How Can Medications "Make" You Gain Weight?
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Iwishyouwell
Posts: 1,888 Member
This has always baffled me. When people claim a drug(s) "made" them gain weight does the drug actually interact with your physiology in a way that begins to cancel out the laws of thermodynamics or does it increase your appetite to such a ravenous extreme that avoiding over consumption is just more difficult?
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There are some medications---antidepressants for example that are known to cause weight gain because they are altering the bodies brain chemistry. Aldo as a person starts to feel happier they may get more of an appetite. One of my friends gained weihht on antidepressants. She's always been tiny, and suddenly shot up 40 pounds.0
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Some increase appetite, some decrease metabolism, some make you put on lots of watert weight, some play with your hormones0
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Who's Aldo? J/K
I belive my birth control pills had a slight influence on my slow weight gain after getting married, but only in the sense that it slightly increased my appetite. But it could also have just been the fact that my husband likes to eat out and I never did until I met him...0 -
http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/antidepressants-weight-gain
Here is an OK webMD overview. I don't think the exact causes of weight gain from antidepressants is well understood but it seems common enough for them to recognize it as an official side effect. I'm not sure why people keep obsessing on this "law of thermodynamics" junk. Yes, I know what it is. I mostly think people say it as an attempt to sound smart but lets be honest. The human bodies thermodynamics is an extremely complicated system dictated by thousands of enzymes doing their jobs. It is not beyond reason to think that a drug may influence an enzyme or set of enzymes (especially in the case of antidepressants) that may alter the metabolic system of that person.
Obviously, they could just eat less and less and less and less until they lost weight, but weight gain from some medications in people who continue with their pre-medication diet is a real thing.0 -
steroids. prednisone i dont now if it physically makes you gain weight althought thats how i gained the weight but was it the drug or the side effect of never being full . my appetite increased 10 fold. i ended up 370 pounds by the time i made them take me off.. i was 17 years old and back than i ate everything.but the weight poured on. i dont necesarily say its the drug but maybe the side effects of.. it i worked off 204 pounds now.. 31 to go..0
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When I'm on a prednisone cycle, I puff up. I think it's because steroids + sodium = puffer fish.
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Most drugs do not cause weight gain. Most of the drugs weight gain is blamed on causes increase in appetite or water retention; however, there are some drugs that alter certain hormones or your thyroid, which is responsible for metabolism, so the person may actually gain weight due to the medication. My friend's niece is on something that caused her to balloon up in the past 3 months. She's only ten, very active and her diet had not changed. Her doctor said it's the meds affecting her thyroid and short of giving her an incredibly restricted diet with minimal calories (not good for a growing child) she is just going to be overweight while taking them.0
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This has always baffled me. When people claim a drug(s) "made" them gain weight does the drug actually interact with your physiology in a way that begins to cancel out the laws of thermodynamics or does it increase your appetite to such a ravenous extreme that avoiding over consumption is just more difficult?
there are quite a few people who've never been obese because they have always had a good natural ability for portion control, i.e. they eat when they're hungry and stop eating when they're full. Doing this has worked for them for their whole life... so if they take a medication that increases appetite, they will just carry on doing exactly what's kept them at a healthy weight all their life, and eaten when they're hungry and stopped eating when they're full... and the result will be that they'll gain weight, because they are now overeating.
People don't get much warning about this side effect, and without actually counting calories (never needed to do that before if they've always been a healthy weight before) it's hard to know when to stop eating if you're on medication like that........ so yes people do get fat as a direct result of taking medication that increases the appetite.............. it's totally understandable why someone in this situation would think that the pills are making them fat... because in a sense they are. The pills have screwed up the one thing - good appetite regulation - that's kept them a healthy weight up until that point.
Its really easy to look at people in this situation and say "well you overate" - yep they did. And they never overate before they were on that particular medication, so really, I think they can blame the pills. That doesn't mean they can't remedy the situation with some calorie counting... but it was the pills that caused them to overeat and get fat.0 -
This has always baffled me. When people claim a drug(s) "made" them gain weight does the drug actually interact with your physiology in a way that begins to cancel out the laws of thermodynamics or does it increase your appetite to such a ravenous extreme that avoiding over consumption is just more difficult?
there are quite a few people who've never been obese because they have always had a good natural ability for portion control, i.e. they eat when they're hungry and stop eating when they're full. Doing this has worked for them for their whole life... so if they take a medication that increases appetite, they will just carry on doing exactly what's kept them at a healthy weight all their life, and eaten when they're hungry and stopped eating when they're full... and the result will be that they'll gain weight, because they are now overeating.
