Interaction between Zoloft & Alcohol

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Hey I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with drinking alcohol while taking this or any other AD.

I really should have checked before the uni dinner, but I have drunk a bottle of beer before with no side effects.

So yesterday I drank a bit more than usual, but not enough to get drunk or anything. A few hours later I started feeling queasy. I chalked that up to eating less than usual at these events. But today I'm feeling "irrationally" sad, like I hadn't been taking the meds at all.

So is this just an off day or should I be more careful?

I don't really know much about how alcohol effects the various types of medicine if one ends up "mixing" the two. Though i can imagine that the alcohol had an effect on the medicine's effect on you, in that way that it weakened the effect of the medication, then not being able to stop the symptoms the medication is meant to "prevent"/reduce.

It could also be the fact that you didn't eat enough, making the alcohol's effect on you stronger.

Maybe next time you should wait a while longer after having taken medicine (plus also read on the label/internet if alcohol has any effects on it), before you drink alcohol.

Though i don't think what you're experiencing at the moment is anything to worry about - like i mentioned, it's probably just the medicine not working properly after the drinks.

PS: Sorry for the many times use of the word effect

Simple answer is to be more careful. My guess is that the main culprit is eating less - so less carbs to soak up the alcohol.

I've drunk alcohol on 3 classes of AD, inc Zoloft, with no ill effects. But it's entirely possible that I'm more of an alchie than you are.

An important thing to remember is that alcohol is a depressant. Which might mean that your "irrational sadness" can be explained by your feeling the depressant effects of the alcohol more than usual. Which might mean the AD is working for you and any alcohol is tending to work against it.

Easy enough to test - take an alcohol free period and compare your mood to what it was before starting the AD. Then have some alcohol. Then make an informed choice as to whether to drink or not and in what quantity.

On SSRI's I drink more - the drug makes me less aware I have an alcohol problem, alcohol processing is better, and I don't get hangovers. Your metabolism might be totally different from mine.

You probably drink more because SSRIs act on the brain like speed or cocaine, so it takes more alcohol to counteract that and get the same level of buzz you're used to.

Same reason people on SSRI sleep meds tend to sleep-walk, cook, eat and drive. The conscious part of the brain may be asleep, but the rest is lit up and rarin' to go.

I've had no problem having the occasional beer on Sertraline. When I gave it a brief search on the web, I didn't find much of negative interaction except possible increased drowsiness. A higher dose may have more of an effect though (I could not drink on Paxil at all without getting immediately dizzy), and of course it's recommended to stay away completely.

The antidepressants and mood stabilizers I've tried include Zoloft, Celexa, Prozac, Wellbutrin, Paxil, Remeron, Lexapro, Effexor, Lamictal, and Abilify (and Tenex for my tics). I still love my beer and wine, and haven't noticed any differences between the various medications, or between being medicated or non-medicated when it comes to alcohol.

Thanks for the replies guys. My first assumption was probably the right one - the restaurant was kind of a cheapskate compared to past ones and I was pretty hungry.

The moodiness might have been a combination of an uneasy stomach and lack of sleep.

Either way I'll be a bit more careful in the future - I'll eat a salad and drink water before heading out. I like to drink the occasional beer and glass of wine so I'm glad there's no serious side effects.

I never had trouble drinking alcohol whole taking an AD. But I once took risperidone (it's pretty much the same as risperdal) and was drinking just one beer and afterwards I felt so terribliy strange, that I even thought I would need to go to the hospital.

Metabolisms really are different - I have no probs with risperidone and alcohol.