Alcohol and antidepressants?

Hi everyone...my dear friend and roommate just moved in with me and some other friends this year. He is on antidepressants and is very responsible usually, taking his recovery seriously, putting his life back together, etc.

We are all university students in our 20's, and occasionally we drink for fun, but maybe once every two months or less. Now that my friend has moved in, he has occasionally mentioned drinking with us. Before he was VERY strict about not even having a beer with his antidepressants, and now he is saying that it's okay to have a beer or two.

What is the problem with mixing alcohol and antidepressants exactly, if one only does it VERY occasionally? Could he come to physical harm if we are all looking after him and making sure he doesn't drive or do anything of the like?

I am inclined to just stop our drinking nights altogether now that this friend has moved in because I don't want to put him at risk, but on the other hand, he has been extremely responsible and just seems to want to have fun occasionally...again, we have never had "drinking nights" more than once every two months. I would be okay with just forgetting about drinking and my other two roommates would as well...we love our friend and he says he's done the research and everything, and I trust him to be responsible, but I just wanted a second opinion.

Thanks so much for reading!!

Leo

Leonore,
Hello, and Welcome to The Healingwell Site. I'm Serenitee, and its very nice to meet you. This is a wonderful forum & community of amazing members.

The title of your post caught my attention. I am a recovering alcoholic & I was drinking & taking Anti-depressants. I wound up one year ago & hit rock bottom. Anywaz, its obviously never good to mix alcohol with anything else. I recommend you checking out the website: www.mayoclinic.com...Then you can type in Alcohol and Antidepressants. It really gives you more exact problems that can occur while doing both. I wrote down some word for word from their webpage, just a little info.

Mayo Clinic: The use of both alcohol & antidepressants can worsen your symptoms & in some cases be dangerous. A person may feel more depressed & the drinking can counteract the benefits of the antidepressant, making symptoms more difficult to treat. Alcohol may seem to improve the persons mood in the short term, but overall effect increases symptoms of depression. The combination of Antidepressants & Alcohol can affect coordination, judgement & reaction time (motor skills) more than Alcohol alone.

Pleez note: I am not a professional in the medical field ...I did get this information from the Mayo Clinic Website & if you just google Antidepressants & Alcohol or vise versa there is quite a bit of information you can look up.

Alcohol for me, almost destroyed my 23-yr marriage, my 7-kids, 3-grandkids & my entire life. I was put on lockdown on the Psych/Suicide Ward for a couple weeks, the police were the ones that put me on the lockdown (no charges put against me, just professional help). Then 6-months Outpatient Treatment.

Pleez know I am not saying this because your friends or you are going to go down that path, however, Alcohol is toxic to your body sooner or later. I wish you & your friendz all the best & good luck with College.

Sending you Smiles & Rainbows your way,
Your Healingwell Friend,
Serenitee

Thanks so much for the responses, guys. I'm thinking it should be fine...as said before, we rarely drink, and it'll be easy to avoid altogether. I'm not worried about my friend binge drinking or becoming more depressed, I was just wondering if they could cause a bad reaction together or something if he had a couple beers...from what I'm seeing it's best not to risk it.

Thanks for helping me out, further input is always appreciated :)

Leo

I have to agree with all the threads on this. Alcohol makes depression worse and counteracts the effectiveness of antidepressants.

I know that librium can be dangerous to use with alcohol; I feel sure
he would feel better if he checked the internet on the side effects of the particular antidepressant he's taking and see if he is advised not to use alcohol in any form while on that medication. Both alcohol and caffeine make bipolar illness and depression worse.

You are truly his good friends if you are willing to give up your drinking interests to protect him from indulging. Alcohol causes increasing levels of lower and lower conscious functioning; it's just not good for the brain at all and can cause serious harm in the long haul if drinking becomes a serious habit; it is addictive, you know, as is caffeine.

If you can give it up, you'll be far better off in the long run. It is so often considered the social thing to do when it is actually anything but a social activity. Read and learn about the effects of long-term alcohol use, please. Sound like a crusader, don't I? Sorry, but I am interested in your health and academic achievement and long-term happiness.

Learn all you can about drinking alcohol. (Then read the book
Alcoholics Anonymous by the Hazeldon Foundation--not that any of you are alcoholics by any means, but you need the knowledge about it to guide your behavior at 20 years of age.)

Good wishes and a healthy lifestyle to you all,

It's Genetic

Post Edited (It's Genetic) : 9/1/2011 2:46:49 PM (GMT-6)