Do antidepressants make you gain without extra food?

Okay I have a question after thinlissy(I think) post on zoloft. I was on it but went off of it because I felt like it was making me gain. However, I wasn't dieting either at the time.

Is it really the antidepressant, does it do something to your body besides cravings? Does it slow your metabolism down?

I am thinking of going back on it because I seem extra aggiated lately. I am being a mean mommy.  I have no patience it seems. 

Any thoughts???????

energy in = energy out.  Physically its impossible to put the right number of calories in and gain weight.  So if you go back on it just strictly watch what you eat.  If it does slow your metabolism down then you will just need to eat a few less calories per day.  You can reevaluate week by week whether you are losing or gaining on whether you need to drop your intake down.

Honestly your childs happiness and childhood are worth more than risking gaining a pound while trying to figure out how much to eat. 

I was on predinsone for awhile and believe me it increases your appetite..but if you don't eat more than your body is burning you won't gain weight.

 I think before I was giving in to the sweet cravings.  Now I can realize that before I start it again and not give in to those cravings.

Thanks so much for your post.

Michelle

 I think before I was giving in to the sweet cravings.  Now I can realize that before I start it again and not give in to those cravings.

Thanks so much for your post.

Michelle

Don't go off medication just because you're worried about gaining weight.  You need to get priorities straight.  If you're depressed and trying to lose weight it'll probably be even harder to do so than if you're on the medicine.  If you're really that concerned about it, you need to let your doctor know this.  This could be the sign of another facet of your depression (Body Dismorphic Disorder), and another medication might suit your symptoms better.  You might want to mention Lexapro: it's used to treat BDD and doesn't cause weight gain as others might.  You really need to discuss these medicines and all their possible symptoms with your doctor before you start using them, and also let your doctor know what changes, if any, occur during the course of medication.

I have been off of zoloft for a few months. I told my doctor. Also lexapro made me even more anxious.

I don't take zoloft for depression I take it for mostly pmdd(basically bad pms).

Thanks for all the tips

Michelle;

Did the zoloft help with the pmdd?  If so, then take it!  The most important thing is to take the drug consistanty and at the same time every day so you can build up the theraputic level.  (2-6 weeks).  Just keep counting calories and doing what you're doing.  I wouldnt really worry about weight gain on this drug, it's quite unlikey.

ugh mannnn!  my constant struggle with zoloft....

 

i've been on it pretty much non-stop for almost 10 yrs now.  and it's REALLY (i mean drastically) slowed down my metabolism.  for awhile i didnt notice... but in the last year it just all caught up with me.  

 what my doc is doing is to put me on wellbutrin on top of the zoloft (i've been on it in the past) which helps combat the slowed metabolism thing... also heard it helps to quit smoking.

 

anywho, i'd take it up with your doc if it's really starting to take a toll on ya.

Ok....here's my problem with this...I've been on Zoloft for about 6months now for PMDD, it does help A LOT with the pmdd by the way, but I have been on CC since september 6th and have lost 10 pounds. I watch everything I eat and try to get an A or as close to it as I can. I refuse to allow zoloft to be an excuse for me gaining weight, and I refuse to gain weight. It's all what you do with it. I also had two foot surgeries this summer, so no working out either. I also am on blood thinners for a blood clot that arose from those surgeries. Ailments never stop me. Determination is stronger than any placebo effect.

Usually the reason is increased appetite as a side effect of medication OR since loss of appetite is a symptom of a lot of psychiatric disorders as well, when the medication is working the appetite is increased.  Wellbutrin is one that is known to be good for not causing weight gain.

I'm going to disagree with the others. I really believe that it messes with your metabolism because I took Athymil for several months and I gained 10kg (22lb) in 6 weeks when I started the course! I was eating around 1300 calories a day (I have always been careful about my diet) and the weight just kept piling on. After that initial gain, though, it remained stable for the entire duration of the treatment.

