Hi Guys,

I first tried TSM a few years ago. It worked for me, but then I could not get the pills in my country. So, I was back to square one. I even tried buying them off from overseas pharmacies and they were stopped by customs in New Zealand. So, I was on my own. The last few years have been a rollercoaster to be honest.....but I have learned something in the last 12 months that I thought I should share here...in the hopes it might help someone else. I found out what was causing my alcohol cravings !!! It was the anti-depressant I was on. For me the SSRI and the SNRI forms of antidepressant cause uncontrollable cravings for alcohol. If you (or someone you know) struggles with alcohol and there is also a chance they could be taking anti-depressants, please share this message.

I first got depression after my second child (he is now 7) - and I tried to come off the drugs a few times, unsuccessfully. But 12 months ago, I weaned myself off them - and the alcohol cravings stopped immediately. I was also back to eating like a normal person too !!!! At the time, I did not put 2 and 2 together....I just went with the change, thinking I was somehow stronger than I had been previously. During this period without the antidepressants, I didn't want to drink - and on the occassion we had a social event, it was SOOOOO EASY to stick to one wine. But unfortunately my depression came back. (I won't go into the details of what I am like when I am depressed, let's just say, if I want to remain married to my wonderful husband, I needed to find a solution to the mood swings etc.) So, I went back to my doctor. I told her how hard I had found to get off the drugs, so she suggested I try a different one. (My first type was Prozac which belongs to the SSRI group of AD meds, the second one was another SSRI ...I can't remember the name Cloxy something?) As SOON as I started taking the new drug the alcohol cravings came back within 3 days. It is only when this happened that I realised the connnection. I was back to drinking a bottle of wine per night - sometimes more. So I went back to the doctor and explained my situation. I also did some research on the internet and found I am NOT the only one that this has happened to. I am not convinced my doctor believed me - but she was happy to try me on another pill. This time we steered away from the SSRI types and she trialled me on Effexor - which is an SNRI drug. Well the same thing happened, but this time worse. Not only were the alcohol cravings out of control, I was also eating more and craving sugar. It was a long road to get off the effexor - that is one nasty drug. I had serious dizziness and nausea getting off it, despite only being on a relatively low dose and for only a couple of months. Anyway - I am now on one of the old fashioned Anti-depressant drugs.....it works a completely different way to the modern ones - and I am sooooo thrilled to say, the alcohol cravings have GONE!!! GONE!!! I am so thrilled. I still drink socially, but I am not out of control; I choose when I will drink and how much, rather than the cravings taking over and controlling me.

The drug I am on now has taken a wee bit of getting used to - but it is worth it. THe new one is doxepin. I take it at night and it zonks me out, which is great, cause the others also gave me insomnia.

Anyway - if there is anyone on here that is taking either SSRI or SNRI drugs, it may be worth weaning yourself off to see what happens to your alcohol addiction. Mine is gone now that I am no longer taking SSRI or SNRI drugs.

All the best everyone.
Kiwi x

Thanks for this, Kiwi, I wish you the very best!

Curi

Hey there Kiwi! Thanks so much for your post - you've given me food for thought. I've been on a very very low dose of Zoloft for a very long time, but now that I think of it, my drinking did get worse about the time that I upped my dose a bit. I'm not SURE it's related, but it's worth bringing it up to my doctor. What a strange pharmaceutical world we live in...

Hi Kiwi -

This my first post on here.

I was on Celexa aka Citalopram ( an SSRI ) for 8 years. My capacity for alcohol was ridiculous. I was drinking a bottle of wine or more every night with maybe a few vodka tonics thrown in for good measure. I never felt drunk but would often forget things the next morning. Every now and then however when I drank even more, I would totally snap at my husband and say mean things which I would forget the next morning. Nice! I also never got hangovers. I did however have insomnia every night at about 2am. I gained 20 lbs and God knows what I did to my liver.
I've been weaning myself off the Celexa very slowly - two steps forward and two steps back - and have started taking Naltrexone. I definitely don't feel like guzzling wine anymore. Had one glass of wine the other night and poured half of the second down the sink. Amazing! If I panic and take a little more of the Celexa, the Naltrexone doesn't seem to work as well so I really have to get completely off the stuff.
I've started taking sam-e for depression/anxiety - actually a NZ brand called Thompsons Mood Manager. I am very scared of getting depressed again, but I think so far the sam-e is helping.
Oh and I told my doc about the ssri drinking link and she totally dismissed it, saying there would be peer reviewed studies about it if it were true! She urged me to continue taking it.
This is a phenomenon that people need to know about.
Good luck!

Hi Kiwi, I finally got registered which took me a very long time as I wasn't able to answer the bot questions. Thanks for pointing out the link on here between SSRIS and alcohol cravings. As you know I have suffered the same alcohol cravings and actually had my life destroyed by the combination. I have told my story on Dr David Healy's blog under "out of my mind driven to drink" hoping it may be helpful to some people who may be suffering the same thing. I think it is extremely important that this side effect gets recognized by professionals as it can be very harmful and destructive to some people's lives. Since starting on Mirtazapine my cravings for alcohol have completely vanished. Mirtazapine seems to have the opposite effect of the SSRI'S which I have explained why in my story. I am glad to say that I too have been cured but my life has been left in a terrible mess with a criminal record and unemployment.

Wow! This was very encouraging to me! I have been doing TSM for 4 months now, and while it has helped me tremendously, I feel like I am stuck at where I am now. I am not where I want to be, and just feel that I am not moving forward. I am taking a low dose of Prozac daily, and I think that may be my problem. I am starting to ween myself off of it now to see if that helps. Thank you for sharing! By the way, we live in the US, but my husband is from NZ. My kids are 1/2 kiwi.