People don't get much warning about this side effect, and without actually counting calories (never needed to do that before if they've always been a healthy weight before) it's hard to know when to stop eating if you're on medication like that........ so yes people do get fat as a direct result of taking medication that increases the appetite.............. it's totally understandable why someone in this situation would think that the pills are making them fat... because in a sense they are. The pills have screwed up the one thing - good appetite regulation - that's kept them a healthy weight up until that point.
Its really easy to look at people in this situation and say "well you overate" - yep they did. And they never overate before they were on that particular medication, so really, I think they can blame the pills. That doesn't mean they can't remedy the situation with some calorie counting... but it was the pills that caused them to overeat and get fat.
Actually it was THEM that ate & got overweight, not the pills that made them do it. The pills made them hungry, but did not make them eat more.... the pills did not say EAT OR I'LL STOP WORKING or EAT OR I'LL KILL YOU.
THEY made the choice to eat more. People have to stop blaming other things.0 -
I'm not sure why people keep obsessing on this "law of thermodynamics" junk. Yes, I know what it is. I mostly think people say it as an attempt to sound smart but lets be honest. The human bodies thermodynamics is an extremely complicated system dictated by thousands of enzymes doing their jobs. It is not beyond reason to think that a drug may influence an enzyme or set of enzymes (especially in the case of antidepressants) that may alter the metabolic system of that person.
Thank you for saying this, I couldn't agree more.0 -
I don't take offense to this at all...I KNOW the baby didn't cause my 80 lb weight gain while pregnant...MC DONALDS DID! Them damn chicken nuggets, fries and strawberry shakes are the debil!I'll go one better. I always think it's at least a little silly when I read a woman say something like, "I gained 80lbs because I was pregnant." Hmmm...let's think this through. You're baby only weighed how much when he/she was born?
Before all the ladies out there get angry, I know, I know. Hormones, stress, etc. Life happens. Hey, I got all the way up to 365lbs without even getting pregnant. Not judging. I just think in some way it helps when you're honest and at least take some of the blame by saying, "I went overboard a little."
Same for medications. My two cents.0 -
As above posters have said, medication can mess with a number of things. I'm on the depo shot and the number one symprom of it is "weight gain". And it's very true, and very hard to control. When I got put on the shot a little over two years ago I became ravenous, I felt like i could eat a baby elephant every day. It also messed with my horemones so weight loss is extremely hard. It took me 2 years to get the eating and hunger pains under control, in that time I managed to gain about 30-40 pounds.
Since January I've lost about 24 pounds, and that is from meticilous calorie couting and daily exercise. I've always been active, that was never new to me (I'm a roller derby girl so I work out a lot), but it takes so much more to lose weight when on these medications. I honestly believe I could lose easier/faster if I went off the shot, but not being pregnant is more important to me then losing weight, I can handle losing slowly.0 -
I'll go one better. I always think it's at least a little silly when I read a woman say something like, "I gained 80lbs because I was pregnant." Hmmm...let's think this through. You're baby only weighed how much when he/she was born?
Before all the ladies out there get angry, I know, I know. Hormones, stress, etc. Life happens. Hey, I got all the way up to 365lbs without even getting pregnant. Not judging. I just think in some way it helps when you're honest and at least take some of the blame by saying, "I went overboard a little."
Same for medications. My two cents.
women are supposed to gain a certain amount of fat when pregnant, which is to support breastfeeding. Some women lose that fat easily while breastfeeding - others don't lose it until they stop breastfeeding. Others don't lose it at all, or need to diet in order to lose it. The body basically becomes a life support machine for another human for 9 months and prepares to be the sole source of nutrition for that baby for 6-9 months, and a major source of nutrition for a further 4-5 years (that's what the body's expecting to do; we evolved without formula milk or baby foods or any kind of dairy products, so babies had to be breastfed until age about 5-6)
There are charts available from doctors and midwives that advise women how much they should gain through pregnancy, and it's a lot more than the 7lb that the baby weighs on average.
