Anyone else on anti-depressants or other weight-gaining drugs?

I am in serious need of a support group, and I assume I'm not the only one having this problem.  I have been counting calories, seeing a nutritionis t who says I eat ver y well, and exercising five days a week (30 minutes on the elliptical, then strength training) since November and I have not lost any weight at all (in fact I've gained one pound).  I refused to believe at first that this was because of the ONE medicine I'm on that supposedly causes weight gain (Risperdal--though my doctor recently told me it's "famous for weight gain"), but here it is, mid-April, five and a half months later, and since I have lost no pounds and&n bsp;no pants sizes, I guess I have to admit that it's the drugs (I have no idea what else it would be, neither does my nutritionist).  I keep working out and eating right because I hope that when I stop this drug completely (I have recently cut down the dosage) the weight will fly off me, but it's really hard to stay motivated when you see absolutely no results and you feel like there's nothing you can do about it.  Anyone else in this boat?

drninamarquis, do you have a link with scientific information that will back up what you're saying.  It's not that I'm questioning your opinion, but it would be handy information to have.

Hi suspendedtear -

     I haven't been on Lexapro since last December because it stopped working for me and killed my sex drive.  The medicine that was making me gain weight (I'm now on Wellbutrin XL and Lamictal, which are both weight neutral) was Risperdal, for OCD.  I did wean off that and have been not taking it for about four weeks.  I do notice that my OCD is coming back a bit (trichotillomania where I pull out my hair, also I had one episode of obsessive thoughts that lead to two days of constant crying and immobilization).  But on the whole, I think I'll be okay without it.  I have been hesitant to weigh myself though because I REALLY don't want to see that even without this medicine I still have not lost weight.  I have been watching my food VERY carefully these last four weeks and going to the gym every other day, with the exception of last week when I was on vacation.  I'll weigh soon though and then update this post.  One side effect I am really starting to notice with the Lamictal is ridiculously bad short term memory and difficulty spelling words.  I have always been a straight A student all through college and grad school, so yesterday when I misspelled "indulge" and didn't realize it till hours later I freaked out.  Anyone else have this problem on Lamictal?

I also have trichotillomania but have never really taken medication for it except I think for trying luvox once. I think my insurance wouldn't cover it so my doctor was giving me free samples but I moved away. I'm only taking Cymbalta now. It was really helping at first with the energy and motivation to exercise but I blew it because the doctor told me not to drink and I started drinking kind of a lot. So I think that counteracted the medication and I started feeling depressed again and eating a lot more and stopped exercising. I'm now on a strict "probation" from the doctor not to drink or else they'll stop giving me the Cymbalta. So  I'm going to try to start exercising again.  Smallis - I can also relate to the spelling thing because that happened to me once.

Well after losing no weight for six months despite good diet and exercise (while on the drug), now that I have been off Risperdal for five weeks I have already lost five pounds, even though I'm not even counting calories as closely and haven't been able to go to the gym as much as I'd like.  Stupid drugs!!!  I knew it!!  Finally!!!!!!!!!!

Dear clairelaine,

I invite you to check out http://www.medworksmedia.com/psychopharmbulle tin/pdf/7/055_059_pb_36_3_wurtman.pdf

to see one of the articles published by my Serotonin Power Diet co-author Judith J. Wurtman, PhD showing that the weight loss plan was equally effective for people on antidepressants and other psychtropic medications as those who were not on medications, and both groups lost weight.  The study used a carbohydrate snack beverage called Serotrim (www.serotrim.com) because it is highly effective, pre-portioned, and nobody binges on it, but it is NOT a requirement by any means to following the program.  Snacks such as popcorn, pretzels, oatmeal, crackers, and even licorice bites (for anyone with a sweet tooth) work well to raise brain serotonin to control appetite.  A list of articles and books published by Dr. Wurtman on which our program is based appear on the following page:

http://adaracenter.com/resources.html

(Adara is our weight loss center for consultations on The Serotonin Power Diet)

I hope that answers your questions - feel free to follow up with anything else.  All my best, Nina Marquis, MD

I have been on various SSRIs for about five years, most recently Celexa. For the bulk of this five year period I was on Effexor 225mg. I gained about 30 pounds very quickly, though I don't fault Effexor for the weight gain, which was clearly the result of poor eating and a sedantary lifestyle that just happened to coincide with my SSRI treatment.

