Alcohol & Medication

[EyelinerAndCigarettes]

I'm planning on having 1 or 2 drinks on the weekend for a celebration & I was wondering if its safe to do so while I'm taking Mirtazapine 45mg & Olanzapine 5mg. In the past when I have had a drink I've missed taking my medication at night because I was concerned how it would effect me, but then missing the medications makes me ill... I don't *have* to drink but am wondering if I do have a drink what should I do regarding the Meds?

Thank you!
x x x

[sherlock holmes]

It's important you take your medication as prescribed. So I wouldn't advocate missing them! It's always suggested that you do not drink when on those medications, so the best thing would be to abstain from alcohol. However, if you choose to drink, you will feel drunk and uncoordinated much much quicker due to the meds. Alcohol is a depressant and so depresses your central nervous system- it slows down your brain functioning. As the mirtazapine and olanzapine do this too that's where the potential for danger occurs. You would experience much more sedation than usual, and could pass out or become very unwell.

[Animad]

As Sarah said. I would recommend you don't drink for the above reasons and missing a dose can be dangerous too, sometimes more dangerous as not only are the levels of medication fluctuating more in your blood but you'll still have quite a large proportion of the meds still in your blood from the doses beforehand if you've been on them more than a certain amount of doses (it depends on the medication) and so you're likely to still be under the effects of the medication whilst drinking, have the same side effects and also have potential problems with not taking the meds.

Really the rule is to not drink with these types of medications.

[tiptoes]

I tried having a single drink a couple of times on a similar combination (same AD different AP) and felt dreadful and completely unable to function the following day due to being so sleepy and fuzzy headed. I decided it really wasn't worth it and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Instead I try to celebrate with fancy soft drinks or make my own mocktails instead so it still feels like a treat.

[EyelinerAndCigarettes]

Thank so much everyone, I'll hold off on the drinking then :)

[Animad]

Hope you have a great time. Though it's sometimes not quite as fun when totally sober (I've not drunk for yrs mainly due to medications) it does give you the opportunity to laugh at how ridiculous some of the drunk people are being!