Why is it bad to drink alcohol while on SSRIs?
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The thing is we don’t know and tbh USUALLY combining SSRIs and alcohol doesn’t really produce any effects. USUALLY.
But what we are worried about is what we call ‘pathological intoxication’ in which patients who are on an SSRI, experience getting batshit crazy drunk including violent and sexual behaviour with loss of memory of the said events in like half the patients.
SSRIs as you know are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
Serotonin – stimulates you and makes you happy
Alcohol – depresses your brain, now when I say depressed, I mean all areas of your brain. So your brain has an area that makes you think rationally. That part is the reason you don’t randomly start dancing to Taylor Swift at your grandpa’s funeral because that part of the brain stops you. But alcohol ALSO depresses that area so it causes inhibition of inhibitions, geddit? So that’s why you do drunk shit when you drink.
So the theory is SOMETIMES this effect of alcohol causing less inhibitions combined with stimulatory effects of serotonin due to SSRI may cause this imbalance and hence that should be avoided.
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