Addyi and Alcohol: 4 Things to Know Before Having a Drink
Key takeaways:
Addyi (flibanserin) is a medication that treats hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in women who haven’t gone through menopause. HSDD is a condition characterized by a low sex drive (libido) that causes distress.
You don’t need to avoid alcohol entirely while taking Addyi. But the FDA advises to wait at least 2 hours after consuming 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks before taking Addyi at bedtime. If you’ve had 3 or more alcoholic drinks, you should skip your Addyi dose that evening. Otherwise, there’s a potential risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting.
After taking your Addyi dose at bedtime, you should avoid drinking alcohol until the following day.
There are ways to save on Addyi. GoodRx can help you access Addyi at an exclusive cash price of $299.
Table of contents
If you’ve been prescribed Addyi (flibanserin) for hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), you may have questions about how it fits into your everyday life — especially when it comes to drinking alcohol. Can you still enjoy a glass of wine at dinner or a cocktail with friends? The answer is yes, but with specific precautions to ensure your safety.
Understanding how to safely drink alcohol while taking Addyi can help minimize potential risks, such as dangerously low blood pressure or fainting. Below, we break down four things you should know about drinking alcohol with Addyi.
1. How much you drink affects when and if you should take Addyi
Addyi was initially FDA approved in 2015 for HSDD for women who haven’t gone through menopause. At this time, the FDA recommended avoiding alcohol completely with Addyi due to concerns about severe low blood pressure (hypotension) and fainting (syncope). However, updated safety data has allowed for more flexible guidelines.
Now it’s OK to drink a small amount of alcohol while taking Addyi. But it’s essential to follow specific precautions based on how much you drink. To understand these guidelines, it helps to define a standard drink, which includes:
12 oz of regular beer
5 oz of wine
1.5 oz of distilled spirits, such as vodka, whiskey, or rum
How you time your Addyi dose depends on the number of standard alcoholic drinks you’ve had.
2. If you’ve had 1 or 2 drinks, wait at least 2 hours before taking Addyi
If you’ve had 1 to 2 standard drinks, you can still take your Addyi dose at bedtime. But you should wait at least 2 hours after your last drink. For example, if you finish your second glass of wine at 8 PM, wait until at least 10 PM before taking Addyi.
When these timing guidelines were followed, studies showed a reduced risk of severe hypotension and fainting. With this in mind, drinking alcohol earlier in the evening can give you more flexibility when it’s time to take your medication.
3. If you’ve had 3 drinks or more, skip your Addyi dose that evening
If you’ve had 3 or more standard drinks, you should skip your Addyi dose entirely that evening. Drinking this amount of alcohol may increase your risk of severe hypotension and fainting, even if you wait several hours before taking Addyi.
Skipping a single dose of Addyi is unlikely to significantly affect your treatment, but taking it in this situation could lead to dangerous side effects. So it’s better to exercise caution and resume your usual dosage schedule the following night.
4. If you’ve taken your Addyi dose, don’t drink any alcohol until the next day
Once you’ve taken your nightly dose of Addyi, avoid drinking alcohol until the next day. This gives your body time to clear some of the medication from your system. Otherwise, you may have a greater risk of dizziness or fainting.
How to save on Addyi
There are ways to save on Addyi, which is available as a brand-name medication. Anyone with a valid prescription, regardless of insurance status, can use GoodRx to purchase a 30-day supply of Addyi at an exclusive cash price of $299.
Where did that sex drive go? Learn more about common causes of low libido in women and when to talk to a healthcare professional.
Hyping up your libido: Here are some natural ways to help boost your sex drive.
Can foods increase libido? You may have heard that oysters can boost your libido. But is this actually true? Here’s what the science says about libido-enhancing foods.
The bottom line
You don’t need to avoid alcohol entirely while taking Addyi (flibanserin). But it’s essential to follow the recommended guidelines to lower the risk of severe low blood pressure (hypotension) and fainting (syncope).
Wait at least 2 hours after drinking 1 or 2 standard alcoholic drinks before taking Addyi at bedtime. Skip your dose entirely if you’ve had 3 or more drinks that evening. And avoid drinking alcohol after taking Addyi until the next day.
By understanding these precautions and discussing your alcohol use with your prescriber, you can safely incorporate Addyi into your treatment plan.
Why trust our experts?
References
Millheiser, L., et al. (2019). Safety and tolerability of evening ethanol consumption and bedtime administration of flibanserin in healthy premenopausal female subjects. Sexual Medicine.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (n.d.). What is a standard drink?
Sprout Pharmaceuticals. (2015). Addyi (flibanserin) tablets, for oral use [package insert].
Sprout Pharmaceuticals. (2021). Addyi- flibanserin tablet, film coated [package insert].
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