Anti-anxiety meds

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kellyjfenn
kellyjfenn Posts: 28 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My Dr. wants to put me on Paxil for my anxiety and depression. Does anyone have experience with any of those type of meds? I’m fearful of weight gain
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  • kellyjfenn
    kellyjfenn Posts: 28 Member
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    Ok... thank you. 😀
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    I think with all of them there is the possibility of weight and other issues.


    Everyone is a little different. You'd have to decide if your anxiety and depression are bad enough to try it...then monitor. If it's causing side effects, then you change it. Most people try several different ADs before settling in. I had weird hallucinations with Paxil, so that was a no-go for me.

    Hope you feel better. :flowerforyou:
  • writermindi
    writermindi Posts: 9 Member
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    I’ve taken several different ones within each class for migraine/nerve issues. They don’t work well for me and have caused issues, including weight gain. There are several that are fairly weight neutral, and at least 1-2 true anti-anxiety meds that fall outside the tricyclics, SNRI, SSRI classes.

    That being said, feeling better is step 1. The weight gain eventually plateaus and you might have to work a little harder with slower results, but it is possible. Best of luck!
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,008 Member
    edited May 2020
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    I take one pill a day , Celexa (citalopram) 20 mg. Have been on it for years... other than making me tired at the start, very few or mild side effects once body adjusts. Never noticed any additional weight gain from it. It really does help my anxiety. It is one of the more milder SSRI drugs.
  • kellyjfenn
    kellyjfenn Posts: 28 Member
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    This is all very helpful. Thank you
  • PersonMcSelf
    PersonMcSelf Posts: 7 Member
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    allierat84 wrote: »
    None of them should make you gain weight, but they can affect appetite which shouldn't cause an issue if you're mindful of it.
    Weight gain on SSRIs is actually a real thing for a lot of people, and researchers are still not sure if it's just due to increased appetite or whether there are in fact metabolic changes.

    https://www.webmd.com/depression/features/antidepressants-weight-gain

    I can tell you from my own current experience that my medication (not an SSRI but a related drug) has caused me a bunch of weight gain without any changes in my eating habits, and it's proving extremely difficult to shed the weight.
  • kellyjfenn
    kellyjfenn Posts: 28 Member
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    That’s what I question about it. I am very consistent with my tracking and have been for 3 years. Some of my anxiety is due to fear of weight gain. I wonder is some of the meds is a change in metabolism
  • jaymijones
    jaymijones Posts: 171 Member
    edited May 2020
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    I did Lexapro a few years ago. I gained 40lbs while taking it. I don’t directly blaim the SSRI for it. I was definitely eating more than I was burning, and I knew it. I started it to help me deal with an extremely stressful year. I think it came down to how it effected my anxiety. I knew I was gaining weight, it wasn’t even due to increased appetite, I stress eat and while the Lexapro kept me sane, all the stressors were still there. Normally I can curb it when I see the scale numbers going up, but I just couldn’t make myself care enough to do something about it while taking Lex. It effectively eliminated my motivation along with my anxiety.

    It eventually stopped working as well as it had in the beginning and I became extremely lethargic and emotionally absent from life, so I weaned off of it. I’m sure if I had kept trying new meds I would have found a better fit. But I was so miserable towards the end that I just wanted to be done.

    A friend of mine takes Lexapro too and was finally able to lose the weight she had been slowly gaining while her anxiety went untreated. So all these different meds effect us all a little differently, you may have to try a few before you find the right one.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,847 Member
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    For many drugs, for which weight gain is a common side effect, the common mechanisms for that are (1) appetite increase, (2) fatigue/activity decrease (possibly subtle), (3) water retention. (I'm not saying those are the only possible mechanisms, just that they are very common.

    For someone calorie counting, (1) is controlled for: You will know what you're eating, though appetite could still be an issue.

    (2) is somewhat under conscious control, in the sense that it can be observed and theoretically countered by taking action (not necessarily exercise, possibly just pushing non-exercise activity a little).

    (3) can be a surprising number of pounds, but it does top off/level out, rather than just keep increasing.

    Keep in mind that with most drugs, if you take the drug, give it enough time to stabilize in your system (unless there are terrible acute side effects of course), and then evaluate, you can go back to your doctor and discuss potential strategies for relieving the problem, including possible alternative drug regimens. It is not usual for the weight-gain side effect from a drug to persist after discontinuing the drug.

    For clarity: I'm not taking any anti-anxiety meds now, but have taken benzodiazepines for anxiety for periods in the past, plus some other drugs that have weight gain or failure at loss as a reported side effect; plus am severely hypothyroid, which has the same kind of reputation for similar reasons.
  • kellyjfenn
    kellyjfenn Posts: 28 Member
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    This is all helpful information. I’m thinking of not taking the Paxil until I actually see my dr in June and just make my Xanax stretch until I see her
  • kellyjfenn
    kellyjfenn Posts: 28 Member
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    Oh gosh I dread it. I only had one .25 the whole day and Im fine. I really don’t want to start Paxil
  • eatyogarun
    eatyogarun Posts: 59 Member
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    kellyjfenn wrote: »
    Oh gosh I dread it. I only had one .25 the whole day and Im fine. I really don’t want to start Paxil

    I'm going to suggest a book for you. It may or may not help you but I found it to be a godsend. The language in it is very old-fashioned as it was written in 1962 but it made SO much sense to me. I still take Wellbutrin but was able to get off of Ativan.

    Hope and Help for Your Nerves: End Anxiety Now by Claire Weekes.

    Of course as everyone has said, we all experience all of these drugs differently. Wellbutrin is great for me. I had a doctor put me on Prozac this summer and I had to stop after 4 days because it was SO bad. Wellbutrin apparently makes some people lose weight. I was not one of those people.
  • rachelleosborne80
    rachelleosborne80 Posts: 15 Member
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    kellyjfenn wrote: »
    My Dr. wants to put me on Paxil for my anxiety and depression. Does anyone have experience with any of those type of meds? I’m fearful of weight gain

    Over the past 10 years, I feel like I've tried them all. The one that finally worked for me, without weight gain, is lamotrigine. It's an anti-seizure med that is also prescribed for mood disorders.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    the pill itself will not cause weight gain. feeling better and wanting to eat will. it might make you hungry in your brain but not in stomach.
    these are all manageable by tracking your food intake.

    the only one i couldn't do was remeron. my brain told me i was ravenous all the time.
    otherwise i've gained and lost on all the regularly prescribed drugs. and mood stabilizers.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
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    The drugs can increase appetite and also decrease daily activity (amount and intensity). Kind of a potential weight gain double whammy.

    If folks aren’t exact with measuring food, they likely don’t know they’re eating more (just a little but here and there can make a difference) and/or because they’re tired/lethargic they may not realize they’re moving less.

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