Celexa- Weight Gain or Loss?

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  • iluvco3
    iluvco3 Posts: 98 Member
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    I was on Celexa years ago and gained 9 lbs. in 6 weeks. I craved sweets like an alcoholic craves alcohol and I had never had a problem with sweets. However, I was desperate to feel better and just hoped that the sweets cravings would subside. What made me know I couldn't take it any longer was because 12-14 hours of sleep/night was not enough.

    After trying 3 different SSRI's, my doctor realized that serotonin was not my problem. He put me on Wellbutrin and that was the magic answer for me. I recently switched to Aplenzin when my insurance would no longer pay for brand name and after trying the generic, knew I needed brand name.

    On Wellbutrin, my appetite was reduced for the first couple of months, but after the slight nausea went away, I found that the Wellbutrin neither helped or hurt weight loss.
  • itsDorian7
    itsDorian7 Posts: 105 Member
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    It can affect everyone differently. I was on it for a year, for depression. I didn't gain any weight. I had no side effects at all. In
    fact I'd never felt better.
  • holliebevineau
    holliebevineau Posts: 441 Member
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    i used to take celexa and i craved sugar by the handfuls.
  • badjuju775
    badjuju775 Posts: 47
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    I gained 60 lbs. on Celexa. I've been off for 4 months and have only lost 7 pounds :(
  • badjuju775
    badjuju775 Posts: 47
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    Dr.'s lie. I don't trust them. All they're worried about is getting kickbacks from pushing meds and playing golf!
  • kmh_97
    kmh_97 Posts: 8
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    I'm not sure what to do. I have been on Celexa for over a year and I have gained 10-15 pounds . When I was on here in January I said I had a call into my doctor, he called back and said that he has never heard of weight gain due to being on Celexa. He said it was up to me if I wanted to go off but I needed to wean myself off it and he reminded me how miserable I was before I went on it. So I cut it in half and have been doing that does for 3 months. I am on it for PMDD and haven't really noticed the lower dose affecting that, but I still cannot lose weight. I have been exercising more and eating less and still nothing. I am getting really frustrated and thinking about going off it altogether.
  • ljc5691
    ljc5691 Posts: 1
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    I have been off of Celexa for 4 months now. I was on it for one year and I didn't gain any weight until about 6 months after starting it. Then it came on very fast (40 lbs.). In the past I had gained 80 lbs. from Paxil. It took me over 5 years to lose any weight. I have been exercising and dieting and getting no results. What I find funny is that when I spoke to a counselor about weight gain from anti-depressants, she said she had never heard anything about SSRIs and weight gain. Why are these people so out-of-touch? For someone that has lived with depression since my teen years, it is actually more upsetting to me to be over weight than depressed. I look and feel terrible. I used to be 5'10" and 150 healthy pounds. Now, I'm a big blob that can't lose the weight. It is really upsetting, and I wish that the medical community would make themselves more aware of this and maybe find a solution. I bet it is one of the leading causes for stopping medication.
  • vinnyo27
    vinnyo27 Posts: 3
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    I like celexa cause it improved my mood but also made me lose weight by easily keeping my appetite down. I bought the generic here without a prescription if someone wants a reliable source
    http://instant-online-solution.com/?wm=16782&tr=8030
  • Jsmilew
    Jsmilew Posts: 1
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    I am trying to figure out my weight gain over the past 6 months and now I know. I started taking Celexa in March 2012 and in the last 6 months have gained about 20 pounds. I am frustrated and not sure to try to ease my way off of it, but it has really helped my PMS.
  • crysta911
    crysta911 Posts: 5 Member
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    I'm flipping out!!! I went off celexa 6 weeks ago. I am now puffy and gaining weight like crazy. I am also being good. In a few days I've put on 4 pounds. Did anyone else go thru this?
  • jeb192
    jeb192 Posts: 2
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    I was on 20mg for about 8 months, I lost 2 stone and was the lightest I have been in my adult life. Then went up to 40mg, and have gained 4 stone over two years. I have never experienced rapid significant weight gain like it. My diet isn't any worse and I have always been good at calorie counting and knowing fat content. My doctor was of no help whatsoever. I have healthy blood pressure, cholesterol and blood tests showed I don't have diabetes or thyroid problems. But I feel super unhealthy carrying all this weight, it has really affected me physically.
  • prettysenshi
    prettysenshi Posts: 36 Member
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    My doctor just switched me to Celexa from Welbutrin. I was all wellbutrin, but had horrible side-effects, feeling tired all the time, mood was every where, I felt good for the first week, but then went downhill after that.

