weight loss and anti-depressants

im currently going through withdrawal of citalopram. when i resume normal brain activity i will compare and can get back to you...this sucks...and i just quit cold turkey...

once i was on anti- depressants and it made me have absolutely no appetite! not that this is a method you should use, but i used effexor xr and it worked very well, eventually my appetite stabilized.

i used to take wellbutrin xl it was great while i had insurance!

I was on citalopram.

wellbutrin is supposed to kill your appetite, for me it did only for like the first week...seroquil isnt too bad either

i would never take effexor or cymbalta tho, cymbalta gives you the worst brain zaps ever

what are your reasons for being against effexorr??? when i took it i had no clue what it was, my obstetrician prescribed it and i wasn't the reaserchy type, but i always felt like i was living life in a bubble.

I am on Prozac and I have lost 15 pounds but now I am at a stand still losing less than a pound per week. When I went off them one time(which I know now I can not do) I immediately lost 10 pounds and when I first started them years ago I quickly gained 10. I have been on different things over the years so I have wondered if it keeps some weight on me. I do know when I went off the one time I was so depressed I did not desire to eat so maybe it is a combination of the two. I have tried Effexor and Luvox before this and they are also known to cause weight gain. I am hoping that it does not keep my weight on but rather my eating habits and sedetary life style before now that have been my downfall.

Effexor made me break out in hives and my lips swelled and one of my eyes swelled shut, I dropped it cold before seeing my doctor and getting on something else. I had already been on it for 6 months so my doctor thought I was allergic to something else but the sympthoms never returned after I quit it.

I rather wish wellbutrin had killed my appetite when I was on it, but it didn't. Mind you, I was so miserable coming off the stuff that it's a wonder I didn't lose weight.

Presently I'm on cymbalta and a mood stabilizer, neither of which seem to be effecting my weight loss in the slightest.

bump! I may need to try some of these meds! I have never been on any type of anti depressant but I may need to try it out!

i don't know if it makes a huge difference, but i was not on regular effexor, i was on the xr version.

Below is an article about exercise and anti-depressants.... seems exercise can have very positive effects on brian chemestry.

By no means am I suggesting if you are on medication you should stop because you also excerise but thought this info would be interesting addition to this topic.

"Regular exercise could help depression just as effectively as an antidepressant, says a new study published in the September issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

James A. Blumenthal, a professor of psychology at Duke University, and his team conducted the first ever placebo-controlled clinical trial comparing exercise and an antidepressant. This is significant because this type of research is considered to be the gold standard.

The researchers sorted 202 patients into four groups. After 16 weeks, 47 percent of the group who took the antidepressant Zoloft improved. The groups who exercised--either with or without supervision--had an improvement of 45 percent and 40 percent respectively. An analysis of the groups who exercised versus the group who took an antidepressant found the difference between them to not be statistically significant. In other words, Zoloft and exercise were equally effective. About 30 percent of those in the placebo group improved, which was an expected result. Participants in clinical trials often experience an improvement in symptoms simply due to the power of suggestion.

Blumenthal speculates that exercise lifts mood by increasing either endorphin or serotonin levels in the brain. Endorphins are thought to work as natural painkillers while serotonin is believed to affect mood."

bump! I may need to try some of these meds! I have never been on any type of anti depressant but I may need to try it out!

Please don't take them unless you truly need them for depression. Don't take them for appetite suppression. These meds are serious business and some of them have bad side affects. If you truly need them then by all means. Having been on a few I would never ever take them again unless I was pretty much suicidal. Educate yourself before taking any medication. I gained 90 lbs in 6 months on Effexxor XR and took me two years of HELL to come off it. Now THAT is depressing.

I have been on anti-depressants for over 10 years now, my experience off them was not good for me. I have a family history of suicide on my fathers side of the house and an aunt who has attempted it many times. My doctor says I will always need them I never heard about losing weight and getting off of them though, but maybe I can get off my blood pressure meds.

Yes, don't abuse these meds because once you take them and you don't have any type of depression/anixety then when you get off them you might start to have those symptoms....Also these meds may make you gain a significant amount of weight.