celexa and alcohol

[youngguy800]

hey Im a 21 yr old white male. I take 20mg of celexa every morning for anxiety. Anyways when I go to the bars and drink alcohol, I get the worst mental hangovers that linger for 2-3 days. I'll be fine that night, but the next day I will have terrible brain fog/confusion problems no matter how hydrated I am or what I eat.. I have been drinking on weekends since I was about 16. I cannot remember if the hangovers got this bad before or after i started anxiety medication.. . Could this be due to the celexa? Or is it some alcohol induced brain damage..

thanks

[cj29]

Can you go out and have a good time without drinking?  I would have to agree that maybe you should stop and see how you feel in the short term.  I know it is difficult dealing with anxiety, but you can and will get through it.  

[youngguy800]

Thanks guys. I know drinking is bad and I only do it occasionally. I am not an alcoholic my friends drink MUCH more. Although I probably started drinking at a younger age than them. Honestly I just wish I could go out and drink moderately at the bar and not have an awful brain fog the next couple days... even if I drink 3 drinks I feel awful the next day... When I used to be able to go hard and study the next day and feel functional come Monday. Maybe its just age. but I guess where my anxiety comes in is worrying there is damage to my brain or something because this seems abnormal :/

[Eilhsa]

Firstly if you have a history of drinking heavily or regularly you might consider abstaining early on in your treatment, if this is a factor in your anxiety/depression.
Talk to your Doctor about this if it seems relevant.

I don't know if there's any science behind it, but my hang overs seemed to get much worse from 14 when I started drinking, to about 19 (when, pretty much, I stopped). Between then I binge drank on a regularly but not daily basis. I also suffered from blackouts which became more frequent and didn't necassarily correlate with the amounts of regularity of my drinking. It may well be that getting older is making your hang overs worse (why this is I don't know, it's entirely anecdotal). I can no longer drink as a result of the fear I have of the blackouts and hang overs. No medication involved.

Your citalopram will make you drowsy. If it does not make you noticably drowsy, do not assume that is therefore safe to drink. Alcohol not only makes you drowsy but means you are more likely to experience the side effects of citalopram- namely drowsiness. Anecdotally I have heard of patients complaining of headaches and a 'foggy mind' at the beginning of their treatment though I don't know if there's any evidence to back these claims up?

Regardless of this speak to your Pharmacist or Doctor for advice. You do not want to accidently overdose, or suffer with those damn hang overs after only one glass any longer.

If you're only drinking very moderately and your Pharmacist or Doctor are not concerned about the effect this will have on you (other than a standard hang over) then look at how much water you're drinking. An extra glass of water or two 10 hours after you finished drinking probably won't be enough.

[cj29]

I would have to agree that you should not mix alcohol with SSRI's like Celexa.  I believe having a drink or two will not really hurt you, but that is a conversation to have with your prescribing doctor and what other types of medications you might be on.  It sounds like you are drinking alot though and regardless that can be a very hard obstacle to get through when dealing with anxiety.  In my experience, drinking a lot can worsen my anxiety in both the short and long term.  

[mammo]

Hi......it tells you right on the bottle to not mix this medication with alcohol....it's a very dangerous mix and can be deadly.  You don't need the alcohol and it probably started as a way to self-medicate until you started the medication.  Alcohol takes you on a slippery slope and never ends well, you can have fun without it. Please think about this...you've got a lot of living to do!!