    My doctor has also put me on Adderall as well (twice a day), which will help suppress any cravings/additional appetite. I am worried about gaining weight, mainly because I worked my *kitten* off to lose what I have, but my doctor told me when I asked about the side effects (especially the sexual side effects):

    Every person is different and may react different. You won't know, until you try."

    Some people look at it as a lose-lose. How can you be happy if it's making you gain weight? But even if you lose weight, would you still be truly happy and yourself through the depression?

    I know I can lose weight. I have done it before. And if I gain weight while taking it, I have only one person to blame but myself. The side effects sheet that I received shows weight lose as a possible side effect. No mention of weight gain.
  • pinkginger65
    pinkginger65 Posts: 3
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    I have lost weight on celexa. I started july and have lost 5 pounds so far. For me it took away my obsession with food. My doctor said it's prescribed for people who have bulimia/binging which I never had but thought of food a lot (counting calories, etc.). Now I just eat when I'm hungry and don't think about food like I did. I don't exercise either.
  • ToFatT0B3S1ck
    ToFatT0B3S1ck Posts: 194 Member
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    I lost weight while on Celexa.
  • pinkginger65
    pinkginger65 Posts: 3
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    I started celexa in july and lost 5 pounds so far. For me it took away my obsession with food, I don't think about food at all, just eat when I'm hungry/ My doctor said this is a side effect for some people. I love this side effect. I had no libido with celexa so I'm taking wellbutrin which makes your libido stronger and so far I feel great on both. I don't exercise, so just eating within my points(weight watchers) made me lose weight on celexa. Before I was always thinking about food, now nothing.
  • pinkginger65
    pinkginger65 Posts: 3
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    I lost weight on celexa, made me not think about food. Its a side effect for some and I love this side effect. Maybe your doseage is too high. I'm on 15 mg a day.
  • Gallbladder20
    Gallbladder20 Posts: 1
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    Alternatives to anit-deps are herbs - St Johns Wort for low mood, Motherwort for anxiety - I wouldn't be without them.

    I was offered Citalopram but feared going through the initial anxiety increase that meds can cause, along with weight gain, so have used the above herbs instead. If symptoms are not too severe, or perhaps when deciding to come off meds, the herbs can be really very helpful and take effect quite swiftly.
  • QuilterInVA
    QuilterInVA Posts: 672 Member
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    Weight gain is not a recognized side effect of celexa. I've been on it over 6 years .
  • TheZozers
    TheZozers Posts: 1
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    I had been losing weight steadily before I was put on Celexa (or, more accurately, the generic citalopram) without even trying (I lost 32kg in just under 3 years without calorie counting, exercise monitoring, or anything) and then as soon as I went on citalopram, the weight loss stopped and the weight gain started - over 10kg in a year. I started watching what I ate, exercising, and then monitoring my calorie ins and outs very carefully, even reducing my dosage of citalopram which had been 40mg/day, with no change except further gain. Now I'm off the drug completely (as of two weeks ago) and have already lost a kilo.

    It may not be a recognized side effect, but the drug made me think about food ALL the time, so I probably ate more at the beginning without realizing it. But I've been actively trying to lose weight since March with no success until this first kilo, and the only thing that's changed is coming off the citalopram.
  • melissaj562
    melissaj562 Posts: 1
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    I started taking Citalopram (generic for Celexa) 3 years ago. I was in a bad marriage. Very depressed. Suicidal thoughts. I weighed a steady 117. 5'7" and I was a full time fit model. It was my livelihood. (Fit model is like a live mannequin that tries on clothes being made so they can see where the adjustments need to be made) My job required me to stay the same size and measurements without ever changing more than a half on inch anywhere on my body. Citalopram made this job impossible for me and I lost all my accounts that I had built up over 5 years.

    Started at 40 mgs. It was too high. Caused double vision...bad. Dizzy and panicky and way hyper.
    Doc dropped me to 20 mgs. It was too low. Got fatigued sad almost immediately.
    I upped myself to 30 mgs and notified my doctor that it was working great.

