Is it safe to drink alcohol or smoke weed, while on Prozac?

I was prescribed Prozac for my bulimia, OCD, anxiety and depression. I don't have any real psychiatric problems like skitsophrena or nothing like that.

and personally, ive always been able to handle my alcohol very well, I can drink and handle ALOT, but know my limit, and stop within it. and am responsible.

my family doctor told me I can drink, and if that's the reason I don't wana take this drug don't wory, cus Prozac is something he belives can really help me and that the not drinking is just a warning they put on like any other drug.

my psychiatrist told me no.
and I asked him about weed smoking too, he said no.
but didn't really explain why...

It is not advisable to use alcohol or drugs while on psychotropic meds. An occasional drink now and then probably isn't a problem, but frequent drinking and certainly binge drinking while on meds is not a good idea at all. Everyone reacts differently to their meds when mixed with alcohol, etc., so you really won't know until you try. Unfortunately that means you do play a bit of Russian Roulette when you decide to mix alcohol with your meds.

I rarely drink, and when I do, generally one drink is all I can do on top of my meds.

the docs will tell you no to both. while it is true you shouldn't drink on any anti depressant smoking weed has got its pros and cons according to many researchers. In some areas they are using weed for combating depression. A little now and then makes me smile. But I am no professional

Because you will be useing three drugs that dont like each other , MEDS , DRUGS, DRINK.

I think if you decide to indulge in intoxication, skip the meds for that day..That's what I do when I drink,I don't take the dose for that day..so that there is least reaction

Max- does skipping a dose interfere with the indications of the meds? like, does it cause side effects or derail it from working or anything/? withdrwal symptoms? basically does skiping a dose **** with the whole medicine process? lol

No, I will never skip my meds. I do drink too much on my meds. Sometimes it affects me more than others

The meds can't work the way they're meant to with "interference". It's like the meds that say to take on a full stomach, with 8 oz. of water, at a particular time of day, etc.; the instructions aren't there to be ignored, bad things can happen and/or helpful things cannot.

You skip a med to drink so you risk mild dtox an med rejection for a drink. Why not just drink less??? the med and bozze give the same buzz but the hangover are 4 times worse. For meds to work you need to take them every day,

The deeper question is ...

Why do I want to sabotage my healing & recovery process like this?

Once you've honestly answered that question, you'll know the correct answer to the other one.

,
Pfrog

Agreed! I spent many years sober in AA (19 to be precise), then decided I had over reacted all those years ago and to give it another try. I no longer drink alcoholicly and am able to drink in moderation. By moderation I mean a beer or two once or twice a week. The thing that I notice is that I can feel the supresaive effects of those few beers for a day or two afterwards. It occurs to me that maybe everyone is right and alcohol really is a depressant. So its a reasonable question to ask myself why would I take a medication to relieve depression then dump something in me that's going to promote depression? What's the payoff?

As far as smoking weed goes, it never effected me that much either way. I'd probabaly smoke it myself if it were legal. Its always 4:20 somewhere.

I personally have never used prozac - but years ago I knew someone that did - and he drank alot, as well as smoked enough weed to make it worth it for a dealer to come to that are even if this guy was his ONLY customer. I don't remember him ever having any complaints or mishaps....

35 years ago i drank on prozac, i drank on all ssri,s still do the odd pint. but you dont drink the odd pint till something happens, like my pancreitis, gall bladder removal,bile trak reconstruction, kidney damage.ect ect. And weed is skunk weed now 10 times stronger than years ago an cause,s mental problems that can be major.

Pfrog - I really don't wanna sabotage my recovery. (I MAY have before ill admit, but I don't now). But what if I think not doing the things I love, well sabatoge my recovery? I just would like to be able to do both. Doing what you love is what makes life worth living, right?

Of course you have to have some sort of life through the madness or you are nuked, i did every thing wrong a would more than likey do the same again. I can only tell you what happens later not what happens now , you have a valid point its true you are a long time dead is the saying , i have been close to that a few times but hey thats life .Do what you think is best for you , then you have nobody but yourself to blaim thats how i play it.

Well I said I really didn't know, and was going solely by what I could see on someone else....And anyway just alcohol by itself could cause all that...
As for the weed being more potent, I know, I still use it, all that means is you need less of it to get the same effect. BUT keep in mind depending on what the point in using it is - you might not really want high THC content..THC is the ingredient that is useful for, well - intoxication, pain control, appetite stimulant, eye pressure reduction, TBC (actually it counter-acts THC) is better for stuff like seizures, and nausea. So in general if you are going to use it - yes it's best to pick out a strain that best fits what it is you wish to accomplish with it.
Not sure I totally agree with the deal on mental health issues either, well, no more so than any other drug might anyway...I guess I can see it might worsen things if there is an issue to start with though, in some cases...
But for me that stuff really dose feel like a gift from God...It helps my pain greatly without feels like someone is looking over my shoulder all the time, and without feeling nervous just because the supply is running low - and God forbid it hurts every day for some time (I have had that for months straight) - no noticeable withdraw when it's not needed - there are a handful of time when that alone will not get rid of it totally, but even then it helps enough not to need much more.
It also seems to help other issue that "traditional" medications have caused all kinds of issues with, but it at least temporarily help with the symptoms, perhaps not as long as tradition medications would, but even so, without the unpleasant effects, so...

