Tylenol PM sabotaging my weight loss efforts?

jokoh92

In July 2014, I decided to get back on the weight loss horse and lost over 30lbs by the end of December.

But in January things slowly began to change as I developed a serious problem with bingeing and depression that seemed to get worse as time pressed on. I gained almost 10-15lbs back during the time of January to April.

I would have extremely bad headaches and at one point wanted to kill myself. To relieve my headaches, I would take Tylenol PM, which I now think is the culprit for the depression, suicidal thoughts, and bingeing.

Granted I've always had body self image issues and low self esteem but I have never contemplated killing myself until I started taking those pills.

I have gone to a nutritionist and therapist and over the course of the last three months, have managed to lose weight but found I still binge from time to time. I no longer feel extremely depressed but I do have episodes of feeling at a lost when I have my binge episodes but I have come to realize I only have them after I take Tylenol PM for my headaches.

Now I would stop taking them but its the only medicine that relieves my headaches. Ibuprofen, Excedrin, Advil, and regular Tylenol do not work at all.

And I have tried everything to relieve my headaches so as to not have to go to Tyelnol PM but no matter what I try...taking multivitamins, exercising 5-6 days a week, eating more fruits and veggies, meditating...etc etc

Nothing seems to make the headaches diminish and now I'm thinking I might have built up a tolerance for the pills.

What should I do?

usmcmp

Go get something from your doctor for your headaches and you'll find out if the binge eating is actually related to taking Tylenol PM. Most likely your headaches are related to your binge eating, figure out what triggers both of them.

leggup

Too many factors and too medical for anyone on MFP forums to help you. You should be working with a doctor for your physical symptoms and a doctor for your mental health. The two are very likely related and working in a circle without end. We aren't doctors, so we can't tell you that the Tylenol is causing your headaches. Didn't you have the headaches first?

I would have extremely bad headaches and at one point wanted to kill myself. To relieve my headaches, I would take Tylenol PM, which I now think is the culprit for the depression, suicidal thoughts, and bingeing.

You had headaches and wanted to kill yourself, then you took an OTC and you wanted to kill yourself? It sounds like your mental health issues (suicidal thoughts, depression, binging) were predecessors to your Tylenol use.

It's possible the headaches are psychosomatic and related to your mental health. It's possible they're caused by the binging. It's possible they're caused by being overweight, by light sensitivity, who knows. We can't tell you.

jokoh92

usmcmp wrote: »

Go get something from your doctor for your headaches and you'll find out if the binge eating is actually related to taking Tylenol PM. Most likely your headaches are related to your binge eating, figure out what triggers both of them.

Thanks, hopefully they will be able to prescribe me something that will alleviate the headaches and not have me on a binge rampage. I know I really need blood work done but seeing as I have no insurance right now, its going to be hard to get it done.

I don't know really if my headaches come from my binge eating habits though. I went a whole week without taking the pills (even with the headaches) and no binge episode occurred.

This week I take it and I binge right afterwards. So I know that the binge eating may more than likely be coming from the pills but the headaches...I have no clue but hopefully I will be able to find out where it is coming from soon.

jokoh92

leggup wrote: »

Too many factors and too medical for anyone on MFP forums to help you. You should be working with a doctor for your physical symptoms and a doctor for your mental health. The two are very likely related and working in a circle without end. We aren't doctors, so we can't tell you that the Tylenol is causing your headaches. Didn't you have the headaches first?

I would have extremely bad headaches and at one point wanted to kill myself. To relieve my headaches, I would take Tylenol PM, which I now think is the culprit for the depression, suicidal thoughts, and bingeing.

You had headaches and wanted to kill yourself, then you took an OTC and you wanted to kill yourself? It sounds like your mental health issues (suicidal thoughts, depression, binging) were predecessors to your Tylenol use.

It's possible the headaches are psychosomatic and related to your mental health. It's possible they're caused by the binging. It's possible they're caused by being overweight, by light sensitivity, who knows. We can't tell you.

Yeah I know no one on here could properly diagnose me but I was just hoping that maybe there was someone on here that was going through the same thing or went through the same thing.

I started taking the PM pills before I started to become depressed back in Oct-Nov of last year.

I would have headaches every now and then but it wasn’t nearly as severe as it is now.

