Losing Weight and Being Bipolar...

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Webona293
Webona293 Posts: 39 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Looking for other people who are trying to lose weight and have bipolar disorder or any other mental illness...a lot of people don't realize that having one of these diseases makes weight loss a whole new ballgame because #1 medication affects weight and #2 most diet medication and supplements are not recommended or flat out prohibited from people with a mental history. I am blogging my experience and am looking for others who may share my extra issues. Also it is said that diet can affect mood so I am interested if anyone (especially Furhmanators) has found this to be true and what foods triggered them and what they cut out that had positive results.

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  • DeathKitty23
    DeathKitty23 Posts: 64 Member
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    aready have you added but I totally agree that mental illness plays a huge part in wieght isses - I was a uk size 6-8 before I suffered severe drpession and anxiety disorder
    A lot of people don't understand how much it affects your life on an everyday basis (just making it out of bed is an accomplishment for me some days) and a change in lifestyle and routine although benificial in the long run can really knock you back on your recovery for ages
    xxx
  • rhondaf57
    rhondaf57 Posts: 9 Member
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    I am relieved to find others baffled by this weight loss difficulty due to mental illness issues. I was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, severe clinical depression, and anxiety disorder. I can relate to having difficulty just getting out of bed. I had to give up a 30 year nursing career. I can no longer stay very busy with a job to distract me from my surroundings. I am 55 and and was misdiagnosed for a very long time and was on wrong meds. I went from size 4-6 to a wopping 16 in a very short time. I was on Seroquel and gained 40 lbs. in 4 months. I hope I am not making a mistake, I am taking natural weight loss meds that do not contain caffeine. I know I shouldn't, and you think I probably wouldn't, being a nurse and all, but I am desperate to lose wt.
  • Webona293
    Webona293 Posts: 39 Member
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    I am relieved to find others baffled by this weight loss difficulty due to mental illness issues. I was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, severe clinical depression, and anxiety disorder. I can relate to having difficulty just getting out of bed. I had to give up a 30 year nursing career. I can no longer stay very busy with a job to distract me from my surroundings. I am 55 and and was misdiagnosed for a very long time and was on wrong meds. I went from size 4-6 to a wopping 16 in a very short time. I was on Seroquel and gained 40 lbs. in 4 months. I hope I am not making a mistake, I am taking natural weight loss meds that do not contain caffeine. I know I shouldn't, and you think I probably wouldn't, being a nurse and all, but I am desperate to lose wt.

    well you were a nurse so you already know "all natural" doesn't necessarily mean good for you...things I found to watch out for are things like ephedrine (DUH! right!) guarana extract, anything with caffeine, 1,3-Dimethylamylamine (its like ephedrine but hasn't been banned yet but IS considered a performance enhancing drug and is banned by professional sports its found in OxyElite Pro). I used to pop like 10 metabolife back in the day before they banned the ephedra. You really gotta check the labels and research (IE google) everything just to be sure, especially active ingredients.

    Seroquel saved my life it took me over 10 years to finally get the right mix of antidepressant-antipsycho-mood stabilizers. But I gained a lot of weight especially from antidepressants. Lithium is also a big weight gainer. Sometimes you just gotta take the bad with the good because if that medicine is working for you bipolarwise then DON'T mess with it. The weight gain is something you CAN do something about. You can't lose bipolar disorder but you CAN lose the weight!
  • rhondaf57
    rhondaf57 Posts: 9 Member
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    I hope you find this. I have just about decided to ask and answer questions to individual mail boxes, can't find answers to the questions I post. I surf this site, but can't find the responses. I believe you, when you say that the wt gain is worth it when the meds take care of the bipolar issue, until I see the wt starring back at me in the mirror. I am so depressed then that it doesn't seem as the med is doing any good. I just lost 0.2 lbs. this past week, kinda down from that now! I did not know to eat back the exercise calories I burn off. How do you eat back all the calories you burn off? You must eat all the time! I hate exercise, how do you motivate yourself to exercise the way that you do? Would you post your response to this post to my mail box, and tell me how to find responses by other members, (to my posts on boards, community, etc.), please? Thanks so much.:smile:

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