Mixing medication and alcohol

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Have been on 10mg Amitriptyline for insomnia for a week and was just wondering if it would be ok to have a glass or two of wine with dinner before taing it tonight? Literature says avoid alcohol but that's with much higher doses (ie 150mg for depression I think) so what about my very puny dose??

If you're taking a baby dose of Ami for insomnia, why would you want to mix it with something that ultimately is bad for your sleep ie alcohol?

You know it's best not to, but if the Ami is not effective at that dose, have you considered stopping it while you still can and having a tot of whisky instead?

D

The Ami is absolutely effective on me! That's not why I wanted a glass of wine though, it was more just to appreciate a nice glass with my dinner, not in any way to help me sleep! I understand what you're saying but it doesn't really answer my question!

Incidentally, why would you say 'stopping it while you still can'? The GP told me it was not addictive

It's a tricyclic so alcohol will generally enhance all the side effects and stop the antidepressant effect.
IANAdoctor/pharmacist so I'd phone one first, but IME what happens is the sedative effect will become huge and knock you out totally for the night or longer - totally unwise if you may have to drive or be responsible for children. And any other side effects like dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation will also become incredibly annoying.
Dose according to NHS is 10-150mg so I'd expect the above still to apply.

Like a lot of other drugs, once you've been on Amitriptyline for a while, you will have to taper to get off it, which may take some time, and you may have reactions while you do this. The longer you've been on it, the more difficult this will be, which is why a lot of people I know who take it, and for some reason I know a lot of people who take it, just stay on it, cos it's easier.

Your doc may well have said that it is not addictive. This seems to be a standard line. My XP's doc put him on Seroxat after his father died. That was 18 years ago and the doc has now told him it is easier for him to stay on them than to try and get off them.

Good post by notcitrus by the way.

D

notcitrus thanks for your post. I stupidly had a baby glass of wine about an hour and a half ago, which will make in total 2 and a half hours before I take my pill. Will that be ok? For the future, sounds like it's best to avoid alcohol altogether.

RockinD that is fairly worrying. My insomnia is PND-related so perhaps when that gets better the insomnia will too? I wonder what 'a while' is? If it's a year or so then I'm really hoping i'll be better before then. If it's only a few months then I'd better get better sharpish!