Anti-Depressant cause weight gain

droneofvelvet

My Story: I started Celexa last March when my weight was around 168 lbs. This medication helped a lot with my anxiety and depression; I even went out and got a full time job after over a year of sitting at home being depressed and afraid to go outside. I lost 18 lbs in under a month and was down to 150 and feeling great. I was still 20 lbs away from my goal weight. However, after a couple months despite doing yoga 4 times a week and eating next to nothing (I had to force myself to eat an applesauce every day, the nausea was that bad from these meds) I was back up to 174 lbs. My doctor kept telling me to eat less and exercise more, and I told her I couldn’t eat less and I was too dizzy from these pills to do more intense exercise so she put me on Wellbutrin, but I had a bad reaction to it and had a freak out and stopped everything cold turkey. It’s been over half a year since then and on Christmas I was up to 186 lbs!! Now Im 178 lbs and trying to lose. I also have the horrible depression and anxiety back making it hard to feel motivated. I’m hoping this medication did not have a permanent affect on my metabolism, I’ve heard some rumors about how we store the medication in our fat cells and they react as we burn the fat.
I’m wondering if anyone has experience losing weight after taking antidepressants and gaining weight caused by them. Please give me your advice, I am willing to try anything and everything.

aliciamarieUF

Prozac made me gain 27 pounds a couple of years back. I didn't notice that I was eating anymore than usual but I guess I was to have gained all that weight! I eventually switched to Lamictal which is not associated with weight gain whatsoever. Paired with diet and exercise, I've been able to lose 21 pounds so far. Make sure to speak with your psychiatrist and tell her that one of the most important things for you is finding a medication NOT associated with weight gain.

BeckZombie

When I was on Lexapro, I didn't notice any weight gain. I was also on an anxiety medication, but I can't remember the darn name. I didn't experience anything negative from that, either. Could you ask your doctor to switch your meds?

Contrarian

My anxiety meds reduce my appetite.

icyeyes317

Anti-depressants are known for causing weight gain. =(

halleyg2

I gained this 30 pounds I'm trying to lose from a new AD medication, Viibryd. As soon as I figured out what was going on, I weened myself off that stuff as fast as possible. It also had other side effects I could not deal with.

Anti-depressant meds cause weight gain for a lot of people, especially women.

Rizabees

My weight has been at a stand-still since getting on anti-depressants. A bit of up-and-down but nothing drastic.

Any chance you could get a new doctor? Tell them your biggest concern is weight gain and work with them on that. The sad part about having anxiety/depression is that right now it's very much a guess and check thing. It can seem very very hopeless after a few tries and easy to feel like you should give up. But don't. It's definitely worth it to find something that works for you. I'm on my 3rd or 4th different anti-depressant and I'll probably have to up the dose next time i see my psychiatrist since so far it's the most effective dealing with my anxiety/depression.

Maybe even try pairing the medication with therapy [if you can afford it.]

Good luck.

amandapye78

Paxil is what caused me to gain 30 lbs!. I lost 15 almost immediately after stopping them.

chunkydunk714

Im on prozac and since September Ive gained 15 pounds...its terrible

missmegan831

I'v been on just about every anti-depressant on the market over the last 10 years and thy all had me gaining weight, except Zoloft... I am currently on no meds at all for the depression as I have 'fixed' it with exercise at the moment; Best wishes to you, it is such a hard thing to find the perfect combination to treat the anxiety and depression without a bunch of side effects...

invincible_summer

I'd been on Paxil (Seroxat in the UK) for two years and came off it towards the end of December. I gained around 25lb while on it. Coming off it was terrible for the first 5 weeks.

Anyway, I weighed 143lb at the start of August and I'm 124.8lb now.

It's not the actual med that makes you gain weight; it just makes you feel hungry more often so you eat more.

Dieting has definitely been much easier since I came off it.

Good luck! Don't worry about it.

EDIT: I've taken ciprimil, prozac and venlafaxine in the past and they didn't seem to affect my weight (or work).

daggs95

I have 2 sisters who were on Zoloft, one is known for her non-eating, the other normal. Both gained ridculous amounts of weight, from nothing. Not eating more or anything, just boom...here is a bunch of water retention and some fat. One of them went off, and about a year later lost all the weight she gained.

Everyone is different, but i myself will never go near any of it. Had enough problems with birth control pills.

sunlover89

These medications did not "cause" you to gain weight - from a therapist who was on 4 different antipressants in her teens. Read this book "The Feel Good Factor" by Patrick Holford.

invincible_summer

These medications did not "cause" you to gain weight - from a therapist who was on 4 different antipressants in her teens. Read this book "The Feel Good Factor" by Patrick Holford.

They trigger the hunger response, so indirectly they did.

melancholyjen

back in 2011, i went on a generic of celexa for anxiety and pmdd. the first three months i didn't notice much of a difference in weight, but then after that i gained bout 15 lbs in about 4 months. the pills made me gain, however, i wasn't logging my food/watching what i was eating or exercising nearly as much. so i think it was a combination of a slower metabolism and over-consumption.

i got off the pills, lost 20 lbs by finding MFP and training for a half marathon. i looked great but the anxiety and pmdd came back, so i decided that i needed to find a happy medium. i started taking a lower dosage and the first few months, i'd lose and gain the same few pounds, but i wasn't trying to lose, so it hasn't bugged me too much. now that i'm training again, i've noticed that i wasn't caring as much about logging, so the pounds have started to creep back up. hopefully with the lower dosage and being more anal about what i put in/workout i'll still be able to lose.

good luck, hopefully you find you happy medium.

Bobtheangrytomato

Yes meds can make you hungry, but you have to eat more to gain weight. If you have to take the medication the options are pretty much don't eat and be hungry, miserable, and skinny, or eat and be fat and miserable.

mikey1976

i blame Seroquel for my weight gains but i have to blame myself to i ate so bad that if i looked back and i have i ate really gross. i got type 2 diabeties too from this way of living. i'm now on zeldox which is working wounders i've lost and gained. the only side affect is if you miss the med you get real sick

invincible_summer

Can you maybe do therapy instead of meds? I've tried meds on and off for a decade, but my psychiatrist thinks they don't work for me, so there's no point in taking them. Instead I was offered psychoanalysis and CBT (I'd tried the latter before).

I still have the odd down day, but I'm doing a lot better now that I'm focused on my behaviour instead of 'medicalising' everything. Being passive and sitting waiting around for meds to work is depressing by itself.

Keeping a private journal has definitely helped too. That and using www.joesgoals.com to keep track of daily trivial things like 'go for a walk', 'do laundry' and 'brush teeth'.

Routine, sleep and diet can definitely help mood disorders just as much if not more than meds. I know other people who've managed their bipolar by taking up running.

msnailgun

Paxil made me blow up like the Goodyear blimp. I've been on Zoloft for about 14 years; it has been wonderful.

Crystal_Pistol

You said you initially lost weight so it IS possible. It may take more effort.
Cost/benefit. You have to determine which is more important to you.

lilmisfit

Effexor and Lexapro both caused me to gain weight. I never had issues with my weight before I went on these drugs. I weaned myself off of them gradually.