Posted by King Vultan on March 12, 2004, at 19:11:39
In reply to Re: A depressant defeats the purpose of an AD, posted by theo on March 11, 2004, at 18:53:34
> Alcohol is a Central Nervous System depressant, case closed. If you can show me documentation that it's a stimulant or another class, I'd love to see it.
It's true that alcohol is classified as a CNS depressant, but it does have stimulating and/or euphoriant effects in many cases. One only need read the diverse experiences of people taking a particular antidepressant to realize that people can obviously have very different reactions to alcohol also, which is just another drug. I do not subscribe to the philosophy myself of avoiding alcohol entirely while taking antidepressants, but I think that people clearly need to exercise caution.FWIW, on the 10 different antidepressants I've tried, I only had serious problems with alcohol on one (Prozac), on which I developed alcoholism. Two others where I noticed an interaction were Effexor, which made me sleepier than I would have otherwise been drinking alcohol, and Wellbutrin, which limited my ability to drink. It was like I was full or something and just couldn't drink as much. I assume this is some dopamine thing related to its anti-smoking properties.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:322975
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040308/msgs/323733.html