taking paroxetine 20mg for anxiety, can i drink alcohol?

[Liam7755]

hi all,

im being treated with paroxetine 20mg for severe heart related anxiety. been on them around 7 months and tolerate them well! im wondering if i could have a few glasses of red wine?

[Paxiled]

The medical answer is no.  The experiential answer is, it depends on how you tolerate it, but "a few" glasses indicates you want to get drunk.  A glass is probably fine; maybe a couple glasses.  But experience will tell you.  When I was on Paxil, it allowed me to drink a bit again (but of course this was contrary to medical advice), but when you overdo it you not only risk the interaction between two drugs, you can get disoriented, which often can trigger an anxiety attack.  I'm curious, though -- if you know your anxiety is heart-related -- most of us have no idea why we're anxious -- did you try therapy before going on this med?  When you know one particular trigger is the main problem therapy has a better chance of working than when you don't have a main one.  

[AnxiousNoMore]

Your pharmacist will know, if you can't find it on the manufacturer's website they set up for each drug.

[Liam7755]

yeah ive looked but cant see a known interaction. it just states it may make you abit more dizzy