Does Alcohol Trigger Depression?

Posted on Mon, 9 Nov 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 9 Nov 2015 Answered on

Tue, 1 Dec 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : None of the meds are helping much since i have developed a resistance. Only a glass of wine at night helps sometimes. My dr recommends electros but i dont want to go thay route. Should i keep trying meds. ...

Answered by Dr. Shubham Mehta (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Alcohol is a CNS depressant.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to HCM.
I can understand your concerns.

Wine/alcohol is a nervous system depressant. You may feel better for a while after taking alcohol but it aggravates depression on long term.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a very good treatment in those patients who do not respond to drugs. I think you should go for it.

However, if you do not want to go for ECT, you will have to keep trying different drug combinations.
We can work out on what drug/combination you can take further, if you can list the drugs you have already tried.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Shubham Mehta (1 hour later)

I used to take effexsor which was very strong but was taken away by my oncologyst when I had breast cancer more than ten years ago. I have also been on xanax but puts me to sleep . I tried Wellbutrin and I was a mess, also Mirtazapine, was bad for me. I believe I also tried Zoloft, no good. I did try Abilify, was terrible. I have not tried Prozac. I settled on Paxil for a long time and it worked, even my though it ruined my sex life. Now in the mids of a big crisis where my husband of 30 years who was also an abusive husband asked for a divorce... Etc nothing works. Not the Paxil or the Lorazepan for anxiety or the clonacepan. I am not taking valium or xanax. Maybe valium would be ok but not xanax (too strong). I am becoming a vegetable where I find no purpose or XXXXXXX in my life after trying soo hard for so long. I do have two professional good adult children.
I forgot that I also take Buspar .... It does nothing. My worse time is in the morning and the daytime. For some reason I feel more calm at night. I jus feel like being in bed. I am even afraid to go to the grocery store.... O check the mail or go to the back yard. It all makes me sad. I am now leaving in a different state for reasons that are involved . I do have cuban friends here because I am a poet and they know me. I did work many years as an accountant in Wash Dc and in my husband business to make a small fortune. Now he is in the house in Maryland. He is very aggresive, drinks too much and was very abusive. But all. The effort to keep the family together was in vain.

Answered by Dr. Shubham Mehta (14 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Zyprexa plus Prozac.

Detailed Answer:
Hi again.
Sorry for late response.

I have gone through your details. It is really unfortunate that many of the drugs have not worked for you. Also, you have faced difficult situations with your husband.

You have worse time in morning with no motivation for anything.

In such case, I would suggest you to try combination of zyprexa and Prozac.
Or another option is to add a mood stabilizer like lithium to Prozac.

I have good clinical experience with both the combinations in depressive patients.

Kindly discuss this with your doctor.
Hope this helps.
Take care.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Shubham Mehta (38 minutes later)

Thank you Dr. I will discuss your suggestions with my Dr. Hope I can get you if I need to ask again. Thanks. Ada Bezos Castilla

Answered by Dr. Shubham Mehta (18 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Happy to help.

Detailed Answer:
You are most welcome.
You can contact me directly with through my profile, if you wish to.

I wish you well.
Take care.

Dr. Shubham Mehta, MD (Psychiatry).

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar