Worried about antidepressants and weight gain

I have taken Seroquil, Lexapro and am currently taking Abilify. In my experience it is not the drug 'damaging' your metabolism that causes weight gain but that in the beginning stages of it you may feel lethargic and so even doing normal daily tasks you do them with less effort and are just generally sluggish so using les energy. Adn what weight I did gain the first two months (4 pounds) I think it was more water weight with my body adjusting to the medication. Once I got adjusted the weight went back to my normal range. Now since I would eat because of depression it did help me to eat less and I also noticed less of an emotional roller coaster feeling with food. Which helped me with the bad eating habits as well. I hope that helped and not just me rambling.

I've never taken lexapro, but abilify made me gain thirty pounds, and it wasn't even because I was eating more, I think I was eating less than I usually do but my metabolism slowed down.
Of course, as soon as I got off of it, I lost all the weight.

Abilify has an anti-psychotic ingredient and those are notorious weight gainers. Sorry it didn't work for you!

I've been taking Citalopram, which is an SSRI, for about 3 years. Tthe citalopram did not make me put on any weight at all, I stayed a steady size 12-14 until I was diagnosed with bipolar and given anti-psychotic meds. I really don't think any of the SSRI's will make you put on very much if any weight unless you eat more, which when you are depressed it can be hard not to comfort eat. Good luck with the medication, I hope it helps and you feel better soon.

When I was diagnosed with depression years ago my doctor prescribed Lexipro. I took it for about a week and it made me absolutely nuts. I had panic attacks, hot flashes, hallucinations, etc. I even started writing numbers backwards and wasn't able to figure out why they looked wrong. When he wanted to switch me to Paxil I ran out of the office and started looking for alternatives.

The two things that worked really well for me were acupuncture and a book called "Depression Free Naturally" by Joan Matthews Larson. The acupuncture had nearly an immediate effect and continued to keep my symptoms at bay until I figured out how to repair my screwy brain chemistry. "Depression Free Naturally" is what I feel finally *cured* me of my depression. It helped me to identify the fact that I have a gluten allergy and recommended supplements to help correct my imbalances. I did Larson's program about five years ago and my life-long, very severe depression has been totally gone since.

I've read a few of your previous posts and it seems like you try to avoid chemicals when possible. SSRIs are pretty potent poisons that can really screw with your body (google SSRI withdrawal to find thousands of horror stories). If you do decide to take the drugs I'd definitely recommend seeing them as a (very) short-term crutch to get you though the time you need to figure out what's really going on with your body. Also, you may want to ask your doctor why he prescribed Lexipro and not something like Prozac that has far fewer withdrawal symptoms. If he can't give you a good reason (other than the Lexipro reps sending him on vacation if he prescribes enough of it--not to be cynical but it's a fact of our effed up medical system) ask for something with less of a risk of long-term dependency.

Good luck to you and feel free to email me if you want anymore info on natural treatments for depression--I've tried them all.

I have run the cycle with antidepressants as well. So made me lose weight (wellbutrin) and some made me gain (abilify). Your doctor will know which one to put you on if you tell him you do not want a weight gainer. Mine was very supportive when working with me on this. Every drug works different for every person. At one point I was on a cocktail of 3 different meds. Be patient eventually you will find what works best for your body. One rule of thumb- if it works for a few days and then tapers off = right drug wrong dose.

I took Lexapro for a while myself and I gained 40 pounds back that I had lost a few years before hand. Then I decided to go from them upping my medication to going off of it cold turkey and started having some weird body symptoms so please be careful. I don't take anything now and I feel so much better. I would research everything you take and look into alternatives for your problem. There may be something out there better for you than those medications. Good luck to you!

I have been diagnosed with OCD and have been taking an SSRI for 2 years now.
There is a concern about if you should really be on all these psych meds. Everybody is different. For me, an SSRI + behavior therapy 1x week helped a lot. I did that for 1 year, But now I am on the minimum dose of Prozac SSRi, without the therapy, and it works great for me.
I have heard of many people having trouble with Lexapro and Effexor and feeling really really sick when they try to go off it.
I don't know who prescribed you the Lexapro, but you might want a second opinion from another doctor, especially a psychiatrist that specializes in depression. Ask your GP for a referral.

Ask for weight gain, I gained about 15 pounds, but I'm not sure that it came from the drug- maybe it came from me seeking refuge from my OCD and depression by eating?

Also, since exercise releases endorphins, this will help a lot with your depression AND help reduce the weight gain.
I started taking tennis lessons and my weight went down and my psych got better! :happy:

I took Lexapro for 2 years with wonderful results. The best thing about Lexapro is that it is very fast acting. You should feel results within a week to ten days. The opposite is also true. If you have a negative experience, it clears out of your system just as quickly.
I also have taken Wellbutrin and it did help me lose weight. In fact then new *magic* diet pill that has been in the news recently is a combination of bupropion (wellbutrin) and another medication. One word of caution, generic bupropion is notorious for not working, stick to the name brand.
I also had an incredibly stressful summer a few years ago and I was taking Wellbutrin in the AM and Prozac in the PM. Due to the stress, not the meds, I lost 20 pounds in 6 weeks. Once I was on the double meds, things calmed down.
I am in a good place now and have been med free for a year. But I won't hesitate to go back on them if necessary. Depression is a chemical imbalance, not a sign of weakness.
Good for you for getting the help you need:flowerforyou:
This is the best way I can describe the benefits of the meds....they allowed me to be *me* without having to work so hard at it. I didn't have to exhaust myself pretending everything was okay . I could *BE* the person everyone thought I *WAS* without the extreme effort and charade.
Good luck!
Becky

There a really good web site about meds www.crazymeds.us. Its a good web site.