Antipsychotics and weight gain?

katcunock

i'm on anti-depressants and experiencing weight gain, though i have a theory that it is because the meds not only dull the bad feelings, but the good ones too. And before being on the meds I was very passionate about health whch I struggle to feel now.

BonnieandClyde29

Not anymore!

I've been on Seroquil, Trazadone, Ambien, Rozerem, Zoloft, Focalin, and so on and so forth, I gain some weight, but I decided I will take control of my life, I didn't like how I felt like I was controlled. It was weird, I could have the dumbest smile on my face, want to cry, but felt like I couldn;'t then because of my sleeping issues, here's a pill, boom knocked out!

primpixie

Hi, i put on nearly 2 stone while the dr's played with my medication, however, since being on here I have lost it all. I am taking Depakote, an anti epilectic but used for my Bi polar. I am soon to be taking Seroquel, so I'll have to see what happens with that, however, I think that a lot is in the mind, as Depakote can also cause anorexia. I panicked like mad witht he thought I'd put on weight, but i told myself I could shift it. I am on a very low calorie intake 1200 per day, and this seems to suit me.

I wish you well, and befriend me if you like, we can beat this weight issue together.

PP

onwarddownward

I fight this, too. I was on Abilify for anxiety and depression. I'm also taking buspar for anxiety. But my mental condition trumps my weight issues.

I just try to eat better and work out a lot.

OkamiLavande

I can blame most of the weight on my ability to have no self control over my eating habits. I don't know if Geodon itself has any effect over my weight other than my ability to keep food from my mouth. Eating habits changed from fast food everyday and no exercise to about 90% clean eating and exercise 3-4 times a day (ya I need to do more). It clicked one day when my dad said don't let your stomach tell you what to do. As in have self control your stomach doesn't dictate what you eat YOU do. Yes, the hungry feeling sucks but you can combat that with lots of protein, water, and veggies as snacks. I think when people cut their calories so low even on medication your not going to see a difference since your body needs a certain amount to function hence your body holding onto its fat. So, all I want to do is to lose all this weight to show everyone in the same boat as me there IS hope and you don't have to be stuck in this crappy situation.

Don't know if someone responded to this! But thought I'd comment since I took Geodon for about a year. ^-^
Geodon is the typical antipsychotic they put women on because they fear weight gain caused by antipsychotics. Geodon is not known to cause weight-gain, but it can happen. If you took risperdol and no one monitored you regularly or you didn't you would most certainly gain weight as a women because it increases the hormones in your body that cause weight gain during pregnancy. =/ I would know, I gained forty+ pounds in a month. You don't notice the change unless you are properly warned. You don't start eating more all at once so it is quite a surprise once you are finally weighed. Antipsychotics do contribute to weight gain, but, you can help negate it if you look at other side-effects of your medicines.

OkamiLavande

Oh! And if you truthfully need to take an antipsychotic, find out the uses for other types. One that causes no weight-gain issues and makes it easier to lose weight is Perphenazine.

Senneth12

The problem with Seroquel (and most of the antipsychotics) is twofold:
1) It makes you hungry, and it screws with your hunger signals so you never know when you're full
2) It messes with your metabolism

You can lose weight and then maintain a healthy weight on it. I've done both. But it does make it much harder.

Senneth12

I can blame most of the weight on my ability to have no self control over my eating habits. I don't know if Geodon itself has any effect over my weight other than my ability to keep food from my mouth. Eating habits changed from fast food everyday and no exercise to about 90% clean eating and exercise 3-4 times a day (ya I need to do more). It clicked one day when my dad said don't let your stomach tell you what to do. As in have self control your stomach doesn't dictate what you eat YOU do. Yes, the hungry feeling sucks but you can combat that with lots of protein, water, and veggies as snacks. I think when people cut their calories so low even on medication your not going to see a difference since your body needs a certain amount to function hence your body holding onto its fat. So, all I want to do is to lose all this weight to show everyone in the same boat as me there IS hope and you don't have to be stuck in this crappy situation.