    A few months ago, I spoke to my doctor and asked if I could wean myself off since my life is in a better place, divorce is finalized and I'm adjusted. He said yes. it's always better NOT to be dependent on a drug if at all possible. So, I began my reduction. BTW...I like how they call it reduction instead of withdrawal because they don't want you to really know you are addicted to anything.

    Month One during reduction:
    I started cutting the 20 mgs in half with a razor...and jumped down to 10 mgs. This caused fatigue and brain shock. Some days, I'd take the dose sooner just to stop the constant brain shock. Also caused what felt to me at the time as Fibromyalgia Flares which I started having more often than not. In bed for days at a time unable to move much at all. Like an all over body ache...painful like the ones caused from high fevers. But I got though it.

    Month Two during reduction:
    Started taking 10 mgs every other day. This again caused more fatigue and extreme brain shock that came once every 15 seconds or so. Drove me crazy to feel those. It made me want to just sleep through most of it. That feeling is awful and I just read another lady posted she still has them 6 years later. Yuck. I sure hope not.

    Month Three during reduction:
    Tried cutting them down to 5 mgs but it basically turned to powder so I tried going longer in between days taking the 10 mgs only when I felt extreme symptoms...then I stopped.

    Week One of no meds:
    I felt pretty good. Typical brain shock as before but I assumed it would be so. Then....all hell broke lose.

    Week Two of no meds:
    I went into extreme withdrawal symptoms. I started violently vomiting off an on for a week with extreme nausea in between. I had my appetite but the convulsions would take it back up. My bf would try to comfort me as I would lean over the toilet unable to stop heaving. I was shaking out of control unable to calm my body. Sweating and dry heaving. I couldn't sleep but then if I finally did, I would have the most disturbing nightmares and wake up screaming or have to be woken up because I was screaming in my sleep. I experienced extreme chest pain...heart beat pain...overwhelming panic attacks..I felt like I was dying.

    Week Three of no meds:
    After the nausea stopped, I felt obviously better but the brain shock continued as a new symptom developed. I started having very painful muscle spasms on my ribs and chest that contracted so hard I had to grunt and bare down and wait for it to pass so I could take a breath. They got so bad, I couldn't breathe during them because my lungs wouldn't expand. At this point I had read up that muscle spasms can be part of the withdrawal so I just took a muscle relaxer and rolled up a heating pad and waited it out. The small charlie like muscle stabs all over my body come and go. I get random sharp pains in kidneys, stomach and other inside areas as well as arms and legs, chest and back. Brain shock and irrational thoughts and outburst unlike me.

    Currently as of Oct 6, 2013
    Symptoms: brain shock, muscles spasms, blurred vision, some fatigue, back to normal range of emotions with regular highs and regular lows but fully capable of handling them all properly without a pill to put me in the middle.

    Weight GAIN!!!!!! OMG. So as I said before, I was a solid, never changing 117. I'm 5'7" and 36 years old. Citalopram caused me to gain 71 whopping pounds and no matter what I did, I could not shed one drop. I was very successful in managing my calorie intake and using proper exercise to stay my size but that damn pill prevented me from losing. I went from 117 to 188. The first six months my breast size went from a small 32B to a full 36 D. I'm not almost a 38 DD. I'm hot, I'm miserable. I can't fit in anything anymore. I wear yoga pants daily because nothing else fits.

    Weight LOSE!!!! I've been off for three weeks full. No weight lose after the first two weeks but during this last week, I have lost 12 lbs!!!!! I have done nothing different. Diet same. I am not working out. I believe the moment the pill stopped being put into my body, my body took back over metabolizing and started to shed the weight that should not be there. I am encouraged as I am starting to feel my swimsuit get saggy and my muffin top not longer trying to eat the waste band of my jeans. I believe if I work out now, it will actually affect my weight for the first time in years.

    xoxoxoxo I hope this encourages someone else out there. I have before and after pictures on my profile. Admittedly, I was very thin before and I'm not trying to go back to that but you can at least see the drastic change this pill did to me. I guess I am thankful it took it because it saved my life when I needed it but I am so grateful to be on my way forward without it. Good luck.

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