What are the risks of Fluoxetine and alcohol?

[Mr_Good]

I'm just curious as to the risks of combining the above really. Just starting out on a course of 40mg a day and wondering if I'm allowed a few pints still.

[Firefoot]

The medication can make the effects of the alcohol much worse and quickly. Say for example you can normally drink 4 pints before starting to feel any effect, you may feel massively pi**ed after just 1 pint.

[jackh707]

it's more advice in terms of the psychological effects rather than a particularly dangerous physiological interaction, for e.g. alcohol and tricyclics. (a different kind of antidepressant), that was the interaction that killed Marilyn Monroe.
of course fluoxetine is prescribed for lots of things besides depression, anxiety OCD etc., but I would strongly advise against taking the two together.

It can have different effects in different people but as said above, it often turns you into a proper lightweight, and it is common for people to have just a couple of tins and get very drunk and behave oddly and wake up the next morning not having a clue what you did last night.

[Rach*]

I mixed them, once, about 8 years ago at a house party. I remember hallucinating, vomming, falling over and ripping my tights, I was put in the spare bed by a load of people I didn't know very well!

I avoid fluoxetine now

[Mr_Good]

Well I transpires I can drink as much but I'm spaced right out, I type this in the middle of a field so its interesting. Certainly beats reality and some.

[dhutch]

Slightly interesting reading this.

I have been on 40mg for a couple of years now, and my drinking habits have remained similar, without ant particularly noticeable side effects.

This might well be because my drinking habits where to drink very little to start with, especially after my wife became pregnant with our first child and I never really went back to it with any sort of regularity.

That said, I have continues to have a couple of pints in the pub from time to time, especially over summer at steam rallies at the like. Plus then the occasional night out in town with friends/colleagues for a birthday or leaving do or whatever then it the often turns into a messy night out!