Before we go in detail whether Cymbalta and alcohol should be taken together or not and if not then why we should know in detail what Cymbalta is and how it acts in our body and what exactly is it used for. First of all the drug known as Cymbalta is used in the treatment of depression. Depression is the first thing that it is used in treatment for because it is also used in the treatment of some of the other disorders that are related to the depression and all of them are the mental disorders.
Depression is increasing in our society day by day and thankfully the awareness song the people is also increasing but still, most of the people show neglection when it comes to their mental health which is not the way to live a healthy life. For a healthy life you need to have a healthy mind and how can you have a healthy mind when you are going through depression. Depression is eating up the people a lot and it is the most occurring mental disorder.
Depression can occur in the people of all age groups but still, it occurs the most in the teenagers as compared to the adults and it is most common to occur in women as compared to the men. The symptoms of the depression are as follows
Weight loss/gain
Lack of attention
Lack of interest in the daily activities
Irregular sleep
Self-depravity
Self-loathing
Anger or irritability
So these were some of the symptoms of the depression.
Cymbalta
To understand whether the Cymbalta and alcohol are the good combination or not we need to understand the function of Cymbalta in our body. The drug that is present in Cymbalta is duloxetine which is an anti-depressant. Duloxetine is basically a selective serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor and it is a thiophene derivative. This drug substance helps in the inhibition of the reuptake of the serotonin, norepinephrine and to some extent the dopamine too.
It helps in the treatment of depression by maintaining the balance of serotonin in the brain that gets disrupted in the depressive disorder. It is not only used in the treatment of depression but some also central nervous system disorders too and following are some of the other disorders that are Cymbalta is used in the treatment for.
- Major depressive disorder
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Fibromyalgia
- Neuropathic pain
- Chronic musculoskeletal pain
- Diabetic neuropathic pain
Cymbalta is a very potent medication and this is why it is recommended not to use Cymbalta and alcohol in combination. Cymbalta is also used in to relieve the chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain but most commonly this medicine is used for the treatment of depression.
Cymbalta and alcohol
Now coming toward the main topic of discussion which is whether the Cymbalta and alcohol can be taken in the combination or not and the answer to that is no. The reasons why Cymbalta and alcohol cannot be taken together are a lot and following are some of the reasons for the justifications
Effects of alcohol on depression
The first reason for why we shouldn’t take Cymbalta and alcohol together is that effect of alcohol towards the central nervous system is depressive and to come out of depression we cannot go for the drugs that depress our central nervous system. The effect of alcohol to the brain is like this that at first it causes that excitation of CNS and then it starts to depress it and while Cymbalta is the anti-depressant it will act as an antagonist and this will result in the no effect of the drug Cymbalta.
By the use of alcohol, Cymbalta will fail to produce the required result and this lead to the failure in the treatment and it will also result in the increase in the depression itself. Moreover using the Cymbalta and alcohol together can lead to some other symptoms that are stated as below.
- Panic attacks
- Sleep problems
- Irritability
- Changes in mood
- Suicidal thoughts
So this shows us that how detrimental it is on our health is the use of Cymbalta and alcohol. So you should avoid taking alcohol for how long you are using Cymbalta.
Liver damage
It is no secret that what effect alcohol has on the liver. The function of the liver is to metabolize i.e. Break the substances and it also plays the role in the metabolism of the most of the drugs in our bod. Alcohol is one of these drugs that is being metabolized by the liver and drinking too much or drinking for the longer period of times can cause excessive damage to the liver itself and that liver damage occurs because it gets accumulated with a lot of toxins.
Now Cymbalta is also one of those drugs that are metabolized by the liver and it also has the potential to cause damage to the liver. So if we take Cymbalta and alcohol together our liver is at a great danger because both of these drugs have the potential to cause the liver damage so if we want to avoid that we should stop taking alcohol while we are on the Cymbalta therapy. But if you are a great fan of beer and cannot live without it at all then you should ask your doctor about whether you can have the occasional drink or not you should also ask your doctor before taking the drink so you don’t have to bear any consequences.
Discuss it with doctor
If you want to have alcohol even when you are under the therapy of depression and is being treated by Cymbalta then you should talk it through with your doctor because then your doctor will decide if you should take them together or not based upon the amount of dose of drug you are taking and your past and the current medical history. If you have any past liver disease history or such history in the family then the doctor will recommend you not to take Cymbalta and alcohol together.