I didn’t become suicidal until February and March, when I was taking the pills almost every other day.
It could be that I slowly built up a tolerance for the pills and the side effects were severe depression…idk

Like I said before I’ve never felt that magnitude of depression. I’ve only ever really known myself to be shy, reserved and maybe a little pessimistic at the most but never suicidal before those pills.

I mean I guess I have no choice but to get blood work done and find out what’s going on but it’s not going to be easy since I don't have insurance.

TheGaudyMagpie

I get daily chronic headaches. Taking pain relievers more than twice a week can cause occasional headaches to become chronic. You should go to the doctor and discuss your headaches. There are preventive medications that you can take to reduce the number of headaches you get (I currently take nortriptyline and it works great). As part of your treatment, you will need to dial back on your use of pain relievers, but being on a preventive will help with that.

The "PM" part of Tylenol PM is just diphenhydramine, aka Benadryl. I doubt it is causing the depression, but depression could be causing the headaches. Some of the preventive meds are also antidepressants, so you can probably find something that works for both. Having been there with the daily headaches, I can say that just simply dealing with that pain every day can lead to depression.

RodaRose

Edited

jokoh92 wrote: »

Now I would stop taking them but its the only medicine that relieves my headaches. Ibuprofen, Excedrin, Advil, and regular Tylenol do not work at all.

Are you having headaches or migraines? . . because they are two different things although some people have both.
Things that can trigger a migraine: stress, lack of sleep, alcohol, chocolate, caffeine, certain foods (But not everyone has the same triggers.)

The ingredient in the PM part of Tylenol PM is the same as the main ingredient in Benedryl -- Diphenhydramine.
Please take care of yourself.

jokoh92

TheGaudyMagpie wrote: »

I get daily chronic headaches. Taking pain relievers more than twice a week can cause occasional headaches to become chronic. You should go to the doctor and discuss your headaches. There are preventive medications that you can take to reduce the number of headaches you get (I currently take nortriptyline and it works great). As part of your treatment, you will need to dial back on your use of pain relievers, but being on a preventive will help with that.

The "PM" part of Tylenol PM is just diphenhydramine, aka Benadryl. I doubt it is causing the depression, but depression could be causing the headaches. Some of the preventive meds are also antidepressants, so you can probably find something that works for both. Having been there with the daily headaches, I can say that just simply dealing with that pain every day can lead to depression.

Thanks, I will definitely look into that and talk to my doctor about what to do. And yeah, having these headaches everyday is definitely stressful and may be why I was so depressed then but now I don't have depressive episodes as much. Its like every now and then and usually only occurs after I have taken Tylenol PM. That's why I feel so strongly that it is something in Tylenol PM that is causing the depression I feel from time to time.

Like right now I am energized and relaxed, its only when I start to get the headaches I start to feel down but not like super depressed. Once I take the Tylenol PM, I feel drugged, like almost out of it, sleepy, hungry and gloomy. Almost the same side effects you would get from taking a narcotic or marijuana. I used to take 3 or 4 at a time but now that I've lost some weight, I only take the recommended dosage of 2 now and I still have the same side effects.

There is just something not right about that medicine but its the only thing so far that's helped with the headaches. I've taken Benadryl before and its never done that to me.

And I've had headaches for years but never this severe. I don't know. I guess I will have to find out from my doctor what could be causing them.

jokoh92

RodaRose wrote: »

Edited

jokoh92 wrote: »

Now I would stop taking them but its the only medicine that relieves my headaches. Ibuprofen, Excedrin, Advil, and regular Tylenol do not work at all.

Are you having headaches or migraines? . . because they are two different things although some people have both.
Things that can trigger a migraine: stress, lack of sleep, alcohol, chocolate, caffeine, certain foods (But not everyone has the same triggers.)

The ingredient in the PM part of Tylenol PM is the same as the main ingredient in Benedryl -- Diphenhydramine.
Please take care of yourself.

They could be migraines. I'm not exactly sure because some headaches are light and others are more severe. I'm thinking the severe ones are migraines.

I do feel stressed a lot but its only because I get these headaches so often. I haven't had alcohol or caffeine in almost a year. It could be maybe something I am not getting enough of in my diet but I take multivitamins to supplement. Idk but I am going to try to crack down on what's causing them because Tylenol PM is clearly not the best option anymore.