Anxiety meds- side effect listed as weight gain

I agree with the above poster, I'd wait it out. I take an SSRI, a beta blocker, and a benzodiazepine for emergencies. I actually lost some weight the first month starting these meds from a decreased appetite. Every person is different so I would just wait it out and listen to your body and note how it is reacting. It's like any other side effect a medicine has, they all have to be listed but it doesn't mean that you will experience them! Try not to stress about it too much unless weight gain does eventually happen. If it does, you can speak with your doctor and they can potentially offer other options of medications. There are so many out there! Also, if it is an SSRI you got prescribed (I don't know your details so my apologies if you already know all of this!) a sign of it not being right for your body can be increased depression/anxiety which could lead to weight gain. I tried a few before I found the one that worked for my body and needs.

My dd started medication with that side effect. She was underweight so it was desirable for her to gain some weight. She gained about 7 lbs in a month.
What happened is that her appetite increased from where it was before and she started sleeping better. Since we want her to gain weight she is not eating low calorie foods as much. The appetite seemed to level off after a week or so- it hasn't been her eating everything in the house every day.
We are walking and exercising more together as well.
There are a lot of potential side effects that she is not experiencing.

I would try not to stress about it and just see how it goes for a month. Maybe eat at maintenance level while you are adjusting.
Weigh yourself regularly. Keep logging. Stock up on lower calorie snacks, fruits, vegetables. Get exercise.

ErinSot wrote: »

COGypsy wrote: »

I'd wait and see what happens. Not everyone gets every side effect, so you could have no problems at all.

If you aren't currently logging your food, I'd start though. In my experience, medication weight gain happened from increased appetite as well as potential metabolic changes. I usually found myself grazing more and feeling like I was hungry doing it (as opposed to bored or something like that). If you're logging consistently, you should be able to see those trends sooner and either work on mitigating those effects or know that it's time to work with your doc on potential alternative meds with a lower incidence of weight gain.

Thanks guys so much for all your input! I’ll do my best to get back at logging regularly and gymming regularly again and I’m hoping it helps. I am hoping as long as the “cause” of the weight gain is just due to increased appetite that I’ll be able to solve it with simple self control.

Thanks again!

It might not be necessary to rely totally on self control. Sometimes you can do things that help with appetite like playing around with your macros to see what you find most satiating, seeing if increasing your NEAT curbs your appetite (getting up and walking around or taking a 5 minute jaunt on my treadmill blunts my hunger), drinking herbal tea with zero calorie sweetener between meals... things like that.

Logging and paying attention to how you feel should really help you. Also, sometimes these effects from medication can be transitory.

I've been in meds that have both stimulated and depressed my appetite. I'm on them now, as a matter of fact. I've noticed that the effect they both initially had was pretty profound when I first started them, but the longer I was on them, the less apparent that effect was. Now that I'm on both simultaneously, the probably just cancel each other out, though Seriously, I started them at different times and had the initial effects from both!

I think you'll do fine. Most people who gain weight aren't tracking and watching out for what's happening. You're already miles ahead of them in that regard.

I have found that it's harder to shift weight but not impossible! The best part for me was when I first went on them I had no appetite for a month and I lost 5kg very quickly. Except as soon as I was balanced out it easily came back on haha.

There are some medications used to treat anxiety that have been linked to the development of metabolic syndromes and weight gain that does not necessarily respond to calorie reduction.

Pharmacists (not people who work the counter in a chemist, but the actual pharmacist) are extremely well informed and required to be up to date with contemporary evidence base.

If you want more information, the pharmacist whospoke with you regarding this side effect and mechanism of action might be have to print out the clinical evidence/research for this.