Never stop taking antidepressant medication just so you can drink alcohol. Stopping and starting your medications can make your depression worse.While it's generally best not to drink at all if you're depressed, ask your doctor. Background: Alcohol use and antidepressant prescription are prevalent in many countries, but little is known about their combined effects. Drinking can counteract the benefits of your antidepressant medication, making your symptoms more difficult to treat. Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization and proceeds from Web advertising help support our mission. The most common excessive form of drinking is binge drinking.

Stopping antidepressants suddenly can cause withdrawal effects, such as But the manufacturers advise avoiding alcohol during treatment because it might make you feel drowsy.TCAs can make you feel drowsy and affect your co-ordination, particularly during the first few weeks.The manufacturers advise avoiding alcohol while taking TCAs, although it may be safe to drink small amounts after a few weeks once the side effects have settled.A substance called tyramine, found in some alcoholic drinks, such as wine, beer and sherry, can cause serious side effects if taken with MAOIs, including a sudden and dangerous rise in blood pressure.If you're taking an MAOI, it's best not to drink alcohol and avoid consuming food or drinks containing tyramine.Most other antidepressants are not known to cause problems when taken with alcohol, but manufacturers generally advise not drinking.For example, you should avoid alcohol if you're taking mirtazapine, as it can make you feel very sleepy.Speak to your GP or pharmacist if you're not sure what type of antidepressant you're taking and do not know whether you should avoid alcohol. 2 Schaffler K. Study on performance and alcohol interaction with the antidepressant fluoxetine.

Alcohol may seem to improve your mood in the short term, but its overall effect increases symptoms of depression and anxiety. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission.Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic offers appointments in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota and at Mayo Clinic Health System locations.Our general interest e-newsletter keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics.It's best to avoid combining antidepressants and alcohol. Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below. Alcohol together with antidepressants can cause impaired thinking, judgment, coordination, and reaction time. It can also increase the side effects of some antidepressants, such as drowsiness, dizziness and co-ordination problems.It's best to avoid drinking alcohol if you're taking antidepressants, particularly if you're going to drive or operate machinery.The information and advice below is specific to the different types of antidepressants that are available.Never stop taking antidepressant medication just so you can drink alcohol. The combination can cause significant impairment and make doing normal tasks difficult or impossible.

Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) Keeping your doctor informed is important because:Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. 3 Davis LL, Rush JA, Wisniewski SR, Rice K, Cassano P, Jewell ME et al. If you have depression:If you're concerned about your alcohol use, you may benefit from substance abuse counseling and treatment programs that can help you overcome your misuse of alcohol. At the very least, it can prevent the medication from working properly. It may help to check the patient information leaflet that comes with your medication to see whether alcohol should be avoided. When a person is in a black out, they are temporarily unable to form new long-term memories while relatively maintaining other skills such as having conversations, eating, or even driving. Most antidepressants require taking a consistent, daily dose to maintain a constant level in your system and work as intended. Alcohol consumption may actually increase depression, counteracting the positive effects of the antidepressants. If you mix antidepressants and alcohol:Don't stop taking an antidepressant or other medication just so that you can drink. Mixing antidepressants like SSRIs with alcohol can be dangerous. International Clinical Psychopharmacology 1989;4(Suppl 1):15–20. All rights reserved. Objective: Having been surprised by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant-treated patients who became prone to pathological intoxication, we examined this association, searching for relevant literature and cases.

If you have trouble limiting your alcohol intake, you may benefit from alcohol abuse and addiction treatment.