[Wanderlust90]

Has anyone experienced an increase in the urge to, & enjoyment of drinking alcohol on ADs, specifically SSRI/SNRIs? Or like me a significant reduction in drinking after stopping ADs?

Looking back retrospectively I can see the pattern of increased frequency of drinking, an increase in how much I could drink & how much I liked it & was driven to drink more after starting pristiq & then prozac (worse with pristiq.)

Lithium oddly seemed to reduce my ability to drink & enjoyment of it, perhaps because I became nauseated when I combined the 2, maybe levels raised with the dehydration associated with drinking? Or maybe it just irritated my stomach too much & alcohol was adding fuel to the fire. Regardless my original pdoc correlated it with hypomania. Anyone else experience this or could it be the ADs causing an elevation in mood which then increases my drinking?

[MikeDelta]

Before i was dxed. I drank significantly like everyday when on wellbutrin compared to my normal usual drink once in a blue moon. But mine was a form of self medication (not that it wasn't fun). Wellbutrin wound me up and drinking took off the edge...

Now I hardly ever drink

[pirilin]

Lithium kills the desire to do most anything. Things can be done, but without passion.
I don't know about ADs. All I take is Remeron to sleep. At 15mg is mostly an antihistaminic.

[MusicLover82]

Be careful about mixing alcohol with meds. There are several SSRI's and mood stabilizers that say you should not have ANY alcohol while consuming them. My p-doc said at one point that it should be fine for me to have ONE drink, but I found the day after I was a raging *****!!! The alcohol seemed to interfere with my serotonin level (that was when I was taking Zoloft plus Latuda). So now, because I take Latuda, I don't drink at all, except for the occasional 1/4 glass of wine just to taste it. :-P I miss cocktails...

[MikeDelta]

Originally Posted by pirilin

Lithium kills the desire to do most anything. Things can be done, but without passion.
I don't know about ADs. All I take is Remeron to sleep. At 15mg is mostly an antihistaminic.

Good note on the lithium. Something I didn't know. Thanks.

[MusicLover82]

Originally Posted by MikeDelta

Good note on the lithium. Something I didn't know. Thanks.

Medications affect people differently. Lithium does not take away my desires or passions. I know some people complain about mood stabilizers in general making them feel "flat" but that is not the case for everyone. Pirilin may need to talk to his doctor about those side effects.