What antidepressant doesn't make you gain weight ?

I was on and off anti-depressants for 8 years and at the time I didn't think I could cope without them. Then in 2010 I decided I didn't want to be on them anymore and wanted to be "normal". I still had a hard time without them at first. Then I sought counselling and just dealt with my problems instead. I found Prozac to be the best one, and I didn't gain any weight.

I feel much better being off them, and knowing that I can deal with things myself. Do I still get anxious? Yes, sometimes for very small reasons, and sometimes nothing at all triggers it. I in fact feel anxious now. Instead of thinking about it so much, I just carry on and try to forget about it, whereas before I would sit there and panic and dwell on it until it went away. That though would then cause me panic attacks and I'd end up hiding in the toilets crying.

I know you've heard it before, but it's much better to find out why you're depressed and sort out those problems rather than relying on tablets for the rest of your life.

Good luck :flowerforyou:

Exercise. It really does work well for some people as an anti-depressant, no joke!

I had to take something one time...during a time when I was overwhelmed by stress.
I had a strange, sinking feeling emotionally, and unreasonable anxiety....not like the usual me at all.
I don't like meds and dr appointments, and my husband is an orthopedic nurse, so I looked in his drug reference book.
St. John's Wort Herb extract is listed among the meds.
I was willing to use that!
It worked great, and i was healed...no weight gain or other side effects....also, it's not addictive.
I was normal in 6 weeks, but took it a total of 3 months, then backed off the dose.
I occasionally take it as preventative in the winter months.

Okay, for all the people saying "exercise" - you're not doing anyone any favors. Yes, exercise is great for your mood. But when you are depressed to the point where you can barely get out of bed every day, someone telling you to exercise is unhelpful at best and exacerbating at worst - one more thing to feel guilty about because you don't have the energy/motivation to do it. Taking an antidepressant can help someone to improve to the point where they can take care of themselves in other ways.

Yes, I have to agree with this.
If you have never experienced anxiety/depression, you have no idea how incapacitating it is.
It's the weirdest experience.
I felt so vulnerable.
I've never been like that, and would not have been able to relate if I had not experienced it myself.
As i said in my post above, I don't like meds, but the st. john's wort extract got me out of the woods in 4 weeks, felt normal at 6 weeks, was able to stop taking it after 3 months.
I also took fish oil at the same time. And since there was no sunshine at that time of the year, I took vitamin d3 6000iu/day.

The effects of anti-depressants are VERY individual. Someone else's experience may completely differ from another.

For instance, I was told by various acquaintances that Wellbutrin is "least likely to cause weight gain". Unfortunately, in addition to not helping me with my depression issue, it had the opposite effect on me physically... I actually gained weight (almost 10lbs) in 3 months. On Wellbutrin, my appetite was insatiable, and I craved the worst food (esp. refined carbs) constantly - I've never struggled with this before! The worst, though, was being completely energy-less from morning to night, which actually exacerbated the depression problem. Needless to say I didn't stay on it, and sought other avenues of treatment. I lost the weight I gained on Wellbutrin, and regained a measure of my energy, as soon as I stopped taking it.

Conclusion: Medication affects *everyone* differently.

Talk to your doctor... better yet, a specialist.
Sometimes it takes various tries to find what works best for YOU.

Hi I am Mark's wife and currently a pharmacy student. There aren't any anti-depressants out there they won't make you put on the weight. All of the drugs in that class (Prozac probably being the worst) are also meant to be anti-anorexia drugs. They don't for instance make you eat, but your body responds by causing possible weight gain. Sorry

my hubs is a pharmacist. he's says that is very untrue. Welbutrin is classified as the ONLY antidepressant that doesnt not contribute to weight gain.

STOP THIS INSANITY NOW! You can't prescribe medications in a forum! Each individual is different. "Exercise more" "I don't take my anti-depressants any more"...STOP IT PEOPLE.

