Anti-Depressant cause weight gain

droneofvelvet
droneofvelvet Posts: 290 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
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.
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Replies

  • aliciamarieUF
    aliciamarieUF Posts: 226 Member
    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
    BeckZombie Posts: 138 Member
    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
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    My anxiety meds reduce my appetite.
  • icyeyes317
    icyeyes317 Posts: 226 Member
    Anti-depressants are known for causing weight gain. =(
  • halleyg2
    halleyg2 Posts: 66 Member
    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
    Rizabees Posts: 80
    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
    amandapye78 Posts: 820 Member
    Paxil is what caused me to gain 30 lbs!. I lost 15 almost immediately after stopping them.
  • chunkydunk714
    chunkydunk714 Posts: 784 Member
    Im on prozac and since September Ive gained 15 pounds...its terrible :(
  • missmegan831
    missmegan831 Posts: 824 Member
    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
    invincible_summer Posts: 35
    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
    daggs95 Posts: 51 Member
    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
    sunlover89 Posts: 436 Member
    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
    invincible_summer Posts: 35
    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
    melancholyjen Posts: 28 Member
    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
    Bobtheangrytomato Posts: 251 Member
    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
    mikey1976 Posts: 1,005 Member
    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
    invincible_summer Posts: 35
    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
    msnailgun Posts: 8
    Paxil made me blow up like the Goodyear blimp. I've been on Zoloft for about 14 years; it has been wonderful.
  • Crystal_Pistol
    Crystal_Pistol Posts: 750 Member
    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
    lilmisfit Posts: 860 Member
    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.
  • dakotawitch
    dakotawitch Posts: 190 Member
    I put on some weight with Cymbalta. Part of it was that I had weird cravings for salty and sweet things which I indulged a bit too freely. At the same time, not being a crying suicidal mess was enough of a tradeoff that the extra pounds didn't bother me so much. I'm still on the Cymbalta, but I no longer have the intense cravings and I think the weight gain has leveled off. You may just need to try a different med, or a lower dose. While many AD and anxiety meds do lead to (not directly cause, but lead to) weight gain for many people, I don't think we have to accept that being heavier than we are comfortable with is the price of having our sanity and mental well-being intact.
  • ChangingAmanda
    ChangingAmanda Posts: 486 Member
    I'm on Pristiq and lost about 5 lbs the first couple weeks due to loss of appetite and slight nausea. After that I was back eating and gaining at my normal rate. After 3 months on it I finally felt more normal than I had in a very long time and started MFP. It's been just over 95 days on MFP and I've lost 22 lbs. Aside from the initial side effects above, the only other one I've experienced are some really weird dreams - not disturbing but just off the wall.
  • RiverDancer68
    RiverDancer68 Posts: 221 Member
    I guess I am a rarity, I lose weight on AD's. I've been on Prozac (lost 25lbs) and Wellbutrin (lost 20lbs). I completely lose my appetite when I'm on them. I decided I wanted off of them, and started yoga. I feel great now, and weaned myself off last year. I still have anti anxiety meds for "emergencies," but honestly I feel so much better from the exercise. This is not for everyone, my depression wasn't life threatening nor did it make me housebound, so it was easier to come off of (please consult your MD if you decided to do what I did :smile: ). Plus, I got in great shape :drinker:
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
    A girl I know had anorexia and had mostly dealt with it when she had a traumatic incident occur to her at 16. She was immediately plunged back into the anorexia and her weight plummeted to 88 pounds. The docs put her on several anti-depressants (including Seroquel which is known to cause large weight gains) and she has gained about 120 pounds since then. The bio-chemistry seems to be that some of them raise blood sugar levels to the point where "diabesity" is triggered because virtually everything eaten is turned to fat by the very high insulin levels (many diabetes researchers feel that obesity and Type II diabetes is essentially the same disease). She is now a Type II diabetic. I doubt that she feels that she has been helped much. She still seems miserable.
  • Mich4871
    Mich4871 Posts: 143 Member
    My weight has been at a stand-still since getting on anti-depressants. A bit of up-and-down but nothing drastic.


    This has been my experience as well. I didn't connect the meds to the plateau until very recently. (I'm on Zoloft), I spoke with my Dr. and she lowered my Zoloft dose and added in Wellbutrin which is known to help with weight loss. I just started this combo and I'm hoping to start seeing a loss again in the next couple of weeks.
  • laserturkey
    laserturkey Posts: 1,680 Member
    Remeron was HORRIBLE for weight gain. When I stopped taking it I dropped 50 pounds so fast I thought I had cancer or something, but it was just what I had gained due to the medicine, apparently. Since then, I have been on Wellbutrin, which has NOT caused ANY problems with appetite or weight. (Yes, my weight has gone up and down in that time, but completely independent of that medication.)
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
    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

    Yes--Seroquel is notorious for causing large weight gains.
  • krissy_krossy
    krissy_krossy Posts: 307 Member
    I went on Zyprexa and Seroquel (two meds notorious for weight gain) within a couple months of each other. I was simultaniously on Depakote and lithium (more weight gain.) 90 pounds gained in a year.
    I'm off meds now and have been able to lose weight. Nothing worked while on them, though. It took a couple months for me to be able to lose weight even AFTER stopping them, but things are finally moving in the right direction. As far as feeling unmotivated, the more I exercise the better I feel and then the more I exercise. It was hard to get started, though.
  • droneofvelvet
    droneofvelvet Posts: 290 Member
    Hi everyone,

    Thank you for your replies. It looks like the situation isn’t totally hopeless for losing weight after taking medication. I wish I could find a happy balance between a perfect medication and being able to achieve my body composition goals and just feeling generally healthy and happy.

    For those of you who believe that it is impossible to gain weight from taking a pill you are very lucky to not have to go through with it. It was the only thing stopping me from taking a medication that gave me my life back last year. But if you insist, it must have been the small meal and an apple sauce that I ate that packed on the pounds. I really could not find the hunger while on these. I’m not sure how it works and until you show me some scientific evidence I don’t believe you know how they work completely either.
    On the last note, how do you all motivate yourselves to stay active and eat a balance diet? I’ve got the sleep everyday thing down finally, eating breakfast, those general good health and weight loss golden rules. Sometimes I am super motivated for a couple weeks and then after that I feel like giving up and doing nothing about my situation.
  • bransko1982
    bransko1982 Posts: 11 Member
    I'm taking Pristiq - one of the common side effects with this one is a decreased appetite, and I've definitely got that.
    I've been losing consistently, but not super fast. I'm also working out 4-5 days a week, taking a crap load of vitamins and supplements, and eating better. These meds were super potent right away but seemed to loose their effect after a few weeks, and so I had to increase my dosage - then, same thing, they seem to have lost their potency.
    I'm almost off the anti-depressants all together now, it been since September for me - doing counselling and self help workbooks have def. helped out, you dont want to be totally reliant on medication

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