Effexor? Psychiatric Medication & Extreme Weight Gain

CrazyHarmonee
CrazyHarmonee Posts: 13 Member
edited December 2015 in Motivation and Support
Has anyone else experienced an extreme amount of weight gain because of psychiatric medication?

My weight has always bounced up and down because of my lack of physical activity and love for really unhealthy food, but two years ago I was here on MFP and had a goal of reaching my high-school weight again. I went from 165 to 117lbs in a year by just eating a little better and walking.

About a year ago, a psychiatrist put me on a few different medications for anxiety and depression; Celexa, Citalopram, Lorazepam, and finally Effexor (Venlafaxine). My weight shot up immediately. I gained 30lbs in three months without any significant changes in my diet or exercise... and it kept going. In only six months I had gone from 120-ish to 200lbs. The psychiatrist said it was unlikely the Effexor that caused the weight gain, and continued me on the regime for the entire year because it was honestly helping my mental health, he said something about weighing the benefits with the side effects.

Three months ago, I saw my physician and she did not agree that my weight gain was unrelated and immediately started tapering me off of the Effexor. Now I'm 180lbs, I lost 20lbs in the last three months of being off Effexor with no effort.

But this is still so discouraging. I've never weighed this much and I'm just not sure how it happened and how I gained 80 pounds in 9 months. Has anyone ever had similar issues with Effexor or any other psychiatric medications? Is there anything specifically you did that helped? Any advice at all?

Replies

  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    I was on effexor for a while and lost weight due to no appetite. I started having headaches and had to quit it.

    If you really feel that effexor was part of why you gained it's important to talk to your doctor about other treatment options. I found that my birth control was causing my anxiety and my anxiety meds were causing headaches. I was able to go from 5 pills per day down to none.

    I hope you find something that works for you.
  • SnowballsMom805
    SnowballsMom805 Posts: 71 Member
    Yes I do hope you get to talk with your doctor about that. Perhaps they could tailor your treatment or adjust the dose or maybe find something similar. Best of luck with that. I just started on a very large dose of zoloft and it has pretty much killed my appetite, i lost 15 lbs in about 2 weeks
  • CrazyHarmonee
    CrazyHarmonee Posts: 13 Member
    usmcmp wrote: »
    I was on effexor for a while and lost weight due to no appetite. I started having headaches and had to quit it.

    If you really feel that effexor was part of why you gained it's important to talk to your doctor about other treatment options. I found that my birth control was causing my anxiety and my anxiety meds were causing headaches. I was able to go from 5 pills per day down to none.

    I hope you find something that works for you.

    Thank you! That's what I was reading online, that only a small percentage of people experience weight gain on Effexor, that it's actually more common to experience weight loss. That's probably why the Psychiatrist kept me on it. I was having headaches too! I'm glad I wasn't the only one.
  • CrazyHarmonee
    CrazyHarmonee Posts: 13 Member
    SnowballsMom805 wrote: »
    Yes I do hope you get to talk with your doctor about that. Perhaps they could tailor your treatment or adjust the dose or maybe find something similar. Best of luck with that. I just started on a very large dose of zoloft and it has pretty much killed my appetite, i lost 15 lbs in about 2 weeks

    Prozac did not for me too! My doctor and psychiatrist are not in agreement on my treatment plan... but I've been taking the last three months completely medication free, per my doctor, to see how that goes. It's like a war! Like I'm totally unsure which "professional" I should listen to, haha.
  • vespiquenn
    vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
    Effexor was terrible for me. It would make me so sick that I couldn't eat. But the bad news is that the drug itself is not causing you to gain weight. Medication decreases or increases your appetite, which is where the weight gain/loss comes in. However, when it comes to which doctor to listen to, the psychiatrist is far more trained than your general doctor in these issues. Just keep that in mind as you sort out their conflicting opinions.

    I bid you good luck though. I have been on a wide array of meds for anxiety, depression, and manic episodes since I was in 7th grade (25 now). I would say that hands down, Effexor was the worst I ever was on. I would refuse to take it most of the time if I could get away with it.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    CrazyHarmonee wrote:
    Has anyone else experienced an extreme amount of weight gain because of psychiatric medication?
    ...
    I lost 20lbs in the last three months of being off Effexor with no effort.
    ...
    Is there anything specifically you did that helped? Any advice at all?
    The reason I gained weight, the reason anyone gains weight, is eating more than the body needs.
    So if it was related to the drugs, either they slowed your metabolism substantially, or they somehow caused you to
    eat more than you realized.

    Advice?
    Read sexypants.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819925/the-basics-dont-complicate-it/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/872212/youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/833026/important-posts-to-read/p1


    "Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.
    However, evidence shows the only way to maintain weight loss is to be engaged in regular physical activity."
    http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html


    This blog post about goal setting (including weight, calories, and macros) would probably be helpful too.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-08-setting-goals-667045
    There's a link to a calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine which will help you understand what is a
    healthy weight & calorie level, plus servings of the food groups.
  • linsey0689
    linsey0689 Posts: 753 Member
    I haven't ever been on that medication but other mental health drugs. I tell my doctor from the start I related some of my depression and anxiety to my weight and would never want to even start something with a common side effect as weight gain. Effexor does have a common side effect as gain changes doesn't say +/- so likely both depending on the person.

