What happens when you drink alcohol while taking antidepressants?

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you mixed alcohol and antidepressants, let me tell you one thing – it’s not a good idea. Drinking alcohol while taking antidepressants can be dangerous for your health, so it’s important to know exactly what happens when these two substances are combined.

Antidepressants are used to treat depression, anxiety, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), and other mental health conditions. They work by balancing the levels of serotonin in your brain. On the other hand, drinking alcohol can lead to changes in your mood and behavior because it affects the levels of neurotransmitters in your brain.

Here’s everything you need to know about mixing alcohol with antidepressants:

How Do Antidepressants Work?

Before we dive into what happens when you mix antidepressants with alcohol, let’s first understand how they work on a biological level.

  • Types of Antidepressant Medication

There are different types of antidepressant medication available that affect different neurotransmitters in your brain.
SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) increase the level of serotonin in your brain by blocking its absorption. Some common examples include fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), citalopram (Celexa), and escitalopram oxalate(Lexapro).
SNRIs(block both noradrenaline and SEROTONIN) such as duloxetine(Cymbalta)
MAOIs(Monoamine oxidase inhibitors) prevent monoamine oxidase from breaking down norepinephrine,dopamine,and serotonin leading increased amount reaching neurons.SADLY eating cheese,wines or any food rich tyramines will result to massive potential hypertensive crisis.

The Effects Of Mixing Anti-depressant And Alcohol

Mixing anti-depressant medications with alcoholic drinks causes increased depressive symptoms and decreased effectiveness of the medication as they compete with the drugs in the liver to be broken down or excretion occurs.
Drinking alcohol while on antidepressants can have dangerous side effects, including:

  • Increased risk of suicidal behavior

Taking too much antidepressant along with drinking can worsen depression and even lead to quickened suicide. A person holding onto a bottle might sound like they are joking but it is better reported or waved off than ignored.

  • Lowered efficacy of the Antidepressant

Due to alcohol’s sedative properties,the mental elation from prescribed meds would become reduced making treatment ineffective over time.The brain adapts by fitting a portion so doing will make sure zero progress occurrs this goes for other medication too which proves disastrous long term.

  • Interferes inhibitors’ capabilities

Most depressants interact disturbingly when ingested alongside Alcohol .This results probably in nausea,a headache,intense woozinessand waywardness. In addition you’ll definitely notice strains on your our body if any other substances are combined because liver metabolism rate becomes slower at breaking them all down(all via oxidation) without considering that enzymes supporting drug breakdown gets shifted respectively.Every medicine has an action site varying between three mechanisms re uptake inhibition, enzyme activation/inhibition,Etc which mean such sites get obstructed rendering them inactive frequently resulting in complications since these substances no longer indicate substantial therapeutic effect.
For instance SSRI’s and MAOIs possess similar basic function except one acts by decreasing serotonin degradation(an enzyme is responsible previously named monoamine oxidase), where as SSRIs regulate its supply levelsby limiting input during transport process directing it strictly into their receptors.Use acetylcholinesterase inhibitors(concern esterase)(one mode dementias getting targeted)It prevents acetylohcholine from eventually deforming (via breakage )into choline-acid(acetic type acid form).If alcohol gets mixed in ,there will be fewer enzymes focusing on each individual drugs metabolism.

  • An Increased Recovery Time

Your liver is responsible for breaking down both alcohol and medication. Meaning it is working way more than usual everytime these two substances get combined so if you decide to go over board at a party,plan therapy recovery for the next day instead.

Conclusion

Drinking while taking antidepressants can have serious health risks.The normal processes implemented upon ingestion systems undergoes gross alterations which contradicts medicinal intake specifically with functions.To be safe,it would prove smarter to treat cocktail sessions as isolated experiences by spacing it out effectively so that body returns maximum therapeutic effects You are advised to always consult your doctor or pharmacist for advice before consuming Alcohol while on anti-depressants because they understand the progression better having analysed other essential facts such dosage needed alongside certain drinks. Remember not all things should happen together no matter how precise you imagine them complementing one another perfectly ,in concept its workable but might leadto long term complications in reality.actually regarding this subject anything under 30mg mixed with moderate consumption of alcoholic drinks (two bottles low percentage type beer)shouldn’t even fly too much risk.But technically Sherry when taken during duloxetine treatment do lower hepatic enzymes activities meaning duloxetine isnt excreted enough leading increased plasma concentrations there could potentially mean adverse side effect.

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