Anybody lost weight whilst taking olanzapine?

c_stanw

I take Olanzapine for bipolar and have piled on the weight since starting it last sept.

I'm doing a 1200 cal per day diet, replacing 2 meals with exante shakes. I make up to 1200 cal on evening meal and snacks.

Hoping to lose some weight!

Tahlia68

Speak to your doctor and get some help. Good luck.

RodaRose

Increase your calories to 1400.

c_stanw

Thanks Tahlia68 I will do

caeliumspecto

I was never on olanzapine, however, I found while on most bipolar meds doing a moderate to low carb diet (between 100g - 35g net carbs a day) really helped with weight loss (over and above results for Calories In Calories Out alone) and actually improved my symptoms as well.

But like Tahlia said, talk to a doctor.

Ivyzmama

I just read up on your medicine in Wikipedia; you definitely have your work cut out for you. Apparently your medicine is possibly the best treatment for bipolar, and is the one that people manage to take for the longest without discontinuing due to side effects, but it makes people gain more weight than any other bipolar medicines (perhaps because people manage to stay on this medicine) and sometimes produces diabetic changes in the metabolism. There are other bipolar medicines that don't cause as much weight gain but the others may not work for your bipolar as well. You have my sympathy as you balance your physical and mental health needs.

c_stanw

Thanks Caeliumspecto & Ivyzmama.

Yes, it's tough going. I've been on quite a few different medicines in my 14 years since diagnosis. The previous drug I tried called Carbamazepine made my hair start to fall out. I've been on Depakote but got put off by the risk of getting PCOS and couldn't stop eating...hence weight gain! I'm seeing my consultant in a couple of weeks so hoping they will point me in the right direction