    I would recommend talking to your doctor. One thing about these types of medications, is they effect everyone differently and if you are having extreme side effects I agree with your GP in discontinuing that medication. Best of luck to you mentally and physically as well.
  • CrazyHarmonee
    CrazyHarmonee Posts: 13 Member
    linsey0689 wrote: »
    I haven't ever been on that medication but other mental health drugs. I tell my doctor from the start I related some of my depression and anxiety to my weight and would never want to even start something with a common side effect as weight gain. Effexor does have a common side effect as gain changes doesn't say +/- so likely both depending on the person.

    I would recommend talking to your doctor. One thing about these types of medications, is they effect everyone differently and if you are having extreme side effects I agree with your GP in discontinuing that medication. Best of luck to you mentally and physically as well.

    Thank you, Linsey!!!
  • robs_ready
    robs_ready Posts: 1,488 Member
    just came off venlafaxine for a whole array of reasons, weight loss and no appetite was one of them
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    I'm 'allergic' to Effexor, so I don't like that drug at all. I can't take any in that class. My liver doesn't metabolize them as 99% of livers (my guess, lol) are supposed to, so i actually fell comatose after taking one of that class.

    I think it should be considered old school and not widely prescribed. Or at least have regular blood tests, because my serum levels showed all (and damn did they get cray high. Like death by overdose high :( ). I had other symptoms, but often they think it's in your head, unfortunately.

    I take Lexapro and have zero problems. I apparently don't need help with the other neurotransmitters Effexor hits, or either I couldn't metabolize any of those drugs in known ways anyway.

    Just try a new drug of a different class, imho. Staying in the same class isn't always the best idea, as you might surmise from my experience, lol. Bad side effects are rare, but unfortunately, we are talking about drugs with side effects that do hit different people differently. Even the Lexapro ones look scary, but fortunately, they don't happen with me. You just have to keep trying and keep an eye out for what really might not work for you. It's not terribly unusual to have to get the right fit. It's actually common.

    The headaches are a good enough reason to try another drug, imho. My migraine drugs I tried (ran the gamut) often worked on the same neurotransmitters, and there's a category there I can't do, either. That's not unusual either :) They are drugs targeting things we really don't know quite a lot about. OTOH, they are life-savers, so I highly recommend brushing yourself off and trying something else :) I couldn't stand not having either my antidepressant or my migraine meds!
  • marsh5224
    marsh5224 Posts: 34 Member
    ALWAYS go to a psychiatrist for mood disorder medication. BUT find one that you trust and listens to you! Most antidepressants do effect weight gain/loss for a variety of reasons. I think I have about tried them all and it is great there are so many options. Gaining weight makes depression worse for me. So I refused to give up until I found the one that the benefit was great and the side effects were agreeable. Just let your doc know that is your goal. Depression is manageable and YOU get to manage it. Not anyone else. Your gut will tell you when you have hit the "sweet spot" with medication. Don't give up and don't give in! You've got this
  • staringatthesun
    staringatthesun Posts: 38 Member
    i experienced weight gain from abilify without changing my eating habits. not quite so extreme, but still 25 pounds! i spent a long time trying to convince myself it wasn't the medication. but the fact is that when i switched to a different medication, the weight came back off just as easily as it came on and with no effort! my body just naturally went back to its set point. however, like someone else said, it really is a cost-benefit analysis. abilify didn't work well for me, and the medication i switched to did, so it was an easy decision. more recently, i gained weight after changing medications and at the same time not paying attention to lifestyle/diet/activity changes. but now that i've started paying more attention to my diet/activity, i've found to weight much harder to lose than i ever have before, however, the medications i'm on are so so effective for me, that it is worth it to have to put a lot more effort into my diet than i've ever needed to in the past in order to be a healthy weight (for me). again, a cost-benefit analysis.
  • staringatthesun
    staringatthesun Posts: 38 Member
    i should add that weight gain with abilify is also a rarer side effect. but it is a potential side effect nonetheless! don't let the fact that weight gain is a rare side effect get in the way of the possibility that it is indeed a side effect you are experiencing indeed... as long as you consider all the factors that can lead to weight gain! just because there is a 1 in 100 chance of experiencing a side effect doesn't take away from the fact that, for that one person, the side effect is very real. just my thoughts.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    staringatthesun wrote: »
    i should add that weight gain with abilify is also a rarer side effect. but it is a potential side effect nonetheless! don't let the fact that weight gain is a rare side effect get in the way of the possibility that it is indeed a side effect you are experiencing indeed... as long as you consider all the factors that can lead to weight gain! just because there is a 1 in 100 chance of experiencing a side effect doesn't take away from the fact that, for that one person, the side effect is very real. just my thoughts.

    Ha! Yes, talk about rare side effects. My experience with my first one that nearly killed me (New Year's Day, AAMOF) was very rare but not unknown. It was 1 in thousands, but it didn't matter to my system one bit. It obviously mattered to the doc who didn't take my complaints about the med seriously: too rare to even consider, apparently, even though the symptoms I brought up should have been a huge tip off.

    OTOH, I do hate it when folks think every side effect listed will happen to them. I never have gotten dry mouth (or weight gain) from an antidepressant. Coma, yes; dry mouth, no ;):grin:

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