Antidepressants & Weight gain.

EatingAndKnitting

lizery wrote: »

jesslla wrote: »

h9dlb wrote: »

To be honest with hindsight exercise is the best antidepressant out there, it's free and it makes you lose weight

And for a lot of people out there it doesn't do anything or not nearly enough to help. Plus when you're depressed it's hard to care about yourself enough to have the discipline to exercise to get any benefits from it.

Don't try to shame those of us who need meds to survive. You might not have intended to, but by calling it the best antidepressant that's what your words did. I'm not ashamed, I'm very open about my mental illness, but someone else might be.

As for weight gain, not all meds will cause weight gain. I gained a lot of weight on Abilify, I wasn't tracking my calories though, so I can't say if I was overeating then as well or not. I can say that I tried Weight Watchers while on Abilify. I tracked my foods as best I could without weighing everything, calculated all my recipes, stuck to my points faithfully, and lost and regained two pounds over two months. I previously lost 70 pounds on WW (which I gained back when my bipolar disorder got worse) and the only thing that changed was adding Abilify to my meds.

I can't prove it, of course, but I believe it affected my CO part of the equation, because Abilify is classified as weight neutral.

I switched to Geodon, and have lost 45 pounds. Every drug affects every person differently. There are a million (exaggeration) different psych drugs. It's not likely that you'll find the right one(s) the first try. If one doesn't work, there are others. It took me five years and a lot drugs to find my cocktail.

I gained a bunch on abilify too. Belly area mostly which is not somewhere I normally store weight.

My weight is all in my belly too. I've been an apple for years anyway, but it got really profound in the last few years I think. I wonder if there's a connection. Interesting.

Graelwyn75

Archcurl wrote: »

I gained on Cymbalta. Now on Prozac and it's fantastic

I gained a lot on Cymbalta too. In fact until I went on that drug I had never been over 145 pounds, regardless of my diet and activity levels. Went on that and I went up three sizes in a matter of months. I never checked my high weight during that time but imagine it hit at least 160 if not more. I literally stopped caring about everything whilst on it. Great for controlling my anger issues but it left me a shell.

That experience has put me off trying any others and I am just trying to muddle through my issues in spite of them being quite severe currently. I just do not want to risk the myriad side effects most of these drugs come with as well as withdrawal if you need to come off them or change. I now take a very low dose of quetiapine and that is it.

EatingAndKnitting

Graelwyn75 wrote: »

Archcurl wrote: »

I gained on Cymbalta. Now on Prozac and it's fantastic

I gained a lot on Cymbalta too. In fact until I went on that drug I had never been over 145 pounds, regardless of my diet and activity levels. Went on that and I went up three sizes in a matter of months. I never checked my high weight during that time but imagine it hit at least 160 if not more. I literally stopped caring about everything whilst on it. Great for controlling my anger issues but it left me a shell.

That experience has put me off trying any others and I am just trying to muddle through my issues in spite of them being quite severe currently. I just do not want to risk the myriad side effects most of these drugs come with as well as withdrawal if you need to come off them or change. I now take a very low dose of quetiapine and that is it.

And I've lost all my weight on Cymbalta. I lost 70 pounds on WW with it, and I've lost 45 now, on a much much higher dose (I'm in the upper limit for that drug). Everyone's so different. It's kind of crazy.

Don't be afraid to try other drugs, I am positive there's a drug or drugs out there with minimal side effects that will work for you. I have very few side effects from my three medications, and I feel better than I have in years. The few side effects I do have are worth the hassle of never being able to come off the drugs, I never should anyway, my brain doesn't make the right chemicals so I need to supplement them. It's no different than a type 1 diabetic taking insulin.