Excessive weight gain during pregnancy is a problem though and can increase the risk of complications in pregnancy and childbirth so I don't disagree with you about the general point you're making, I'm just saying that the amount of weight a healthy woman gains in a healthy pregnancy is actually quite a bit more than the weight of the baby.0 -
True, but its really hard to just not eat when your brain is telling you that you're starving. Obviously you're not literally starving, but hunger pains are magnified when one medications that cause weight gain. It takes a loooot of willpower and practice to get past that.This has always baffled me. When people claim a drug(s) "made" them gain weight does the drug actually interact with your physiology in a way that begins to cancel out the laws of thermodynamics or does it increase your appetite to such a ravenous extreme that avoiding over consumption is just more difficult?
there are quite a few people who've never been obese because they have always had a good natural ability for portion control, i.e. they eat when they're hungry and stop eating when they're full. Doing this has worked for them for their whole life... so if they take a medication that increases appetite, they will just carry on doing exactly what's kept them at a healthy weight all their life, and eaten when they're hungry and stopped eating when they're full... and the result will be that they'll gain weight, because they are now overeating.
People don't get much warning about this side effect, and without actually counting calories (never needed to do that before if they've always been a healthy weight before) it's hard to know when to stop eating if you're on medication like that........ so yes people do get fat as a direct result of taking medication that increases the appetite.............. it's totally understandable why someone in this situation would think that the pills are making them fat... because in a sense they are. The pills have screwed up the one thing - good appetite regulation - that's kept them a healthy weight up until that point.
Its really easy to look at people in this situation and say "well you overate" - yep they did. And they never overate before they were on that particular medication, so really, I think they can blame the pills. That doesn't mean they can't remedy the situation with some calorie counting... but it was the pills that caused them to overeat and get fat.
Actually it was THEM that ate & got overweight, not the pills that made them do it. The pills made them hungry, but did not make them eat more.... the pills did not say EAT OR I'LL STOP WORKING or EAT OR I'LL KILL YOU.
THEY made the choice to eat more. People have to stop blaming other things.
So, yes, it is the medications fault for causing the weight gain. It's the persons fault for not identifying the problem and working their *kitten* off to get it under control.0 -
This has always baffled me. When people claim a drug(s) "made" them gain weight does the drug actually interact with your physiology in a way that begins to cancel out the laws of thermodynamics or does it increase your appetite to such a ravenous extreme that avoiding over consumption is just more difficult?
there are quite a few people who've never been obese because they have always had a good natural ability for portion control, i.e. they eat when they're hungry and stop eating when they're full. Doing this has worked for them for their whole life... so if they take a medication that increases appetite, they will just carry on doing exactly what's kept them at a healthy weight all their life, and eaten when they're hungry and stopped eating when they're full... and the result will be that they'll gain weight, because they are now overeating.
People don't get much warning about this side effect, and without actually counting calories (never needed to do that before if they've always been a healthy weight before) it's hard to know when to stop eating if you're on medication like that........ so yes people do get fat as a direct result of taking medication that increases the appetite.............. it's totally understandable why someone in this situation would think that the pills are making them fat... because in a sense they are. The pills have screwed up the one thing - good appetite regulation - that's kept them a healthy weight up until that point.
Its really easy to look at people in this situation and say "well you overate" - yep they did. And they never overate before they were on that particular medication, so really, I think they can blame the pills. That doesn't mean they can't remedy the situation with some calorie counting... but it was the pills that caused them to overeat and get fat.
Actually it was THEM that ate & got overweight, not the pills that made them do it. The pills made them hungry, but did not make them eat more.... the pills did not say EAT OR I'LL STOP WORKING or EAT OR I'LL KILL YOU.
THEY made the choice to eat more. People have to stop blaming other things.
How could they know they were overeating if they just carried on eating when they're hungry and stopping when they're full though? People who stay a healthy weight their whole lives don't diet or count calories... all they do is that... eat when they're hungry and stop eating when they're full......... but if you do that, unknowingly, while on pills which are increasing your appetite, you end up overeating, even though you don't know that they are until after you gained a bunch of weight, how can anyone do anything about that until they've already gained the weight?
