Anyone here gained weight on anti depressants?

Ortax

I gained 50 pounds on Abilify, Effexor, and Lexapro. Has anyone here been able to lose weight that they gained from meds?

carlye_slover

bump!

I have gained 10lbs on zoloft in the last 3 months! not much, but I don't want it to continue!

leahartmann

I gained 53 pounds in a year from Abilify as well. I managed to lose about 15 pounds so far. You CAN lose, but it takes more time than most. Just be patient!!

SunnyStef

I gained about 60 lbs. on Abilify. I'm having a difficult time losing, but I'm sure it can be done. I know that being depressed makes losing weight even harder. Good luck to you.

nadinewhitley

Hi, I am in UK (not sure on difference in drugs etc...).

I have been on venlafaxine and clonazepan for the past 4 years, before that citalopran. My weight has been up and down for a while, im not huge by any mean (5'9 and 150 lbs) but I used to be approx 135 lbs, so I dont feel comfortable. 5 weeks ago I came off my medication, not just because of weight, I just dont want to be on them forever. Im going to really try and lose the weight, but it feels like a bit of a no win situation. Ive got to try and not get depressed / anxious so I dont turn to food or back to the meds! So I am also going to try and use exercise to make me feel better.

good luck to everyone, im sure it can be done on medication!

terracotti

me, I started gaining weight when I was on meds. I stopped taking them tho.

keyboardwench

Cymbalta's supposed to be weight neutral. My abnormal psych prof talked about it briefly - he mentioned how it was a newer choice for people/mainly women who had issues/fears of using medications associated with weight gain. As well my ex was on it for the 2 years we were together and I never saw any weight gain. Can't really say if he had any initially though, wasn't around then, but he has always been a skinny guy from what I can tell.

kathrynlouiseellis

Yep on Zoloft I did, but I needed them so I started training, works two fold, the exercise helps the depression, without the meds I couldn't exercise.

craftycatlady

I've gained 30 pounds in the last year and I think being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and starting Zoloft was a contributing factor. I wouldn't blame the meds directly, but the Zoloft has caused me to need more sleep and feel somewhat lethargic. Additionally, when I'm depressed I tend to engage in emotional eating. It's a battle for sure, but you're not alone and we're here to cheer you on!

nikilis

whoa, they must have loads of calories in them.

LaceyMorley

I am on Wellbutrin and I've lost 11 lbs. It is known to help promote weight loss. But just a little background - I am actually one of those who gains weight while depressed so when I went on meds I was up 50lbs from the depression. Now... I am doing much better and losing weight. You might want to ask your doctor about Wellbutrin if you feel you are gaining too much from the one you are on now.

polishmehappy

Celexa made me gain weight. My highest was 169 lbs (I'm only 5 ft tall). Once I stopped taking it I lost 15 lbs.

Katbaran

I just started Effexor-venlafaxine--and I've lost 11.5 pounds in 7 days. I feel so much better and I've been much more active. I have no idea what it will be like long-term, but for now, I'm loving it! I feel like myself again and it's easy to stay away from the fridge. Like LaceyMorley, I gained weight over the summer and into the Fall being depressed. I really didn't realize I was depressed, I just felt like sleeping all the time, I was tired all the time, etc. I thought it was my age, the weather and all that. I'm much older than LaceyMorley, so I didn't think it was much of anything important.

BurtHuttz

I'm on an SSRI which is associated with weight gain, but I have found no change in my composition with maintaining the exact same eating and exercise routine; as a matter of fact I'm not certain how the caloric equation would change. You can't gain what you don't eat and you can't store as fat what you burn.

Lyssa62

I had a 60 lb gain with paxil years ago...after I was off of it I dropped it. HATE that crap

Rachlmale

Without trying to aggravate people too much - it is not the tablets that cause you to gain the weight, it is what you eat whilst on them. Anti-depressants made me not give a damn about what I was doing to myself so I kept eating. There is no fat in tablets, therefore you cannot directly gain fat from them.

leeleeloulou

I'm taking sertraline and i find that my weight is up with them, when i stopped when i was pregnant i actually lost weight... granted hormones etc. but i still believe that the antidepressants are also part of it.
I also think (although i know this doesn't apply to the original poster as it's a gender issue) that my contraceptive pill is partly to blame too.
Having said all that; I do like my food and what i put in my mouth is totally my responsibility. So as much as I try, there's no getting out of it. It's mainly my own fault lol
xxxxxx

AmyFett

I did. I gained 40+ when I was put on prozac years ago, started happening again recently when i went on zoloft. Now, to hell with those meds.

cama78

I've been on them over 5 years and have gained no weight at all.

centexhusker

I don't know about putting on weight but...