THANK GOD! Someone is finally taking credit for their actions and not blaming their weight gain on a pill and taking all the responsibilty away from themselves!

Look. I'm all for personal responsibility. I've gained weight on these drugs, I've lost it, and I've maintained a healthy weight for the last five years or so.

But these drugs make you hungry AND change your metabolism. So to some extent, I agree with the people who blame their weight gain on the pill. I was always underweight, and within a few months I was 40lbs overweight (a total of 70 lbs). I lost 40 and have stayed between 150 and 155 for the last five years. At 5'9, my drs are happy with my weight. Anything below 145 is just too light.

Do you still have responsibility to make changes and control your weight? Absolutely. But I don't think it's a bad thing to acknowledge that the pills do change things.

daniellenagel948

A few years ago, I was misdiagnosed as bipolar (turned out it was Asperger's syndrome which cannot be medicated as it has little to do with brain chemicals) Because of the "bipolar disorder" my psychiatrist put me on seroquel. I was thirteen and the weight piled on. I started to resist the cravings to combat the weight gain. But I could only do it for a few days at a time before the seroquel cravings were too much. Cue binge/deprivation cycle that lasted several years after I got off the meds. I think it really depends on the mental willpower a person has going in that determines how high the risk is for weight gain. Unfortunately most shrinks get favors or kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies so they won't even tell you the side effects. So you can judge the risks and benefits.

Jess732008

I can blame most of the weight on my ability to have no self control over my eating habits. I don't know if Geodon itself has any effect over my weight other than my ability to keep food from my mouth. Eating habits changed from fast food everyday and no exercise to about 90% clean eating and exercise 3-4 times a day (ya I need to do more). It clicked one day when my dad said don't let your stomach tell you what to do. As in have self control your stomach doesn't dictate what you eat YOU do. Yes, the hungry feeling sucks but you can combat that with lots of protein, water, and veggies as snacks. I think when people cut their calories so low even on medication your not going to see a difference since your body needs a certain amount to function hence your body holding onto its fat. So, all I want to do is to lose all this weight to show everyone in the same boat as me there IS hope and you don't have to be stuck in this crappy situation.

THANK GOD! Someone is finally taking credit for their actions and not blaming their weight gain on a pill and taking all the responsibilty away from themselves!

Wrong, if you can maintain weight off of the antipsychotic and then start gaining on it then there is a connection between the antipsychotic and the weight gain.

Jess732008

I can blame most of the weight on my ability to have no self control over my eating habits. I don't know if Geodon itself has any effect over my weight other than my ability to keep food from my mouth. Eating habits changed from fast food everyday and no exercise to about 90% clean eating and exercise 3-4 times a day (ya I need to do more). It clicked one day when my dad said don't let your stomach tell you what to do. As in have self control your stomach doesn't dictate what you eat YOU do. Yes, the hungry feeling sucks but you can combat that with lots of protein, water, and veggies as snacks. I think when people cut their calories so low even on medication your not going to see a difference since your body needs a certain amount to function hence your body holding onto its fat. So, all I want to do is to lose all this weight to show everyone in the same boat as me there IS hope and you don't have to be stuck in this crappy situation.

Don't know if someone responded to this! But thought I'd comment since I took Geodon for about a year. ^-^
Geodon is the typical antipsychotic they put women on because they fear weight gain caused by antipsychotics. Geodon is not known to cause weight-gain, but it can happen. If you took risperdol and no one monitored you regularly or you didn't you would most certainly gain weight as a women because it increases the hormones in your body that cause weight gain during pregnancy. =/ I would know, I gained forty+ pounds in a month. You don't notice the change unless you are properly warned. You don't start eating more all at once so it is quite a surprise once you are finally weighed. Antipsychotics do contribute to weight gain, but, you can help negate it if you look at other side-effects of your medicines.

Geodon helped my overeating. I never wanted to eat but it made me psychotic. It was a horrible experience. Antipsychotics are so frustrating. I cannot be off of them but I cannot gain weight. I am already 300 lbs because of the antipsychotics. If I gain any more I will be unable to move.