My first Effexor prescription was 2002. In mid-2004, tired of being fat, I put myself on a very rigorous exercise program and began to eat healthily. Several weeks passed with no weight loss, or so I thought, I never use scales. So I bought some scales. I continued my healthy eating with rigorous, daily exercise. A month later I still had not lost a single pound.

My psychiatrist suggested we drop my dosage of Effexor from 225mg to 75, which I did. I continued to exercise, eating well every day, and after another month I still had not lost a pound. The doctor's only suggestion was to try a different pill.

In the meantime, mid-2005, I moved from New York City to Atlanta, got a new shrink and explained my history to her. She recommended Celexa at the time, but due to severe issues in my personal life, I decided that I could not tolerate the disruption. So I put it off, tolerating obesity for two more years.

Fast forward to May, 2007. I made the switch to Celexa 20mg. Four weeks passed, daily exercise (we're talking strenuous cardio and weight training) and nada. Actually, I gained weight. By this point I was at 196.

So approx. six weeks ago I weaned myself off Cylexa over the course of about 2 weeks. The side effects were harsh (brain zaps, dizziness, flashes of rage), but not altogether unbearable. Mercifully, I am Celexa free now for nearly one month.

But here's the rub, folks: I still weigh 196 lbs. I still workout every day. I still watch everything I put in my mouth. I have had no medication whatsoever in almost 30 days but I am STILL unable to lose weight.

So I'm left wondering if my metabolism (whatever exactly that involves) has been permanently suppressed.

Has anybody else quit taking Celexa (or any other SSRI) and STILL been unable to lose weight????

I'm sure you'll hear from others, (maybe, this link isn't frequented as much) but I will say for sure it took my body close to a year "kick it up" a notch after the long term SSRI use I'd had in the past. I also was working out and dieting allot to try and loose for some time and had gained about 30lbs. from the Effexor. Celexa more recently (a year ago) I only tried on my doctor's advice when I had another bipolar break and when I noticed the same issues I had with SSRI's coming up again I promptly declined and am now on wellbutrin which is not an SSRI at all, and anti-convulsants (topiramate and gabapentin, also mood stabilizers) which don't seem to be affecting my weight...but this recipe took a while to get right! Keep trying, your mental health is important too, I jog regularly and find that helps my mood too, been the best weight loss exercise for me as well.

Thanks for your reply, Kaddy!  Do you mean that you went one full year without any medication before your system returned to normaL? That is outrageous.

I'm amazed at the recklessness and flat-out immorality of psychiatrists and GPs.  They medicate people's brains without the foggiest notion of side effects, withdrawal symptoms or long-term damage.

If my shrink (any of them) had said to me, "These medications may help you feel better.  But they may also cause your metabolism to grind to a halt indefinitely, even after stopping them.  And should you ever want or need to stop, the withdrawal symptoms could be unbearable, disrupting your life and your sanity for weeks or months", I would have politely declined.  But they never, ever warn, do they.  They just throw prescriptions at you like drug pushers.  Of course, that's an insult to drug pushers who tend to know their products much better than the average psychiatrist or GP.

Cymbasux --

  Kaddy is right, it takes a while for the drugs to get out of your system.  I weaned off Risperdal for about a month and a half and I didn't see weight loss until a month after the last pill touched my lips, even though I started cutting it down weeks and weeks ago.  Your rant against psychiartists really struck a chord with me, as my doctor, too, talks to me for like three minutes and then suggests a drug.  She is not the counselor I see weekly, so wtf does she know?  On another note, however, I realized last week how expensive these drugs actually are, and now I'm more pissed at the pharmaceutical companies.  While in grad school I had the good fortune of being covered by school medical insurance.  Well when I went to the pharmacy to pick up my meds last week the pharmacist told me that I had maxed out my prescription limit (or something like that) and that I now had to pay full price for my drugs--$662.24 for a month's worth!  I was floored!!  How can people afford to be sick with prices like that??  I guess they just can't...

Hey Smallis,

Thanks for your reply! I've now been off Celexa for a month with zero change.  I started at 196 on 5/6, and I bounce back and forth between that and 192 as of 7/10.  I follow a fitness plan called "Body for Life".  It's a lifetime eating/exercise plan, but it is intended to drastically improve fitness in the first 90 days.  As a matter of fact, they conduct a national contest every year, whoever loses the most fat and gains the most muscle wins.  I'm talking 65 year olds who have been eating McDonalds and sitting in their Barca loungers since the Nixon Administration are suddenly transformed.  And here I am 2/3 of the way through the 90 day Challenge, 37 years old, male (I think we generally have an easier time with weight loss) and nada. 

What's most frustrating, though, is not the constant negative re-enforcement of dilligent, healthy eating and exercise with no results, the pisser is that nobody can tell me why this is happening or, more importantly, what to do about it.  The consensus among us victims seems to be wait around and hope.  Maybe in six months, maybe a year. 

Yes, I believe I was "drug free" so to speak for a year after Effexor...but even this year with the onset of SSRI treatment again, and then switching to a different med altogether it didn't take that long, (but I don't think I had taken it long enough, I was put on other ones, what I'm saying is there are other meds out there that will help mental health and NOT screech metabolism to a halt).

Sometimes I think phyc. docs (especially more than GP's) are so readily handing out all of these and increasing doses, to shocking amounts...I have literally felt tons crazier than I was to start with on more than one occasion from rapid increasing of doses to the maximum...anyway I think the reasoning is sometimes suicide scare, even though I never say that I've had those plans, many people rapidly progress there and they want to halt that (these pills are proven to help more than harm) and for phyc. docs I seriously think they are playing scientist sometimes. I know mine was, like "I wonder what combo will fix her...and then I will be the hero and have a new recipe!" well, he fired me cause I was too difficult and I created my own recipe...which is ALWAYS the best thing to do. Take control of your life if you can, grab it by the nards, and don't let go!! Someone will listen to you sometime, and do what you ask them to, it's your body!

Smallis,

What are you on, dude? That is a dump of cash huh, wowsers...I know meds here in Canada are cheaper, but I also know Wellbutrin and Gabapentin (two of which I'm on) are pretty cheap, you can get Welly in generic, maybe the other, but they're cheap and work for me, the cooky bipolar that no shrink could cure with a myriad of meds...I also take topirimate at bed, 100mg, great for weight loss, might not be cheap not sure.

Kaddy,

     I'm actually only on two drugs now (plus birth control, which without insurance was $60!!), but I need two different dosages of each.  For example, I take 450mg of Wellbutrin a day, so I needed refills of 300mg (which I do get generic, but that only saves me like $9) and 150mg (which doesn't come generic).  Then I'm on 250mg of Lamictal, which doesn't come generic at all, so I needed refills of 100mg and 25 mg.  After this staggering bill, however, I am doing what you do and altering my own dose.  I felt okay at 200mg of Lamictal, in fact I feel significantly stupider on 250mg, so I'm going back to 200mg.  That takes away my need for the 25mg pills altogether.  So maybe next time (if I don't have new insurance by then, god forbid), I will only have to pay $450.  Sigh.  I lived in Austria for a while where every prescription you would ever need, be it sinus medicine or antidepressants, was 4 Euro (about $5).  So I could get my entire "cockt ail" for like $15.  Those were the days...

This is a subject near and dear to me as I'm struggling with this as well. I've been on zoloft for 10+ years and put on at least 50 pounds since I began. Everytime I try to lose weight I have a very tough time doing it - I believe mostly due to the meds. My doctor - who is drug happy - upped my zoloft for some reason to 150mgs - but at that time I did a TON of research at the library and on-line and decided that I wanted to try to wean myself down over a series of weeks off the Zoloft. I'm now at 25mgs and don't feel at all different - which is good - but also shows me how little it was doing for me all those years. Unfortunatley, I've read that Zoloft, like other AD does cause weight gain so I thought for sure weight would come off - but it hasn't budged - despite my efforts. My doc also prescribed Wellbutrin SR - which I decided last night to take for a few months to see if it will help with the weight loss.

I hate to be on these drugs but I'm absolutely desperate to get my weight down.

So ... yes - they do cause weight gain but supposedly Wellbutrin causes weight loss - but I"m so glad you've seen a difference and are losing weight! I do think that doctors are so quick to put patients on these drugs and its totally wrong. My doctor barely asked me any questions before she gave it to me.

