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Citalopram and alcohol

Posted , 4 users are following.

steve24310
steve24310

I've been on citalopram for 7 weeks now, and it took about 6 weeks or so for me to start feeling really good, and then this past week I've felt really nice, so last night I stupidly decided to have a few beers and a couple of glasses of wine to celebrate.

Then this morning I woke up, not much of a hangover (yay), and felt alright, just a bit tired.  But as the day has worn on, this afternoon and this evening I've felt really low again, depressed, and like I'm back to square one again.

Just wanted to know if anyone else had experienced this, and if so, is it just a one day event where you're paying for drinking the night before, or does it set the recovery back days, maybe even weeks?

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • diane524
    diane524 steve24310

    Posted

    It won't start you back to square one as I understand it, but alcohol is actually a depressant so it will wear off and you will get back on track. It is recommended that you never have alcohol with anti-depressants and now you see why.

    • steve24310
      steve24310 diane524

      Posted

      I absolutely do see why. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be better.  Thanks.

    • diane524
      diane524 steve24310

      Posted

      Keep thinking positive that it will be and that helps me.
    • steve24310
      steve24310 diane524

      Posted

      I hadn't had a drink since December either so aswell as the alcohol making me feel depressed, I'm also rather angry with myself for having alcohol again so it's a double hit.  Thanks.

  • danniedepp
    danniedepp steve24310

    Posted

    Sometimes after a night of drinking I will feel low the next day. However, this happened to me even when I was not on citalopram. If you haven't had an alcoholic drink in a while your body almost takes it as a "shock"

    From what I have learned is that this is called an "emotional hangover" if you want to look it up.

    people with depression or anxiety are more likely to experience this after a night of drinking. Therefore will drink more to avoid feeling that way. Which then becomes abuse. Not saying this will happen every time you drink though. I take citalopram daily and have had a very good experience on it I used to be a heavy drinker and now I will maybe have a few drinks on a random Friday where as before i was drinking daily.

    Good luck.

  • lynne916
    lynne916 steve24310

    Posted

    I'm not a drinker so don't have your experience to comment really but I do know any blip is usually short lived.  I think that once the medication stabilises itself without the alcohol you will feel good again. 

  • steve24310
    steve24310

    Posted

    Thanks everyone. As it happened I was back to my good self again the day after and am now carrying on as normal.. But huge lesson learned.
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