Struggling with weight loss after anti-anxiety medication

Kalmado

Hello. I'm writing this because I'm sitting at work feeling like I want to have a breakdown and just don't know how to respond other then to type and just get it out of my system. First, backstory.

After some rough times my wife and I agreed I needed to see a doctor about anxiety. I was getting angry/annoyed at little things far too often. I would struggle to keep calm when anything no matter how small would go wrong. It had affected my work to the point I walked out on jobs because I would get so upset over small/silly things I would feel like crying/screaming.

The first doctor put me on Celexa. At this time I was 30 years old and weighed around 185. I'm 5'9 and I'd say at that time people would guess I weighed as low as 160. After about 6 months I ballooned up to 235. While my diet was by no means great, I did not change anything food/exercise wise. I returned to the doctor and she said the medicine had nothing to do with it. I made another appointment with a new doctor and was put on Prozac stating they had heard other stories of Celexa causing massive weight gain.

After some time and while trying to eat better and exercise I at one point in 2013 was down to 212. At the time I was working at a car dealership literally running around all of the time. For the last year I have been working a desk job and have been at 217-222 and cannot seem to get below. For 12 weeks, 4 days a week I was working out with a partner that kept us on a great routine. In that time I never was below 216. We talked about food, mental health, etc and he is convinced that my hormones and testosterone are probably so jacked up from taking (and still taking) the medication, that this is the main reason I can't lose weight. Diet again could improve, but to lose literally no weight in 12 weeks of working out 4 days (90 minutes) a week is very peculiar.

After speaking with my doctor about quitting the prozac and starting to take 5-HPT(natural Seretonin) I haven't had the prozac in about two weeks. I have not started taking the 5-HTP yet. I have been returning to my old ways of getting upset so easily and feeling like my world is going to crumble whenever anything happens. There is much more to it but this isn't the place for such things.

Would anyone that has experience actually losing weight while on an anti anxiety medication share their experience and any tips?

sailindani

Im not so sure I will be any help.. but I also suffer from Anxiety. Last summer i was doing great losing weight went from 180-162 in a couple month.. still had a liong way to go since Im only 5' 2''. in July I started having sever panic attacks which left me in bed for about 2 weeks. My Dr put me on Celexa and proponal (beta blocker). Any way I felt a little better.. very "foggy and light headed though" and gained ALL the weight back plus 3 lbs. I started going to the gym and running every day. Eating right.. and my weight would not budge. I slowly weened myself off the celexa and felt a little better, and then came off the beta blocker. This was in April ish. I was still feeling not myself and was trying to breath and relax more, but the anxiety was still there. In May I was reading alot on food intolerances.. and decided Ill give anything a shot. So i eliminated Gluten and Dairy from my diet... the foggyness went away almost immediatly, and I was begining to finally lose weight again. 2 weeks ago after 4 weeks gluten free.. I indulged! and went haywire! Feeling awful again... so far Im a week and a half off gluten and dairy again and feel alittle better.. however have had 2 panic attacks this week and my headaches so bad.... It feel like its all coming around again since this started last July. anyway I have an appointemnt with my Dr. on Monday but do NOT want to go abck on celexa. When I talked about my weight gain with my dr before she said that she had not hear celexa made you gain.. but did say that wellbutrin was known for weight loss.. and not gain... so maybe you want to talk to your Dr. about that. I am also researching St. Johns Wart as a natural treatment as well as meditation (which helps alot).

I hope you are able to work through this, feel free to add me as a friend even if you just need someone to vent to.

RodaRose

Go back to your doctor.
It takes a while to get the medications right.
This is important, so be patient.

firebloom

Is there a reason that you haven't started on the 5-HTP yet? I have depression and mild anxiety which flares up every few years. I've just recently managed to get on my feet again after a recent episode. I don't take antidepressants as I find that natural supplements, cutting out sugar, meditating, seeing a psychologist and exercising for 30 minutes a day keeps my symptoms in check far better than the medication that I took years ago. I take 5-HTP as part of my supplements along with niacin and zinc. I have found all three of them to be extremely effective. If you're worried about 5-HTP making you gain weight, you'll be relieved to know that it's actually been found to do quite the opposite as it's a mild appetite suppressant. .

8marspalm8

I was in a very similar position to you in terms of dealing with pretty much crippling depression and anxiety, so let me start off by saying its going to be ok and it'll get better! I started out with celexa as well, but lost weight on it as it made me so tired I slept so much it left me way less time to eat! I have been through several other medications over the last few years, but now I take wellbutrin for my depression (which I believe is also prescribed to help with weight loss in some instances) and a very small dose for of klonopin "as needed" so basically whenever I begin to feel very anxious or stressed, and start getting the symptoms of an impending panic attack. However, since I have made a conscious effort to eat better, exercise, and take care to monitor what makes me anxious and how I should be responding, I have not had the need to take any klonopin for several months, even though situations which would have previously knocked me flat.

Since I began treatment for my depression/anxiety I have lost almost 80lbs. It is definitely possible! Its important to work closely with your doctor, be very very honest about how you are feeling/coping, and find something that works for you. It may be quite a long process I probably went though 4-5 medications, not counting the fiddling with dosages, before finding one that had side effects I could tolerate and alleviated my symptoms. The good news is that once you find the correct combination your improved mental state will make weight loss seem more like an experience and less like a battle, at least that has been my experience.

My advice to you would be to not view your medication as working against your efforts to be healthy. You just need to find the right medication for you, and that along with a healthy diet and exercise will lead to feeling better. It can sometimes be a long road to find the right solution but don't let it get you down or feel like there is something more wrong with you, it just takes time. There are medications that make you gain weight, but if you are overweight you should eliminate those from the running with your doctor, unless they become the only choices left, that's what I did.

I assume you're being weaned off your last meds before starting the 5-htp as that's what I had to do between changing medications. If that's the case, relief could be here soon!, and if this isn't it, it will come eventually. Remember that your anxiety is fueling these feelings surrounding your weight loss and medication, try to recognize that for what it is. I understand that anxiety can be all consuming, I was so anxious that I actually stopped being able to remember anything, my doctor told me that my body was so preoccupied with my anxiety that I was struggling to retain things that were happening around me or being said to me. I think an important part of weight loss is mental, and its hard to participate in that part when your mind is so consumed with anxiety.