I will say from experience that being on a anti-depressent slows down the weight loss rate.

I'm trying to ween myself off of a very low dose of one(10mg) and replacing it with cardio to relieve stress and anxiety.

It's working so far

AmberJo1984

Extra workouts might help... Or, talk to your doctor. If I remember correctly, I would gain on Lexapro too. But, I'm on Pristique now... and it increases energy. So... in addition to me exercising and eating right, that helps as well.

floridagirl7264

I gained 50 pounds on Abilify, Effexor, and Lexapro. Has anyone here been able to lose weight that they gained from meds?

I've been on quite a few antipsychotics like abilify. When I was on abilify I gained 60 lbs and when I was on saphris I gained 40 lbs. I no longer take an antipsychotic (TG I'm stable). The weight is as hard to lose as anybody else that is trying to lose weight. In other words, it doesn't come right off after taking them. :sad:

ahviendha

I slowly gained weight on Lexapro, 10mgs. Gained it over 2-3 years. Stopped taking it last summer, around June '11. Hit highest weight in June '11, 216, but have since lost 60lbs total.

Mood swings are kind of crazy now though!!

Iam918

I've been on them for Anxiety (same meds for both though) and have been gaining. I gain weight very, very easily as it is and these don't help at all. My doctor and I have been discussing this issue the last few times I've seen him.

I, however, can't blame the meds as it all comes down to what I eat and my exercise habits. I must and do take full responsibility and am making every effort to reverse this. I will say though that my energy levels have fallen off, I feel lethargic and hungry all the time.

sunnyside1213

Citalopram makes me nauseous, so I don't eat.

Nukkers

I gained 30lbs on Tramadol. I am bipolar with insmonia and anxiety. My biggest challenge is craving sweets after I take all of my medicine at night. Anyone can feel free to add me! I am on every day.

SarahCW1979

I was the opposite :ohwell: Went from 182lbs to 135lbs in about 4 months but was that awful skinny fat, no muscle at all to speak of. Came off them and went back up to 166lbs. Went back on (again) and shrank down a little bit but nothing too drastic this time!

bcerz811

i was on Prozac for 4 years and cymbalta for 1 and a half. Gained 60lbs on those meds. However, I was also in college and not exercising, and not eating right. But even at the end of my time with Cymbalta, when i was trying to eat right and start exercising, I found I was way too fatigued to exercise. As in, I was falling asleep on the treadmill. I couldn't even get to a point where my heart rate was raised; I was dozing off just walking around. I went off the meds and immediately dropped about 15lbs. The rest of it has come off with exercise and eating right over the course of a little over a year and a half.

Short answer: Yes I did, but there were other contributing factors. What the meds really did was make it very very difficult for me to LOSE weight. I don't think I would have gained as much had I maintained better habits while in college.

That said, I may have been on a bad dosage. Dr switched me to Cymbalta because of the fatigue, but cymbalta actually made it worse. Maybe i needed a different dose. I was tired of feeling like I was in a fog, though, and decided to try battling my anxiety and depression with exercise. So far so good, as long as I make sure to do it, even if I don't feel like it. I understand this WILL NOT work for everyone, but for the rest of the people in my family who also battle depression and anxiety (it definitely runs in my family, back several generations in fact), exercise has been key in keeping it under wraps, with and without meds.

If you absolutely must be on meds (which is FINE. please do not go off medications against a doctor's advice. When I first went on antidepressants, I NEEDED to be on them), make sure you're honest and persistent with your doctor if you are continuing to gain weight despite consistently good habits, or if fatigue is making it impossible to exercise. Mine was so bad I was falling asleep driving to work even after 14-16 hours of sleep. I was basically a zombie. College, I only got by on adrenaline and caffeine pills. As soon as I graduated, I basically crash landed.

Wingwoman21

I was on Lexapro 3 years ago and gained about 20 pounds, started watching what I ate very carefully (I was always hungry so my portions were insane) and got it off. My dr. then switched me to Wellbutrin due to other side effects I was having with Lex and Wellbutrin doesn't make me hungrier than normal. I'm actually on this site because I went off the my meds cold turkey (DON'T DO IT) at the beginning of this year, got crazy depressed and did nothing but eat/sleep for 6 months.
Good luck finding a good anti-depressant, it's a tedious cycle but so worth it when you find one that works for you. :flowerforyou:

runboostie

So good to know I am not alone.

runboostie

So good to know I am not alone.