This is a dangerous subject to be dealt with by professionals. SSRI's are a neurotransmitter blocker...it means that your brain doesn't function properly with serotonin ...so don't stop taking your medications because you "FEEL like you want to deal with this on your own"....Diabetics need their medication, cancer patients need theirs....it is NOT a crutch.

Bottom line...1. Stop Prescription shopping in forums
2. Stop giving dangerous and possibly life threatening 'advice'
3. See your Health Care Provider or Mental Health Professional
4. Remember every person is unique in how they respond to treatment, medications and exercise.

Okay, for all the people saying "exercise" - you're not doing anyone any favors. Yes, exercise is great for your mood. But when you are depressed to the point where you can barely get out of bed every day, someone telling you to exercise is unhelpful at best and exacerbating at worst - one more thing to feel guilty about because you don't have the energy/motivation to do it. Taking an antidepressant can help someone to improve to the point where they can take care of themselves in other ways.

I know others have already said it, but THANK YOU. Shaming people for taking medication for their problems is not going to fix anything.

When I was 13, I was very depressed for no discernible reason, and began to have some frightening thoughts. I tried Prozac for about a month, but it was expensive (we didn't have prescription coverage at the time and there was no generic yet), and I hated how it made me feel. My dad said I seemed to be a little more pleasant, but I just felt numb and apathetic. So when I had a major, extremely frightening bout of depression as a sophomore in college, I knew I needed to get help, but I was scared to ask for it in the event that they'd put me on Prozac again. I did find a doctor in my college town, and told her what had been going on (intense ideation that came out of NOWHERE), and that I did not like my previous experience with Prozac and also didn't want to gain a bunch of weight if I could help it. She recommended I try either Wellbutrin or Serzone. I made the right choice, apparently, because Serzone was taken off the market about a year later due to some pesky side effects like destroying one's liver.

I took Wellbutrin off and on throughout the rest of my college years, when I could afford it (my dad did get prescription coverage by the time I went to college, but when I was out & newly married we didn't have anything for a while, so I just went without). I have been on it steadily for at least the last 6 years, and it still seems to work for me. I can tell if I haven't taken it within about a week - nothing dramatic, but I tend to have a crying jag or two before settling back into what more or less amounts to chronic dysphoria. It hasn't helped me lose any weight, so far as I can tell, but I don't think it's been to blame for any of my gains, either. I also currently take Adderall XR 30mg daily for ADD, and have taken Ritalin in the past - but despite everyone saying it kills your appetite and makes you lose weight, I was at my highest weight ever just about 6-8 months ago.

In 2009, I wound up in the hospital due to a bad reaction to some unrelated medication. Afterward, I was suffering from some PTSD, and the doctors suggested therapy along with adding an SSRI to supplement my Wellbutrin. Grudgingly, I agreed to try Celexa, as I'd not heard too many evil things about it, and it seemed like a safer bet than some of the other choices. Well, I did gain weight while I was on Celexa, and the numbness and apathy returned. My brain-to-mouth filter was gone, kind of like when I have to take prednisone, except none of the wild mood swings to go along with it. I had absolutely zero interest in sex, which was probably for the best, all things considered - I said some horrible things to the people I loved most, and I'm sure part of that was the PTSD talking, but it just wasn't good. I also gained about 40 lbs during this time - again, not completely attributable to a medication side effect, but I discovered later that it likely had a hand in it. I ended up quitting the Celexa cold-turkey (dumb, I know, but being crazy makes you do dumb things sometimes), and within a couple of months, my normal emotional responses returned, I began filling in some of the holes I'd dug for myself with my loved ones, and I dropped 20 lbs without trying.

In the last year or so I came to terms with my birth defect. I was born with mild hydrocephalus, which put extra pressure on my right hemisphere, and resulted in textbook Nonverbal Learning Disorder. As I was reading through the documentation and as my neuropsychological testing results came back, I realized something - I never would have classified myself as being "anxious," but that's because my anxiety level is continually high compared to most people, so "anxious" is my normal way of being. And honestly, the Wellbutrin and Adderall probably aren't helping matters, but they do help me to get out of bed and cope with the other issues I deal with on a daily basis. So after all of this testing was done, I was referred to a psychiatrist for a medication evaluation, and he ended up adding Ativan for anxiety and trazodone for sleep (both PRN) to my cocktail. I don't give myself permission to take either of them very often, which is probably not great, but when I do decide I really need it, they work.

