Posted by cole on September 6, 2001, at 16:19:17
I thought I'd ask a few ?'s for my boyfriend while I'm around. He was put on Celexa 20mg about 7 weeks ago to manage depression/ rage secondary to Tourette's and OCD. He seems to drink to manage anxiety, when feeling esp. bad he'll drink heavily (4 or more drinks/ day) about 5 days per week. Moderate drinking for him is drinking only 2 drinks in a day at least every other day, but still drinking excessively once every 1-2 weeks.
When he started with Celexa he had a great initial response-- mood brightened, drinking decreased, and rages substantially decreased for about the first 3 weeks.
He's been on it for 7 weeks now, and his drinking has increased again, as have the rages, and he's having substantial mood swings. My pdoc thought that the alcohol could be undermining the efficacy of the med, but I'm also wondering if he isn't drinking because he is no longer responding to the med. He also smokes and recently quit chewing tobacco, and I read on the tips page that tobacco use can inhibit the effects of SSRIs.
He'll be seeing the GP who is managing his meds under consultation with his neurologist. Any ideas? I looked around on tips and thought that either an increase to 30 or 40 might help, or augmentation. Naltrexone might be a good idea with the drinking problem, but I don't know how that would affect the Tourette's or whether a GP would feel comfortable prescribing such a drug.Any ideas?
Thanks,
cole
poster:cole
thread:78055
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010902/msgs/78055.html