Sure its just another med like any other,could well do without the munchies though fat enough on meds , No the reason i am against skunk my son used wrecky drugs like most dance generation kids. Start with wizz , ect ect coke when money ran to it. But SKUNK weed sent him paranoid and he knocked it on the head, he is married now 3 kids no mental prob,s , but the skunk screwed him.

I just talked about this with my therapist sort of, apparently a beer or two here and there isn't a big deal....but drinking in excess is where it gets to be an issue. So I'd say if you choose to still drink just see to it you don't drink too much and maybe drink less than normal till you figure out how the prozac interacts with it like how much it increases the effects. One other thing though what exactly does the psychatrist mean by 'drinking' sometimes people refer to getting really drunk as drinking but wouldn't consider having a beer drinking.

As for cannabis, its still largely illegal so that may have something to do with his response on that, but I can't imagine it being much of an issue either unless its in excess. I finally decided to give an anti-depressant prescription I have a try and I probably won't stop smoking weed but I will certainly be careful and see how it interacts.

I think with a lot of psychatists though they just don't want to encourage any non-prescription drug use. Or they might assume you have addiction issues and so might over-use alcohol or weed in spite of taking an anti-depressant.

But that is just based on what I've experianced/observed I am by no means a medical expert.

this is weird , i never was an alcholic , but self medicated to kill the pain in my head, they never asked about this in mental hospital, yet years after when i was having surgury for alchol damage in the general hospital, In walks a alchcol shrink from the mental hospital to ask if i was drinking. I said no not for 6 years WTF do you want and why didnt you ask that question when i was in the ZOO. she left within seconds

Sounds like either it was just too much for him to handle, or a slight allergic reaction (it dose happens, append to my sister, and in her case somehow it was verified she was slightly allergic to some chemical in it [not sure what one now] and low amounts where fine, nothing would happen unexpected, but too much and similar - but not exact things happened to her)

Sometime even though it's stupid considering they could mess you up bad if they don't know ALL your good and bad habits, some people don't tell there doctors everything, and might haven take steps to hide bad habits from there doctors. They are going to believe you as long as there is no reason to doubt it even slightly - but when something comes up they need to look at all possibilities.
About a month or so ago, I felt slightly insulted by an infectious disease doctor while in the hospital for a UTI. Turned out, yes it was a common infection, but not common to get it in the urinary tract. Well it was known that I self-cath 3 times a day due to urine retention issues, that is your explanation how it happened there. BUT this guy still asked about drug use in general, but hit hard on IV drug use. That in itself didn't bother me, after all, you really can't tell for sure any more, none of the stereo types hold any water as far as that goes, so...BUT what I found insulting was when it came done to the reason IV drugs inpiticular was a big deal was thinking a dirty needle! - My thought was - COME ON any one over 10 knows better than that!-IF I choose to use any IV drug for any reason, I am going to make sure I have a clean needle!, man, they only cost a few pennies, and you are going to take that kind of an additional chance to save a few cents! - But the fact is some people still will do that, and they need to at least check ALL the possibilities.

Alcohol as you probably already know is a depressant. So drinking could undermine any positive effects from Prozac. Totally get it though...in social situations it can be hard not to drink.

I take klonopin at night...4mgs, so I guess a rather high dose. One evening before I even took the Klonopin I had a rather strong drink with some vodka in it. True, I do not usually drink, but I am not THAT much of a lightweight...I threw up pretty soon after half of the drink. I was like, ok, never that again. Ugh.

4 mg of KLONIOPIN at night , wow just to sleep, thats one hell of an addicted tollorance just to sleep, I have took 2mg of ativan for years at night and that sparks me well out. 4mg klonopin is the same dose has 8mg ativan , how did you get to a state where you need such an amout to sleep and what do you take in the day to stop withdrawl from more klonopin

Well it interferes with the medicine process,and if you're on a drug which has a short half life,it will cause withdrawal. I am on Pristiq(Desvenlafaxine),an SNRI which causes awful withdrawal when I skip it, so I take it in the morning and manage the next dose according to that. One has to know this from experience.
Out of the two,skipping or not skipping and drinking, I'd prefer skipping the dose. Alcohol itself is psychoactive and don't know what will happen if I take my meds and drink Alcohol. I prefer skipping,and taking the next dose early to avoid/lessen the withdrawal.

Well firstly, 1,2, and 3 mgs never worked to help my nightmares enough to allow me to sleep. Only 4 did. So I never built up that tolerance to get to 4, I just needed 4 mgs to get it too work.

I have also gone 4 or 5 days w/out taking it when my insurance lapsed, and I had no withdrawal...I can't feel a difference if I take it or don't, only if I sleep and then I get the really bad nightmares if I don't take it. I don't take anything during the day except for topamax for my migraine prevention, but I am on no other psych meds.

So basically, my pdoc had to tell me that even if I don't think I am going to sleep that night, as I have bad insomnia and sometimes I just know sleep isn't going to happen, I need to take it anyway since my body might need the consistency of taking it (because I can take 4 mg and stay wide awake).
I had no idea it caused withdrawal until I read about it on here.

I was told a long time ago that my kidneys process medications fast, as it takes twice as much novicaine at the dentist to work and it doesn't last as long as "usual", etc...my father is the same way. And I am only 108 lbs, so I am going with the kidney theory. I realize I am completely abnormal, so you are like "wth"?...I am just an odd one.