Anxiety, Depression, Cortisol and Phentermine

MaggieLoo79
MaggieLoo79 Posts: 288 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi! I'm Maggie. I'm 34 years old and live in Florida. The last 17 months have been a total nightmare. My business partnership unraveled an ended in a legal split. Then my 19 year old step son died from a seizure during the night. The insurance company denied funeral benefits and we've had to fund raise to pay for the services. My family is in chaos.

I've been naturally thin most of my life and my job is very active. I put on 40 pounds during this time and I've had a very hard time figuring out why. I went from the bottom of my weight range into the overweight category. My body fat went from 21% to 36%. It's been very difficult to lose any weight. I've had insomia and anxiety problems, and, as my weight kept creeping up, I've gotten more and more depressed and hopeless.

I'm working with my doctor to get my life back. I've brought him months of calorie and exercise logs and he believes cortisol is the problem. He just prescribed me a new anxiety/anti-depressant medication and gave me a one month prescription for phentermine. He thinks that if I can lose some weight while the new antidepressant medication kicks in, I'll feel better about myself and be less depressed. Then my cortisol will go down and I'll be able to lose on my own.

I'm looking for some friends who have been in similar situations (stress weight gain) or who struggle with anxiety and/or depression. :happy:

Replies

  • sadrithmora
    sadrithmora Posts: 121
    Hi Maggie! I'm Kat. First of all, I'm very sorry to hear about what you've been going through and I can't even pretend like I know what that's like. My situation isn't really all that similar, but my weight gain (about 46 pounds) was caused mostly my stress as well. I had (well, I don't think things like that disappear completely, but nevertheless) general anxiety since I was a teen, and through the years in university and a couple after that I've put on all that weight. So it wasn't as drastic as yours.

    I've worked with my doctor as well and we did finally found the right meds to keep the anxiety under control, but it wasn't until a year ago that I looked at some of my photos and got disgusted enough to try and lose weight. It's been quite difficult at the start, first few diet plans I've tried ended with me feeling hungry and miserable all the time, so I've pretty much quit. But luckily I've found something that works for me very well (paleo, if you're curious).

    I'm not trying to say that it will work for you, or that it's the only right way (certainly isn't), but I know for sure that finding a right diet can help with hormone problems as well (again, not saying that you shouldn't be taking meds, that's just silly). Obviously all the other advice out there (get enough sleep, get enough air, drink water, get some sun) is all completely true when it comes to managing stress levels.

    Again, I can't say my situation is any similar to yours, but if you feel like you'd like to have some friends who would like to support you in trying to get your weight down and your health back, feel free to send a req :)
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
    Hello Maggie
    I'm really sorry about everything that has happened to you. It's very sad. I don't have any useful information to add to this thread, as I'm not an expert on these topics at all. But I just wanted to chime in and say hello and that I'm sorry. I wish you the best of luck! :-)
  • LupaBC
    LupaBC Posts: 7 Member
    Hey Maggie!
    I have been diagnose with depression and anxiety nearly 8 years ago, when I was still a Teenager, and have been on pretty much all anti-depressants there are at some point or another as every time my hormone household changed (yay for puberty ^^) I needed to be put on a new one.
    I just wanted to let you know that I think you are an incredible person for getting through all of this and just wanted to offer you some advice on losing weight whilst being on these kinds of medication: Your weight will fluctuate and so will your mood, especially if you only recently started your treatment. Just don't be discouraged when your scales show a little bit more weight one week and you cannot explain why, it is probably down to the medication.
    What really helps me, is not to go anywhere near a scale when I have a very bad day and if I slip up with my diet (which happens) I just get over it the next day and take it as a new challenge.
    All the best and good luck!

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