Hi
I have a question, can Naltrexone block the effect of antidepresants? I take Venlafaxine and couldn't find any info on that. So far everything was fine but for a few days I am feeling worse, there is anxiety, sadness, I am angry and scared somehow. I wouldn't connect it with Nal because I only took it 3 times and rarely but maybe you heard something about such a connection? I also can't sleep well but that can be connected with new pills that I take instead of old ones which worked perfectly. Is taking Nal - even seldom - with the use of sleeping pills and antidepresant - safe? Today I'm going to my new psychiatrist but I doubt she will be able to prescribe Nal or to talk about it because she has no idea what this is.

Hi Lilavi
Im not a doctor or a neuro scientist but if we are taking a drug that blocks our pleasure receptors it makes sense that we are going to feel down. I have been on prozac for 12 years and taking the nal certainly has made me very down demotivated and tired. Over my years on prozac I have gone between 20 mg and 40 Mg but since taking Nal I have been on 40 mg. You may want to talk to your doctor about increasing dosage of AD if you cant talk about the nal with her.

I find the depression is a great incentive to have AFDs. You know that you're going feel pretty crap if you nal and drink so having an AFD becomes a but more attractive.On your AFDS do stuff that makes you happy and releases the dopamine and that reinforces the whole extinction effect.

Feeling crap after taking Nal however is nothing on the crap I used to feel after having a huge night on the grog so there's the trade off and it's worth it.

There are quite a few posts on antidepressants and Nal on the board that you might find useful.

MD

Lilavi -

I've seen reports of Venlafaxine causing alcohol cravings, you can find it in a google search, but it's not something that happens for everyone that takes it. It seems to be peculiar to the individual. You have to consider that these are just reports on the internet, so you kind of have to take it with a grain of salt. If you search on SSRI Alcohol Craving, you'll see a number of similar reports, but then you'll see other people report that the very same antidepressant killed their desire for alcohol. You'll also see people report that same antidepressant made no difference at all in their drinking. I think few (if any) of those people were using TSM, if they were using Naltrexone I didn't see any mention of it.

One thing that I do understand is that none of them are made to drink on, so keep that in mind, you may get very strange results if you mix them with alcohol and I don't think you can call it safe at all, TSM or no TSM.

That being said, withdrawal from alcohol can give you the symptoms that you describe.

What kind of sleeping pills are you using?

Chlorprothixen

I'm not seeing much on the web about Chlorprothixen and alcohol. Is there a pharmacist around that might be able to give you more info? Maybe double-check the insert you got with the drug to see if it mentions anything about it?

EDIT:

Here's something:

http://www.medicine-fast.com/product/Ch ... 30-tablets

"The doctor will consider very carefully the application of this product in patients suffering from epilepsy, parkinsonism, mental retardation, alcoholism or abusing drugs with sedative (suppressing) effect on the CNS (central nervous system), cardiac disorders, severe liver and kidney diseases, disorders haemopoiesis, pulmonary disease, prostatic hypertrophy, glaucoma, myasthenia gravis, diabetes mellitus, in patients exposed to extreme / extreme temperatures and in the elderly."

Yeah, probably best to talk to your doctor about it, or at least a pharmacist.