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    Any out there on meds that make you gain weight?

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    • Posts: 100 Member
      elphie754 wrote: »

      Oh really?

      I have tried my best not to respond to this thread, but have to respond to this.

      I was put on medication that is very well known for "weight gain." It was for mental illness. Antidepressants and mood stabilizers. I was put on them 4 years ago. The first few months I was on them, I lost 30 lbs. my dr was very concerned. Here I was being prescribed meds known to cause significant weight gain, and I was losing. She thought I was being untruthful about my bulimia habits.

      What happened? Not having manic episodes, I had stopped self medicating. Cutting the alcohol out dropped my cals and thus led to weight loss. I never experienced weight gain with any if the meds.

      I was seeing a nutritionist because of the history of an eating disorder. She flat out told me that the meds themselves do lot cause weight gain. It is the change in appetite that causes you to eat more and thus gain weight.

      Honestly- yes, I think some people use this as an excuse. Same as when they try to claim they are addicted to food. They want it to be something else than their fault. It is easier to blame other things. That is just human nature.

      On and maybe the general public still has a stigma about mental health, but it is decreasing in stigma in the health field. Now more than ever, they have realized that they need to treat the mental health of a patient as seriously as the physical health. I work in healthcare. I see dozens of PTs a week, many on some form of psychiatric medication (area I work in has a lot of poverty and this the issues that come with it).


      I am sorry, but take some responsibility for yourself. Yes, your medication may make you feel more hungry, but you decide if you are going to eat XY and z, not the medication. Increased appetite is a side effect, gaining weight is what happens if you give into that side effect.

      This is YOUR experience, it does not follow that it is EVERYBODY'S experience just because. Does everyone have your exact body, metabolism, brain chemistry? Do they all respond to depression in EXACTLY the same way that YOU DO? Do they all respond to the same medication in EXACTLY the same fashion that you do? I think not.

      When everyone is exactly like you, then your words will have merit.

      You take care of yourself honey, you seem awfully pleased with the job your are doing so far. Leave others alone.

    • Posts: 7,574 Member
      PammieSuzyQ wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      This is YOUR experience, it does not follow that it is EVERYBODY'S experience just because. Does everyone have your exact body, metabolism, brain chemistry? Do they all respond to depression in EXACTLY the same way that YOU DO? Do they all respond to the same medication in EXACTLY the same fashion that you do? I think not.

      When everyone is exactly like you, then your words will have merit.

      You take care of yourself honey, you seem awfully pleased with the job your are doing so far. Leave others alone.

      Leave others alone? Yeah, no, sorry. I will NOT stand by and watch people pay others on the back and say "it okay, it's not your fault. We can blame x". Yeah, personal responsibility is hard, and many people try to put the blame elsewhere.

      And did you bother to read? The experience was the same, it was what I did that changed the outcome. I didn't magically lose weight because I processed the medication differently. I lost the weight because I didn't give into the increased appetite. My body processed the med the same way other people do.
    • Posts: 4,195 Member
      I think that we are talking about lots of different kinds of drugs which all have different mechanisms. Someone taking an antidepressant is going to be in a completely different situation than someone taking insulin, for example. Individuals can also react very differently to the same drug--in ways that are purely physiological. Prednisone is a good example of this--some people hang onto fluid like crazy and get moon-faced, others do not.

      Lumping all of these different types of situations together and making judgments about whether or not those challenges can be overcome by sheer willpower...well, it's not a very effective discussion.
    • Posts: 100 Member
      Thank You azulvioleta6!!! *applause* So tired of the judges here lining up to take a swing.

      I brook no problem with anyone saying, "this was my experience, or this is how I handled it". But when others call everyone else who does not share their experience lazy, and say they are making excuses simply because their bodies did not do what theirs did? That is, as an old English saying goes, beyond the pale. It's rude, it's name calling, it's childish and it's unhelpful. All that these people do is pat themselves on the back. Apparently the only way they can lift themselves up, is by knocking others down. I remain unimpressed as usual. They are the same as they were in high school.
    • Posts: 5
      I don't know if this will help anyone, but it is something I do now and then to maintain if I am unwell and can't eat right.

