What happens if you mix depressants and antidepressants?

[robert_columbia]

Just curious. If you take a depressant and an antidepressant around the same time, do they in any way cancel each other out? Does anything unusual happen?

[Shakester]

Language fail.

"Depressants" do not depress mood, they depress the central nervous system. They make you stupid and sleepy. They do not make you sad.

[njtt]

In pharmacological terminology, the antonym of depressant is stimulant, not antidepressant.

[coremelt]

Originally Posted by Shakester

Language fail.

"Depressants" do not depress mood, they depress the central nervous system. They make you stupid and sleepy. They do not make you sad.

However, the opposite of clinical depression is mania or hypomania, and there are anti-manic drugs, mood stabilizers. Lithium being the most common.

Some people with Bipolar disorders are prescribed both a mood stabilizer and an anti-depressant, to smooth both lows and highs out. Which one wins depends entirely on dosage and is very carefully monitored.

[Leo Bloom]

Originally Posted by coremelt

However, the opposite of clinical depression is mania or hypomania, and there are anti-manic drugs, mood stabilizers. Lithium being the most common.

Some people with Bipolar disorders are prescribed both a mood stabilizer and an anti-depressant, to smooth both lows and highs out. Which one wins depends entirely on dosage and is very carefully monitored.

Bipolar here. Correct--although I believe Lithium is being phased out for medicine with fewer problems (close blood level monitoring and a slight flattening of emotions being the most common).

I've talked to people who've said that it would be great to take my anti-depressants--these "happy pills"--and then have their day brightened and happy.

It don't work that way.

[Becky2844]

It makes you more mellow. Of course, moderation in all things.

[njtt]

Originally Posted by Leo Bloom

Bipolar here. Correct--although I believe Lithium is being phased out for medicine with fewer problems (close blood level monitoring and a slight flattening of emotions being the most common).

As an undergrad I did a research project with some biochemists and a psychiatrist who were working on lithium as a mood stabilizer for bipolar people. They were finding that it was effective, but it was not yet in very wide use. They told me that part of the problem was that it was difficult to get the drug companies interested because the stuff was so cheap (probably unpatentable too) that there would be very little profit in it for them.

Despite this, lithium did soon take off as a widely used drug for bipolar disorder.

It sounds as though, now, the drug companies have finally found a way around their little "problem" with it.

[coremelt]

Originally Posted by njtt

It sounds as though, now, the drug companies have finally found a way around their little "problem" with it.

The side effects of Lithium, the fact that the effective dosage is very close to the toxic dosage and the need for blood level monitoring are all damn good reasons to develop better treatments. I'll let the evil drug companies off for that one.

[Arkcon]

And no, mixing them doesn't cause them to cancel each other out. They may amplify each other, or one may amplify the other or they may cause waves of alternating effects. This is what is observed when people mix cocaine and an opiate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedball_%28drug%29

[thatguyjeff]

I've heard (anecdotally) that mixing alcohol with antidepressants will render the AD ineffective, or something like that.

[Enderw24]

Four Loko

[Ambivalid]

Originally Posted by Enderw24

Four Loko

Bingo.

[Vinyl Turnip]

You get the premise for a really hacky comedian's joke.

[Reverend Meade]

Originally Posted by Enderw24

Four Loko

Wrong.

That's a depressant and a stimulant.

[Enderw24]

Originally Posted by Reverend Meade

Wrong.

That's a depressant and a stimulant.

Have you read the ingredients list?

Neither have I, but I'm sure there's some Prozac, Ambian, and Quaaludes in there.

[Jaledin]

Originally Posted by thatguyjeff

I've heard (anecdotally) that mixing alcohol with antidepressants will render the AD ineffective, or something like that.

My GP told me that antidepressants' effects are mitigated by regular alcohol consumption, especially to excess on occasion. But, I take Xanax as needed (on a stressful day, 6 mg qd, on a regular day [most], none). Haven't noticed anything personally, but I'm on a low dose of Citalopram (20 mg qd), which is taken for anxiety, so (a) I'm not perhaps the ideal subject, never having had major depression and (b) I don't know of any studies, nor would I know how to interpret them if there were any.

[MLS]

Originally Posted by Jaledin

My GP told me that antidepressants' effects are mitigated by regular alcohol consumption, especially to excess on occasion. But, I take Xanax as needed (on a stressful day, 6 mg qd, on a regular day [most], none). Haven't noticed anything personally, but I'm on a low dose of Citalopram (20 mg qd), which is taken for anxiety, so (a) I'm not perhaps the ideal subject, never having had major depression and (b) I don't know of any studies, nor would I know how to interpret them if there were any.

I suffered from major depression for years before my GP prescribed Paxil. Some months later I discovered that if I drank alcoholic beverages, (1) I could become intoxicated really, really easily, and (2) the next day or two my mood dropped horribly. I now abstain almost entirely as I'd rather forego the single malt Scotch and martinis that I used to really, really love, because neither of those are worth the depression.

[obbn]

I am actually taking a "speedball" under a doctors care. I take morphine for pain and amphetamine to stave off the lethargic effects of the morphine. However, my doses must be way south of those needed to experience a high effect. In my case the anti-depressant (stimulant) wins!

[MsWhatsit]

I think this is what powers the USS Enterprise.

[BrassyPhrase]

Mostly, one continues to feel depressed. Sometimes even worse than before.

[jjimm]

You have done something to your brain. You have made it high. If I lay 10 mils of diazepam on you, it will do something else to your brain. You will make it low. Why trust one drug and not the other? That's politics, innit?
...
I recommend you smoke some more grass.
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If you're hanging onto a rising balloon, you're presented with a difficult decision - let go before it's too late or hang on and keep getting higher, posing the question: how long can you keep a grip on the rope?

[/Withnail & I]

[pkd88]

One thing I have learned in my years of being on mental health meds is that medications get a type label and that does not always represent what it is capable of doing.

An anti-depressant may help with anxiety but it is not called an anti-anxiety medicine like Xanax is. An SSRI type of med may work with the neurotransmitters that cause different reactions, they then can be used for many things.

[OpalCat]

I've been on anti-depressants most of my adult life. If you count alcohol as a depressant, then I'd say they don't do a whole heck of a lot, at least not in the dosages I've experienced. I'm currently on a mood stabilizer, a stimulant (AHDH) and Xanax, which is for anxiety but I'm not sure if it counts as a depressant. They all just do what they're supposed to do. I've never had any weird side effects or anything from taking my medication.