appetite and weight falling

i'v recently started prozac under the advice of my psychiatrist. life was becoming very unmanagable in terms of anxiety and related depression. im not on a high dose. i suffer greatly with sensitivity to side effects from many meds.

my prob is this. i have a fairly serious phobia of vomiting and nausea.... (yes i know... a tricky one for a doctor), none the less the prozac has walloped my appetite and is causing increased anxiety and nausea. my response to nausea is utter frantic panic and a consequent inability to eat. completely terrified to eat. i am aware these are a result of the ssri and i am aware it is transient (i hope), but i am looking for anyone on prozac to let me know how long they may have experienced these symptoms for, as my weight is dropping. i cannot afford to see too much of a shift in the scales as a recoverer of anorexia nervosa.

I had no side effects while taking prozac. (for 2 years)

About 6 weeks into starting to take prozac I experienced increased anxiety as a side effect. My dosage was increased (due to this and other issues) and the anxiety only lasted 2 weeks. Obviously you need to get this sorted sooner than that. Have you considered something like diazepam as a short term solution until the feelings of anxiety pass?

yeah i have, and iv discussed it with my gp. who is v helpful. but i am currently a junior doctor who cant really afford to take her eye off the ball and experience the woozy induced state of a benzo....

though if it persists i may be left with no alternative

actually misscherry, i think i read a post of yours somewhere wher you felt prozac had really helped you... (was this you?) anyway.. this was the info that pushed me into giving prozac a try. am hopeful of the same result :)

Yes it was me. It took time though and it got worse (both depression and anxiety) before it got better.

You'd obviously have to discuss with your doctor and mentor/tutor/superior about it but maybe a low dosage would be ok? I was given 2mg.

You have to go the route of the pregnant lady, fidget, and that means saltine crackers and marshmallow krispie cereal treats when nauseous. That, and drink broth.

When I FIRST began Paxil, before it made me go bat$#%^ crazy, I lost my appetite and was nauseous for about 6 weeks.

I hope it stops - it seems like a self defeating cycle since the treatment for the anxiety with which you presented is only birthing more anxiety.... you might want to try a low dose benzo in leiu of an SSRI?

Original Post by bsh0611:

I hope it stops - it seems like a self defeating cycle since the treatment for the anxiety with which you presented is only birthing more anxiety....

Pretty ridiculous, isn't it

i am on prozac i have been for 7 years i had the the same problems initially as you, it took about a month for it to kick in , and to be honest id be lost with out it . i would recommend it but it worries me it might be causing you to slip back , your right you cannot afford to . im unsure what to say to you id hope you d continue taking it and these symtoms would subside . have you spoken to your doctor ?how about going back to supplement drinks for a while to keep you steady?

I started on prozac about a year ago and stopped taking it in July this year.

My experience was initial weight loss due to lack of appetite, nausea and upset stomach for the first 2-4weeks of taking it, but this soon settled down and I didn't have too much trouble with it after that.

It was a little worrying because I started taking it when I was at a very low weight (depression/? ED?) and I lost my will to eat entirely and lost a few more pounds, but then my weight just rebounded right back. I did find that now I have gained a lot of weight, but once I stopped taking it, about 4 weeks later I started losing weight again...not sure if there is a link there but hey...all's good now :D

Good luck fidget xxx

The dose of A.N. is higher but a low dose is a good starting point just to see if you get any seriously bad side effects. Initial appetite and therefore weight decrease is temporary and a common side effect - perhaps, since you don't have room to move down on the scale, they can ramp up the dose a bit more quickly for you. You should be on 80 mg for treatment of A.N. 

Hope that helps - hang in there.

V.

I've never taken Prozac but I have taken Citalopram for anxiety/depression and Ritalin for ADD.

The Ritalin also affected my appetite for the first couple of months as well as making me nauseous and as a fellow ED survivor that was pretty hard to deal with.

I did lose some weight (never to an unhealthy BMI) but I managed to halt the weight loss by returning to a slightly structured eating pattern. I didn't have a meal plan but I would make sure I ate 3 meals, 3 snacks and have 3 drinks each day. The drinks were a necessary addition because I was eating smaller, lighter meals than usual because of the nausea. I also found drinking OJ never made me feel sick, so it was a great help in bumping up my daily calories.

Find some things that never make you nauseous - crackers, jam on buttered toast, bananas, fruit yoghurts, soup with bread rolls, muffins, and iced biscuits were some of my easily digestible foods - and make sure you have a good supply of those foods on hand. Also, just like in recovery, go for calorie-dense snacks if you can - dried fruit, nuts, cheese etc.

Make an effort to eat with other people. If you are constantly wondering "is this going to make me feel sick?" well, it probably will, ya know? That's how it works. But if you are eating with friends or family who can distract you, I often found the problem of nausea was much less than when I ate alone.

I don't know exactly how Prozac works but if you feel most nauseous after you take it, is it possible to take it after dinner or when you have done most of your eating for the day?

Just a few ideas. xx

 My sympathies for your dilemma.

I've never had drug-related nausea, but had extreme nausea with pregnancies. Perhaps the remedies are similar.

A popular non-pharmaceutical remedy for nausea is ginger. If you don't mind the flavor (strong, warming, spicy), try ginger tea. Boil a crushed knob of ginger in about 3 cups of water. Add sugar/sweetener to taste. Some people like it with tea or with milk or both.

If you don't like that, try candied ginger, available at many asian groceries.

Another remedy for me is anything sour. Sour candy, sour plums, oranges, limes you get the idea. Just suck on one and see if that helps?

Lastly, consider the nausea band, a little button on a wrist strap that puts pressure on certain acupressure points. They help some people, though I haven't tried that one myself. Available usually at airports and places where they sell travel-related stuff like suitcases.

My appetite disappeared for about 8 weeks if I recall correctly after I started taking Prozac.  I lost 10-11 lbs.  Eventually my appetite normalized and after about a year my weight started going back up.

Also in the "long term" Prozac supposedly leads to weight gain in many people, that is increasing their "comfortable" weight by about 10-20lbs, so I don't think you need to worry too much unless you think you're going to starve yourself to death.

Original Post by das1988:

Also in the "long term" Prozac supposedly leads to weight gain in many people, that is increasing their "comfortable" weight by about 10-20lbs, so I don't think you need to worry too much unless you think you're going to starve yourself to death.

The poster has recovered from anorexia. With anorexia (and relapses) there is a very real risk of starving to death... perhaps you could have thought your reply through better before posting.

im on prozac have been for 7 years does that mean ill keep gaining das ?

**** if I know.  I just know that the gist of the studies that I've looked up indicate that many long-term Prozac users have a higher maintenance weight than they without, whether or not that applies to you is completely dependent on your physiology.

I don't regret anything about my post.  It's a relevant piece of data that shouldn't be ignored on account of emotions.  If you are too dense to read between the lines, I was implying that if they think the short-term appetite loss from Prozac is a danger to their life they might want to consider switching to a different antidepressant.  If they don't think so then they can stick with it as appetite loss might disappear after a short period of time.