Why can't you drink well taking anti-depressants ?!
Question:
Why can't you drink well taking anti-depressants ?
Answers:
My goodness you've been given some silly answers. I was on anti depressants for ten years. Alcohol, as one of your more sensible respondents said, is a depressant and once the 'high' wears off after a few drinks, usually the feelings of depression are more acute and difficult to deal with.
Many people who take Zoloft, Prozac, and other depression-related medications drink light to moderate amounts of alcohol without serious side effects, or any effects at all. However, it's important to know what the possible interactions may be so that you can be on the lookout.
When there is a noticeable reaction from mixing alcohol with anti-depressants, it's often an amplified response to the alcohol, i.e., one drink may end up feeling like two. If you usually feel tired, or even a bit depressed, after drinking, then you might feel even more so if you're on anti-depressants. They affect your brain's ability to absorb serotonin, which acts as a neurotransmitter, transmitting nerve impulses between nerve cells and affecting mood. Alcohol also affects serotonin levels in your brain by altering your brain's production of it. That's why using the two together could produce unexpected and unwanted emotions.
Similarly, the shaky motor skills and slower reaction time common for alcohol users may get even shakier when anti-depressants are present — these responses can occur suddenly and unexpectedly. Zoloft, and the other anti-depressants like it, can also produce sedative effects; since alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, lowered heart rate and blood pressure changes are possible.