hi everyone i ve just been reading through all your letters. thought you might be able to help!been on citaropalm for 6 month s and have been getting really tired and when i go out seem to have a self destruck button for not knowing when to stop drinking and make all wrong decision s. do you know if drinking gives you these s sort of side affects on these s tablets. thanks x :?
yes it can as alcohol is a depressant any way
when i drink i get a bit silly as well abit out of control in a happy way though :roll: so yes alcohol does effect the pills :D
Yes, alcohol is a depressant and it's not a good idea to drink too much whilst you're taking citalopram. Or any SSRi for that matter. Having said that, of course most people know that alcohol helps in the short term. It gives you a temporary relief by distancing the problems and feelings for a while. Things don't seem to matter quite so much and you can resolve to do something tomorrow to sort everything out. Then again, when tomorrow comes, what you decided doesn't seem so easy after all. So, alcohol gives you temporary courage to tackle the problems, courage which you know will evaporate when the effect wears off. I don't think it's alcohol interacting with the citalopram as such. I think that when you know you have a problem, especially one that looks insoluble, the alcohol will give you a false optimism that things will be better tomorrow. Of course they seldom are.
The solution is to recognise what the alcohol is doing and to accept the relief for what it is - just a period of feeling a little better. There's nothing wrong with that. If you take it to excess then the alcohol will do what it does to any other person. It might make you excessively happy, or it might make you cry. Or it might make you wild or silly. It depends on your personality and situation. If you're going to use it then use it just enough to make things feel better for a while and recognise that it won't solve a problem, just give you a mental holiday.
I hope this makes sense. It was written on glass two of a very nice tempranillo. That will be the last glass. Best wishes.
Hi there,
I was on Sertraline for 6 months about 2 years ago, and I believe Sertraline and citalopram work in similar ways..
Anyways...yeh, during this time at was at uni and during the first couple of weeks of taking this drug I acted really impulsively and wanted to go out and get drunk every night- I even took Cocaine and pills- which I would never have done previously! Im just not that sort of person. I also had strange urges to be promiscuous- again not something id normally condone.
Some people whilst on these drugs feel the urge to go out and shop lift...it affects us all in different ways.
Serotonin inbalances are known to make people behave in funny ways. Look at Stephen Fry for example- he has bipolar and when hes manic he has impluses to go out on huge shopping sprees.
When were depressed we feel insecure, helpless and empty.....the other end of this scale are feelings of being indestructable and the need for risk taking.
You moods will settle down and your body will find the happy medium 
Have fun but look after yourself
xxxxx