Ok let me post a SERIOUS warning here!!
If you're taking any type of antidepressant, be very very VERY careful with alcohol.
Let me tell you a little story about something that literally almost killed me.
I had been taking 100 mg of Elavil for quite a while.. I had always been warned to be really careful mixing Elavil and alcohol so I never drank while I was taking it. Once I was off of it for almost 3 weeks, I thought I was safe. I decided that I would have a few drinks at my husband's Christmas party for work. The only thing that I drank that night was wine. I don't remember how many glasses I had, my husband guessed around 6 or 7 (yep quite a lot).
To make a long story short, I passed out in the car on the way home and my husband couldn't wake me up. He took me to the hospital where they pumped my stomach, hooked me up to a heart monitor, and it took THEM over 4 hours and a few IV bags to get me to wake up (my chest was so bruised from all the sternum rubs they had did). I don't remember any of this, just going by what my husband told me later. Apparently respiratory services were called to my room at some point and they kicked my husband (then fiance') out.. so he doesn't know why or what happened and wasn't allowed back in my room until I woke up some.
Diagnosis.. severe alcohol poisoning.
Like I said, I was out of it, I don't remember anything except waking up in the hospital with a bunch of tubes everywhere - but I had no clue why, and to be honest I don't think I cared - still don't remember much.. just going by what he told me a few days later when I was back to normal... talk about a week long hangover, no kidding there.
Apparently, at one point, everyone thought that maybe I had been slipped something at the party.. they couldn't figure out why I couldn't be woken up. They knew I had drank quite a bit, but not enough to render me completely unconscious.. They tested me for all sorts of drugs.. nope, nothing. They asked my husband if I had been taking any medicines recently.. So he mentioned that I HAD been on Elavil, but had been off it for a couple weeks or so. AHA!!!!
What he was told was that certain antidepressants, such as Elavil, DOUBLE the affects of alcohol.. so while I only (and I say that loosely) drank 6-7 glasses of wine, to my body it was 12 or 14 glasses. I'm only 110 lbs. Also, some meds like that take almost a month to get completely out of your system.. and I guess it depends on the dosage and how long you were on it as well. I had only been off of it for a little over 2 weeks. Had my husband not taken me to the ER that night, I very well could have died.
SO.. moral of the story.. if you're going to drink after taking antidepressants, be EXTREMELY careful. For every drink you have, count it as two. Have someone help monitor your drinking.. if you can't guarantee that you can keep track of your drinking or that someone else can, DO NOT DRINK.
Don't play with your life.. I learned a lesson that almost cost me mine.
. Good luck with getting off the meds!
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