Jess732008

Same exact story!! I'm on Geodon I went from a healthy 138 to 180..... that's so much in three years time. It's so inspirational to hear you did it! If you can I can

I gained over 100 on Risperdal in under 8 months. I lost some weight on it and then felt so hungry and just went off program and gained a huge amount of weight. Usually I maintain weight. I went from 206-327. After I went off I lost 37 lbs but found it hard to lose the rest. I maintained this loss for a year. I just started back on Abilify and have gained again very quickly. I am not sure what to do. I will try to reign myself in, but I am frustrated with the whole antipsychotic experience.

apninasus

I was googling Geodon and extreme hunger and came across this thread. I have major depression and have been on wellbutrin for almost 2 years without any issues or weight gain. My dr decided this week (4 days ago) to add geodon. Wow I'm constantly starving. This is not mind hunger, I can hear my stomach grumbling. No matter how much, or how often I eat it happens. This is the only change in my life, so this is the only thing I can attribute it to. Anyone else have this issue? From all my searching it seems the majority have either weight loss/ weight neutral. Leave it to me to be the minority :-(

81Katz

Geodon was a nightmare drug for me. It sent me into a major manic episode and caused major insomnia (I'm talking 2-3 hours of sleep a night for almost 3 weeks) I would lay there for hours, yet I managed to somehow function on that little amount of sleep because I was deliriously manic. I rarely felt hungry because I was so "up, up, up" then by the 3rd week I crashed and went into this deep, dark, sobbing all the time, could barely function, lowest of the lows depression. It was awful. Awful is an understatement actually.

I refused to take Seroquel. Everyone I knew that took this drug had weight gain/hunger issues. I said NOPE, no way. Not even going to try it. A different Dr. keep pushing and pushing this drug. No matter what I said. So I found a new Dr. because he never really listened to me anyhow. He sucked!

I'm currently on Lamictal and Abilify. I never had any negative effects of the Lamictal so it's been my base drug for years. But my Dr. she has since added the Abilify. I haven't noticed anything major; good or bad with this drug. I guess it's been neutral. Some days I think I feel better and I think "oh maybe it's working!" then other days I feel like **** and then I want to blame the drug because "it's not working!" I have an upcoming appointment where I will discuss this. I'm at 20mg of the Abilify now so maybe she'll want to up it, who knows! Or add something entirely different.

I think each case is different. Sometimes it messes with your appetite/hunger and with other people it doesn't. I can find 5 people who say the drugs above are GREAT and 5 whos say the drugs above are awful.

Speaking of nightmare drugs. Symbyax. OMG - even the pharmacist was like "this drug causes major weight gain so be careful". I ate like crazy on that drug. I never felt full - ever -. I had cravings for carbs like crazy. I could eat a huge meal and I just didn't feel full. I was on that about a month, I think I literally, no BS gained about 20+, maybe about 25 lbs. I was in a state of depression so I was down in the dumps and *lazy*, and some of the inactivity of course contributed to weight gain, but this drug messed with my hunger/signals in a freaky way.

apninasus

Oh wow, hope you find something that works and doesn't cause any problems. He only put me on it because I was sleeping so much. In that respect, it did it's job extremely well lol. I should mention I've had a lap-band for many years so this hunger thing is not normal for me. I'm used to eating half a burger for lunch, and I'm usually good until dinner, no hunger issues. I'm going to stop taking it. In my research I saw if you have excessive hunger, stop taking it.

81Katz

Wait to see your Dr. before you just stop taking anything. A lot of drugs you need to taper off of it.

Maybe they just need to tweak your dose too ?? It took me 3 weeks on the Geodon (which at the 3rd week is when he upped the dose and then that is when I crashed) so something iffy happened at that time and he didn't really seem to know the why either.

I hope you find something that works for you! :flowerforyou:

BlackPup

My dr just put me on metformin to counteract the increased hunger with my meds. So far it seems to be working well. Just another option if changing meds is too hard.