ETA: also, just because something isn't someone's fault, it doesn't mean they can't take responsibility for it and make changes to stop it continuing. You don't have to blame yourself for sh** that wasn't your fault to be able to deal with it... I said in the post that it can be remedied with calorie counting, but you can't blame someone for gaining weight in circumstances where they had no way of knowing that they were in danger of it happening.... and not blaming themselves doesn't stop them from being able to remedy the situation. Blaming yourself for stuff that wasn't your fault is actually bad for mental health... being rational and knowing that sometimes sh** happens that's not your fault but you still have to deal with it anyway, and also knowing that other times sh** happens because you brought it on yourself and have to deal with it... a wise person knows the difference and avoids beating themselves up over stuff that wasn't their fault while still taking whatever steps are necessary to fix it....0 -
True, but its really hard to just not eat when your brain is telling you that you're starving. Obviously you're not literally starving, but hunger pains are magnified when one medications that cause weight gain. It takes a loooot of willpower and practice to get past that.This has always baffled me. When people claim a drug(s) "made" them gain weight does the drug actually interact with your physiology in a way that begins to cancel out the laws of thermodynamics or does it increase your appetite to such a ravenous extreme that avoiding over consumption is just more difficult?
there are quite a few people who've never been obese because they have always had a good natural ability for portion control, i.e. they eat when they're hungry and stop eating when they're full. Doing this has worked for them for their whole life... so if they take a medication that increases appetite, they will just carry on doing exactly what's kept them at a healthy weight all their life, and eaten when they're hungry and stopped eating when they're full... and the result will be that they'll gain weight, because they are now overeating.
People don't get much warning about this side effect, and without actually counting calories (never needed to do that before if they've always been a healthy weight before) it's hard to know when to stop eating if you're on medication like that........ so yes people do get fat as a direct result of taking medication that increases the appetite.............. it's totally understandable why someone in this situation would think that the pills are making them fat... because in a sense they are. The pills have screwed up the one thing - good appetite regulation - that's kept them a healthy weight up until that point.
Its really easy to look at people in this situation and say "well you overate" - yep they did. And they never overate before they were on that particular medication, so really, I think they can blame the pills. That doesn't mean they can't remedy the situation with some calorie counting... but it was the pills that caused them to overeat and get fat.
Actually it was THEM that ate & got overweight, not the pills that made them do it. The pills made them hungry, but did not make them eat more.... the pills did not say EAT OR I'LL STOP WORKING or EAT OR I'LL KILL YOU.
THEY made the choice to eat more. People have to stop blaming other things.
So, yes, it is the medications fault for causing the weight gain. It's the persons fault for not identifying the problem and working their *kitten* off to get it under control.
plus the fact that people don't know the the medication has increased their appetite and made them overeat until after they gained a bunch of weight from it....0 -
Any time weight gain is listed as a side effect of medication there is a reason for that.
When drugs are in trials the people are asked to report any...any unusal symptoms.
They are not on calorie controlled diets etc. So if a participant of the trial gains weight and they "feel" it is unusal they report it as a side effect.
For example Mirena is commonly said to cause a lot of weight gain and claim it's a "side effect" and it is known that birth control can cause water retention but in the trials of Mirena of over 97000 participants less than 5% (4% actually) reported weight gain...so appx 4200 woman gained weight during the trial of Mirena and reported it therefore it is listed as a side effect.
I suspect drug trials all use a similar format...0 -
Some increase appetite, some decrease metabolism, some make you put on lots of watert weight, some play with your hormones
This...0 -
Actually, pregnancy is more than just baby--for all the men out there. Your blood volume increases and your body has to put on additional weight/reserves to support the growing life inside you. Add placenta, and the amniotic fluid as well and its not just baby that makes up the weight. Now normally that should probably be about 25/30 lbs, not 80, but do not knock the sheer physical changes and stress that are brought on the body by pregnancy, even though you, as a man, will never experience this.I'll go one better. I always think it's at least a little silly when I read a woman say something like, "I gained 80lbs because I was pregnant." Hmmm...let's think this through. You're baby only weighed how much when he/she was born?
Before all the ladies out there get angry, I know, I know. Hormones, stress, etc. Life happens. Hey, I got all the way up to 365lbs without even getting pregnant. Not judging. I just think in some way it helps when you're honest and at least take some of the blame by saying, "I went overboard a little."
Same for medications. My two cents.
Disclaimer: I have never given birth, but obviously I am female0
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