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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Feel Depressed When I Drink, 17 Year Old, Addicted To Sertraline. Why Does It Happen ?

Sir i am a 17 year old boy and am currently taking 100mg sertraline . The problem is that when i drink, which i do rarely like once in 2 weeks i feel very depressed the next day. why does this happen? is it because i am dependent on ssri. i have been on sertraline for 5 months and it has really changed my life. Thank You.
Fri, 30 Nov 2012
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Emergency Medicine Specialist 's  Response
Hello and welcome to Healthcare Magic. Thanks for your query.

Alcohol is known to be associated with a variety of psychiatric disorders, like depression, anxiety, psychosis, etc. It is also known to worsen or exacerbate underlying psychiatric problems, including depression. The way it does this is through its actions on the brain, causing imbalance of certain neuro-chemicals which are responsible for mood regulation.

Additionally, in your case, since you already have an underlying depression, the alcohol is probably causing a worsening of symptoms. Moreover, alcohol can also interact with and affect the action of your anti-depressant Sertraline, and this could be another reason why your depressive symptoms seem to be re-surfacing after taking alcohol.

It does not mean that you are dependent on the SSRI. So, please avoid consuming alcohol and continue to take the medication as advised by your doctor.

Wish you all the best.
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Psychiatrist Dr. Piyush Prakash Singh's  Response
hello ritumh,
first of all a sobering thought , the start of clinical depression at such an early age suggests that you may be vulnerable to mood swings/disease in future also. alcohol has an effect of "depressing the brai
n" in everyone ;the effects are more pronounced in you . again all this suggests that you MUST TREAT YOUR DEPRESSION MORE AGGRESSIVELY .
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Feel Depressed When I Drink, 17 Year Old, Addicted To Sertraline. Why Does It Happen ?

Hello and welcome to Healthcare Magic. Thanks for your query. Alcohol is known to be associated with a variety of psychiatric disorders, like depression, anxiety, psychosis, etc. It is also known to worsen or exacerbate underlying psychiatric problems, including depression. The way it does this is through its actions on the brain, causing imbalance of certain neuro-chemicals which are responsible for mood regulation. Additionally, in your case, since you already have an underlying depression, the alcohol is probably causing a worsening of symptoms. Moreover, alcohol can also interact with and affect the action of your anti-depressant Sertraline, and this could be another reason why your depressive symptoms seem to be re-surfacing after taking alcohol. It does not mean that you are dependent on the SSRI. So, please avoid consuming alcohol and continue to take the medication as advised by your doctor. Wish you all the best.