.  my appetite was also completely gone, and i had an upset stomach also.

this was a few weeks ago.  and i thought to myself   "i dont believe it, im back to square one,  the sertraline has been destroyed by the pain pills i took, and it wont ever work again!"

of course it turned out that these feelings were completely irrational, and after one week of stopping the pain pills, and continuing to take my sertraline as normal each day, i am am back to how i was before i took the pain pills, sertraline working fine, and im fine again

so sarah i would very much think the feelings/issues you are having will go away on there own in another day or two.  you shouldnt have to wait long, and your anxiety will make you think that 'you will never be well again and it's become a disaster'.. but try to just get on with your daily routine and not focus on any lingering anxiety from the alcohol episode.

obviously if things are way too difficuly for you at the moment, you could certainly use the diazepam to help you feel better if you wish.  and of course as always, you can always go to see your doctor just for a chat and peace of mind, no doubt your doctor will also reassure you that your blip is temporary and you will feel better in not time again.  there's no way a few glasses of alcohol could have cancelled out several months of your progression on sertraline, so try not to worry ok and i expectyou will feel fine in a day or two

Try to do something to burn off the anxiety.

Hi Sarah

I've experimented twice to see if I can tolerate a couple of drinks but both times I had at least week of feeling down, upset stomach, anxious and the horrible depersonalisation sensations.

I think it's the interaction of the meds and the alcohol and it's not triggering a relapse. My GP told me that sertraline can slow down the breaking down of the alcohol in your body plus you're taking a depressant alongside something to bring you up.

I've decided now that it's just not worth it and I will wait til I'm off the meds.

Clare

Thanks so much everyone, I will give it a week and hopefully things will get back to "normal".

It is possible I'm just freaking out a bit over a job interview I have coming up too. Its my first attempt to return to work after a very bumpy few years of anxiety, I felt ready to get back on the horse and try life again. Its hard (as im sure you all know!) to get back on track after panic attacks but Ill try not to let this blip get on top of me as i felt like i was really making some progress.