      I have 2 days where I eat normal, then 3rd day will reduce calories to under 800, then back to normal for next 2 days, then another day 800 or less, and always take a multi vit if you don't think your getting your full vit/mineral requirements.

      I find it helps with my water retention, also lets my digestion get rid of old food from past couple of days.

      As for meds and weight gain, I guess both those who say yes and no are both right.

      Technically the medication itself doesnt actually put the weight on you, it is the chain reaction of emotions, physical and psychological differences that can make your body do different things.

      It's like, I was on a medication for past 4 years, and was on maximum dose.
      Next thing, I get a letter off doctor saying stop medication immediately, as it can cause a fatal heart attack.

      I was 100% fine on it

      Other meds like opiates, they can make your digestion slow up drastically as they seriously slow down your bowel movements, they can make you feel hungrier than normal (Munchies like pot gives ya), also cause massive water retention.

      Not in everyone but in a high majority of people. (Me being one of them)

      So if your one of the unlucky ones that get the side effects, then as long as you weigh and log everything, try to adjust your diet accordingly.

      But if the weight is more serious to you than the complaint your getting the meds for, then talk to your doctor, and hound them till they listen.
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    • Posts: 93 Member
      I feel for you, I gained 80lbs in under a year after starting a course of meds. Still working if off!
    • Posts: 2,757 Member
      MrM27 wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      I'm still blown away that you post a thread with the question then spend the whole thread giving out your answer to the question.

      Welcome_To_The_Internet.jpg
    • Posts: 100 Member
      Sunglasses, that is perfect!
    • Posts: 14 Member
      Do all of you who believe that it's the meds that are to blame realise, that if that were true, we could solve starvation worldwide? Bam! A drug with no calories that cause you to gain weight without having to eat more! Imagine the lives that could be saved in Africa! Magic (*)
    • Posts: 5,646 Member
      MrM27 wrote: »
      Medication might affect the appetite causing you to overeat but medication alone is not directly responsible for gaining fat.

      Guess my doctor doesn't know what he's talking about when he says the medication I've just come off would have slowed down my metabolism then...
    • Posts: 8 Member
      sunglasses_and_ocean_waves wrote: »
      show previous quotes


      Yes you are trying and not listening to anyone else. My cancer med absolutely slows my metabolism thus weight gain. I work harder to combat that, and I don't need a misinformed know it all to tell me differently. =)

      Yes ... I agree it chemically slows down your metabolism. Been told by my entire team of doctors.
    • Posts: 413 Member
      I gained 36 pounds in 12 months when I was taking an antidepressant and occasional Xanax. I had been losing weight without trying previous to taking the meds, due to a serious anxiiety disorder. My doctor said the drugs didn't cause the weight gain and handed me a xeroxed 1200 calorie generic diet plan from the 1970s and then told me to come back when I had lost some weight.

      Great, I thought, a fat shaming doctor. She picked up where my mother had left off. I left, tore the diet into pieces, and never went back to her.

      Then I signed on with a psych doctor who prescribed a different med, Zoloft, and I gained another 24 pounds on that. Sure, I was eating way too much, and a lot of junk, but my head just wasn't able to clear itself of the fog that had me compulsively eating. The meds made me lethargic and I slept a lot, often during the day. I could barely move some days.

      When I decided my anxiety and depression were under control and was sick of being so sleepy all the time, the psych doctor weaned me off the meds and I've now been fine for three years. But really really fat. I had developed so many terrible habits that it took me three years to flip the switch in my head and get back on track, with 60 of the 110 pounds I needed to lose having piled on in just five years.

      So I don't know if these medications have a physiological effect that cause weight gain, or if they affect your brain in such a way that you eat more and exercise less, but I firmly believe they can cause a person to gain a lot of weight.
    • Posts: 14 Member
      I gained 10 pounds since starting Zoloft. I am at the maximum dosage. With my depression and anxiety kicked into high gear I lost 15, & then started the meds. Eating the same things, exercising more, and still gained. Just depends on the person.
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