Hi all,

After 5 months of Lexapro and feeling great (besides minor sexual side effects) , recently started to crave alcohol. Prior to the Lexapro I was a weekend social drinker and would get drunk off 4-6 beers. In the past two weeks I have started binge drinking and find I am not really getting that drunk and have minor hangovers the next day.

I have stopped drinking now all together and did not drink on Lexapro up to this point.

Has anyone else experienced this problem, it is very scary ?

I had the same experience on Celexa and Lexapro. My alcohol craving went from take-it-or-leave-it to gotta-have-it-right-now. This was the main reason I stopped the medication. It's a well documented side effect of serotonergic meds, like SSRIs and SNRIs. We have an article on DF about it here. Now I only take Wellbutrin, which doesn't increase serotonin and doesn't increase my cravings.

That's a good link. I often wondered why this was as I have had similar excessive desires to get that "high feeling" when both SSRI and Alcohol are mixed. So little alcohol to get a sizable buzz and then some. Eventually the no hangover rule gets old. I started feeling worse, hangovers, as the combination continued onward. Seems the hangovers get worse and the desire to feel high doesn't lose it's grip..

I keep cutting back, and am now down to two beers a night. Not recommended at all, but I can't seem to stop completley.

Dusty

This post has been edited by DustyRoad: Jun 30 2008, 01:30 PM

Hi there!

I experienced the same thing. What you write sounds very similar, at least. I went from being able to tolerate three, maybe four drinks at the absolute most to being able to drink all night without feeling many effects. My significant other noticed it long before I ever did, and of course I didn't believe her. I just thought I was being more social and developing a tolerance. As soon as I changed over to Citalopram, the desire to drink dropped significantly, as did my tolerance...

No coincidence there. I also got my metabolism back. I've dropped 10 pounds since making the switch. Let's put it this way. I had upped my dosage on Lexapro to 20mg daily and jumped from 175 (I'm a 5'10" male) to 190. Here's the strange part. During that time, I ran two marathons and two triathlons. There was nothing I could do to lose weight other than to eat absolutely nothing. When you gain five or so pounds when running as much as I was, there is something wrong...

Made the switch, feel much, much better (like I don't need the meds anymore), am losing weight and don't drink to excess -- ever. What's not to like?

Hope this helps.

i've been on lexapro for about seven weeks now. i used to drink heavily three or four times a week to help me relax and sleep, recently it became six nights a week with one night off because i didn't want to admit to myself that anything was wrong. when i started taking lexapro i cut my drinking down dramatically but i still get cravings and it's usually still for the same reason as before: to get a nights sleep. in the last couple of weeks though i have been going back to my old drinking habits (as i type this i have about half a bottle of vodka in me).
i'm not sure if this is the appropriate thread for what i'm saying but for anyone who's been drinking for a long while it is definitely going to be harder to cut it out completely than to try and keep it within manageable amounts(?).