WOW...I must move to Australia, that is just way too cheap even compared to Canada. Without my plan my meds would be like about 350$ a month, (Canadian prices). Yes, a good doctor is hard to find...personally I suggest if you have found one who speaks to you with respect and takes the time to ask how things are going in your life for 5 minutes like a councellor would and you know it's sort of genuine than stay with him/her. Only go to another for refills. This is what I have finally found, and I bounce back and forth between he and the owner of the clinic who knows his info and mine are gold. Mind you he also knows how crazy I am, and I always get "I think you are on too much medication already, just take some Clonazipam and come back if it doesn't pass." with the raised eyebrows when I've had an extra upsetting event like Gran's funeral and think I need to change it around, it passes eventually, a little wine and not too much Pam...it makes me grouchy. Not too much wine either...it makes my IBS act up, just thought you'd all like to know that ;)

Personally, my beef with the docs is not that they give these meds out, but that the doses are upped to quickly, the weight issue is ignored and not warned about, (it must be a majority thing, my doctors all flat out denied that the pill could cause it, said it was the person eating too much), really none of the side effects are discussed in office, (wrongo!) and they aren't keeping up with all of the new options out there...(I mean with all of the stressed, mental and depressed people coming in, come on guys! Look it up and try it! who cares if you have samples or not! It's called helping in the best way possible.) For example, I had an alergic reaction to a med called Trileptol, an anti-convulsant. If it weren't for that reaction it would have been a wonder drug for me, but only like one pharmacy had it in the city and my phyc. (not GP for sure) hadn't heard of it, I refered it from someone else who was bipolar.

But to give them a break, what else are they supposed to do when you come in and don't have an owy except for in your heart or head? Maybe refer to a phyc. doc if you'll go, or give you what they know, but that is part of the problem. No talk, not enough research, I mean...isn't that their job? Or does it end with med. school and free samples...

PS, Lamictal made me gain weight, I hope that doesn't bum you out, I'm sure it won't...it's a good anti-depressant! It threw me into mania!

I know Lithium isn't an anti-depressant, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with uncontrollable weight gain on it (without the influence from a bad diet/no exercise).

Just wanted to add that I've been on Lamictal for some time no weight gain has occurred.

 I was put on antidepressants because i talked too fast--HORRIBLE experience. I wasn't even depressed! So the antidepressants made me sooo relaxed, that I didnt even feel the urge to study--plus, although i didnt change my eating pattern and I thought i had maxed out on the law school weight gain, i put on another 20 pounds! I couldn't figure out what was going on, but then i learned there is a strong correlation between antidepressants and weight gain...Plus, the weight is just weird now. More upper body. I never had an upper body weight problem. Now i have back fat--two chins, if you catch me in the wrong position... a big stomach..

so i just finished weening off those horrible antidepressants, and i'm eating much better--although because I haven't lost a pound, its difficult to retain motivation...

I just don't know what to do. I'm still too dizzy from the antidepressant withdrawal to exercise vigorously--I'll eat lean meats, vegetables and fruits for weeks and not lose an ounce, so then i get frustrated and eat bread and cheese...

I'm currently at about 165 and it has definitely ruined my summer.


so has anyone had success with losing weight once off antidepressants?  and when does the vertigo subside?

Laurasump --  That's a horrible reason to be put on medication!!  As I've said, I finally lost about five pounds about a month of being completely clear of the drug that was making me gain.  I'm satisfied to be able to stay under 150 without counting every calorie and denying foods I really wish I could eat.  I did that for seven months while I was on the medication and I'm tired of it.  I am still not to my goal, which would be to lose another five or ten, but I'm happy for right now, maybe I'll get back into high gear sometime later.  As for withdrawal symptoms, I never really had any (my other meds cause vertigo, so I couldn't tell you if that was a symptom or not).  But I do really notice that without the medicine for my OCD (the one that was gaining weight), it is getting pretty bad again.  I have problems with picking at my hair and skin and it's back in full force.  It's still better than being on that drug, but it really upsets me that I can't control it myself (but I guess that's why I was on the drug in the first place).  Does anyone have any advice, or is anyone on a drug for OCD that doesn't cause weight gain?  Thanks!

I was just reading Laurasump story and I am also shocked that you were put on anti depressants for talking too fast.

I have been off of Effexor for about 3 weeks now and my energy level is way better. I put on it for GAD and found it was making me so sleepy to the point where I fell asleep studying for an exam and almost missed it because of falling asleep. This is with an ample amount of sleep. I finally weaned myself and am feeling fuller a lot faster than when I was on anti-depressants. Like a lot of people here, I gained about 20lbs that I was trying to work off and just kept gaining. So far I have only lost 2lbs since getting off the med and this is with working out 4-5times/week and watching what I eat. It's disgusting what these pills can do to someone.

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