I feel a lot better now, and am also continuing to go to weekly therapy. Exercise does make me feel "better" sometimes, I guess - a couple of my best workouts this summer have been right after receiving really bad news - but it's not always the cure. And I don't really feel "high" after working out - just accomplished, and tired.

I also hope you realize that, even though I am relating my story to you, it doesn't mean that my experiences will be the same as yours. I have several friends and family members who've tried Wellbutrin at different points in time and had horrible experiences with it (usually severe headaches, sleeplessness, or new & unprovoked panic attacks). I have other friends who swear by Effexor and claim that it has transformed their lives into magical wonderlands, while it nearly destroyed my husband's life. Wellbutrin just happens to work for me with minimal side effects. But it doesn't make or even help me lose weight, and it doesn't cure my ADD (some doctors prescribe it for this, but I'm just as distractible as ever if I don't take an actual stimulant).

TL;DR version: if you can get in with a psychiatrist, please do - but don't let them bully you into a drug you're not comfortable taking, or staying on one that is causing you to have side effects you can't cope with. There's no point in taking something to make you "feel better" when it's making other aspects of your life unbearable. And therapy is another helpful option for a lot of people, instead of or in addition to medication.

Exercise is a great antidepressant in many cases; however, if you are clinical... it will not be sufficient. From your post I am supposing that your depressive mood has been sufficient to affect your ability to be a productive employee.. that it is affecting your quality of life. If you have been dealing with it through a general practitioner, I would recommend seeing one who specializes in mood disorders... Psychiatrist. In some cases counseling is the best answer... In other cases, it is a combination of medication and counseling... Exercise works really well as a mood enhancer in those with mild depressive symptoms or merely "the blues". However, as I suspect you are aware, there is a difference between the blues and clinical depression.

While exercise is not sufficient for many people, it made a HUGE difference for me, and honestly, I resent the implication that because I recommended it I don't know the difference between "the blues" and depression. Suffice it to say that I'm most definitely clinical, and I'd rather not air all my dirty laundry to prove it.

I did not go off all my medication willy-nilly just for kicks. The Savella raised my blood pressure to the point that my doctor was concerned that might have a stroke, so she took me off everything cold-turkey (which was a godawful experience - there's a reason they usually have you taper the dose if you stop.) And after my BP went back to normal, I started going to the gym regularly - 5+days of cardio for at least 30 minutes, and strength training 3x a week, and I honestly felt great. Without all the side effects of medication. The difference was amazing.

While I would never advise someone to go off their medication or anything like that, if anyone gets in a position like I did where they just can't deal with the side effects and they have to stop taking their medication, or if their medication is helping but not taking them up to 100%, exercise can be really helpful.

Depression is serious business, but there are many tools in the toolbox for dealing with it. Medication is one very viable option, but it's certainly not the only thing out there that can help.

STOP THIS INSANITY NOW!

While I agree with everything you said, I can't help but point out the irony of you using a medical diagnosis of "insanity" to scold people in this thread.

Regardless of what advice she's getting, her doctor still has to write the script. It's not like she can go in and say "Hey, a bunch of people on MFP suggested I take this", and he'll listen to her. The only dangerous advice here is telling her to get off her meds, especially the one who said she felt "normal" when she got off hers. Having depression and anxiety and needing meds to treat it does not make someone "abnormal".

Just to point out "insanity" Is NOT a medical diagnosis The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DMS does not classify "insanity" in medical terms....so all due respect get your information correct. Additionally you would be amazed at what people tell Doctors about "let's try this" ....

So the basic point is, talk to your health care provider about this question....not people who really don't know you or your body, in a forum.