I stopped taking the treatment at the beginning of August. My doc said it would take a month to get out of my system completely and I believe he was right. Almost exactly one month after stopping the treatment I started to lose weight (again, without changing my diet) and I've already lost 6lbs in 2 weeks!

That said, I wouldn't stop taking the medication simply because of the weight issue. Anti-depressants saved my life (I was suffering from bad PPD and suicidal when I started taking it) and while I'm happy to be off them (and happy to be feeling better), I'm sure my kids prefer to have a slightly fluffier mum than a dead one!

julia1308

Athmyil is a tricyclic drug, zoloft is an SSRI, you cannot compare the two.

I put 30 pounds on when I was taking antidepressants, but I think the cause was simply from not caring what I ate, or what was going on around me. To be truthful I felt pretty much emotionless when I was taking them. But I do know that they do A LOT of people good, so I don?t think the pills themselves cause weight gain, but keep counting those calories?if it suddenly doesn?t seem that important to you, then you might wanta reevaluate the reason ?why?.

Athmyil is a tricyclic drug, zoloft is an SSRI, you cannot compare the two.

Oh. I don't know what either of those are, but my doctor told me it was an anti-depressant when he prescribed it for me! I thought Zoloft was, too. I was also taking Buspar, but it was definitely the Athymil which caused the weight gain!

Many antidepressants and mood-stabilizers do, in fact, slow metabolism.  Some even put you at risk for developing diabetes.  Be sure to discuss weight gain in excess of ten pounds with your doctor.  It is VERY important to find a medication that works for you, but sometimes the side effects are simply too severe.  One med I took for a while (for bipolar II) worked great, for example, but made me lose over 2/3 of my hair.  That's right.  It just fell out, roots and all.  The next med I tried caused me to gain over 15 pounds over 2 months.  Now I'm trying a third, and things are going much better.  Watching what I eat is still important, but finding a med with minimal side effects for me as an individual is also definately a factor.

 Best of luck to you!

hey michelle !

a friend of mine is also taking anti-depressant pills, but in his case, he's actually losing his appetite. his mouth gets dry and he doesn't eat a lot at all. it worries me because he'll be losing so much weight...

are there just some anti-depr. that suppresses your hunger and some that makes u even more hungry??

if you can find an antidepressant that doesn't give you side effects and works then you're very, very lucky.

Sooji, it sounds like your friend is taking Wellbutrin.  One of the possible side-effects is weight loss but it comes along with dry mouth and excessive sweating among other things.  I've tried a few anti-depressants and Wellbutrin is the only one I will take.  The others cause weight gain.  I find the benefits of the drug far outweigh the few side effects.

Is it really the antidepressant, does it do something to your body besides cravings? Does it slow your metabolism down?

For Zoloft the number of people who experience weight gain are small and overall for SSRI's (anti-depressants of that drug type) Zoloft is one of the ones that correlates with the lowest weight gain.

The question you are asking is really 'how does it do this' - the drug monograph doesn't provide much information and neither does a quick skim of journal articles.  This isn't all that surprising if an effect is small it's not going to have a lot of investigation here.  So I doubt anyone can give you a good answer to that one.

The best I can say is that, in general it isn't likely to gain weight under Zoloft, if you do it isn't likely to gain much weight and if you need to be on a anti-depressant of this type Zoloft is the best choice with respect to weight gain. 

I am thinking of going back on it because I seem extra aggiated lately. I am being a mean mommy.  I have no patience it seems. 

If the meds make you better - take the meds. 

Take care. 

sometimes they do make you gain (regular AD's)

and some make you lose weight (buproprion)

so really it depends on which one you are on!

When i was on prozac, i had apetite loss AND it made me jittery and speeded up my metabolism. Same with my mom.

Now the doc has switched me to Paxil and i have GAINED. It has none of those side effects that prozac had. 

Imipramine (a tricyclic) really raised my appetite and made me gain. So, yeah - they're all different.