Anxiety and Weight

[Peru83]

On my last visit to my gp I had asked if the fact I'm over weight could have anything to do with my erratic panic ect as something I saw on the tv not so long ago suggested this. She agreed that being over weight can cause many problems and that this wasn't to be ruled out so my pole is to find out how many off us have a weight issue like me and just to see if this is what caused mine to start.



onwards and upwards

[Phill2]

Iwas normal weight when it happened then I lost about 10kg.Since going on meds I've put that 10 back on plus another 1o
Phill

Don't believe everything you think.

[Forrest]

i lost 25 pounds with mine then i got scared because i was loosing weight thinking i have had some kind of bad dease loosing weight is not a good thing with alot of health problems like axiety

[PanickyPolly]

I lost loads of weight too and find it impossible to put it on now.

[Wonderwoman]

I was just right when it started and after zoloft and comfort eating for the past 2 years I have gained about 9kgs - which makes me about 5 kgs overweight.

[curlybird]

I was a nice healthy weight before I started on my meds. In the past year I have gained nearly a stone. I am eating well and exercising more than i have ever done before but i cannot seem to shift the weight.

On the bright side, I am feeling much better and thats the most important thing to me.

:D

[pinkpenny1uk]

i was ok before i started with my anxiety. then i lost about 2 stone quiet quickly. now since being on meds i have put it back on and a bit more besides.

pp

[april tones]

im overweight but people say i dont look it
id sat my panic has got worse since i have lost! ha ha

fibrochat) http://apriltones.proboards54.com

[jill]

Hi Claire

I am under weight, have been under alot of stress latly and lost more weight.:(

What I would say is, we are all different I have a 12 year old daughter who suffers pa's, anxety, she's ok now and moving forward, but she puts on weight, she eats more when her anxiety is up.

TAKE CARE

LOVE JILLXX

[honeybee3939]

Hi,

I have put alot of weight on since i have been suffering with anxiety, and i am sure if i lost weight i would feel better in my self, i always find the summer the hardest not only do i not like to wear shorts etc, i find that my weight gain makes me alot more tierd when the weather is hot.

Love

Andrea
xxx

[Di]

I've put on about 2 and half stone in the last couple of years and feel a lot less confident. I'm sure a lot of my anxiety is connected to my poor self image but even though I diet I struggle to lose more than a couple of pounds. I definitely eat more when I'm stressed!
Di x

[arethaire]

I had never had a weight problem but .... Now after 3-4 yrs of taking antidepresants have gained well over a stone, maybe 2!!!

[mysweetshadow]

Before my Panic And Anxiety Attacks started, I weighed 11st and now I weigh just over 8st 2. I used to be below 8st at one point, but i changed what I am eating and have since, thankfully started to gain weight again.:)

p.a

[MissChampers]

I always lose about a stone when I going through a particularly stressful time.

[Issy_Bum]

When I first got really anxious I lost a lot of weight and it's recently started creeping back on. I'm at a healthy weight though, although I was underweight at my worst.

[Krakers]

Hi Phil - can't really say whether I'm under, right or over. Its been a while since I weighed myself. With me my weight either comes from or goes to my belly and face. I haven't noticed that much difference and my other halfs too polite to say.

I know when I'm really bad I just don't eat. Don't feel like it, don't want to. I lost about a stone in September, but when I'm having a good day it kind of make up for not eating. I've probably eaten 2 days worth of food today. Its not all bad news though because I've changed my diet and a lot of what I've eaten is fruit and veg. Wasn't eating 1 portion a day when I became ill, let alone 5.

Krakers.

[Lindalou64]

ive put on weight since my agraphobia:( i use to be a very out going on the run and alot of physical things like biking hiking mountains walking jogging now i find it hard to do these things so yes i would say that having this put weight on ........not as active make sense to me..........
Linda[8D]

[bearcrazy]

hi i am seriously overweight, and binge eat when stressed which is all the time. i often get up in the night to eat in secret too. i am really distressed by my weight, but dont seem to be able to tackle it. psycho says when i have sorted out the anxiety issues i'll be able to work on the weighht issues, but they are all part and parcel of the same thing. if anyone has a magic solution, please let me know,
desperate!

[Nancydrew]

I definitly think medication has alot to do with weight gain as I was slim until about a year into taking my first medication for panic/anxiety disorder and then my weight gradually went up and up...
weight gain is a side effect of some drugs and I think others may slow down metabolism.. I have seen other slim people with depression/anxiety also gain alot of weight when meds changed.....

[Chopper]

Morning all,

I'm a 41 year old Dad, 5'7" and just under 13.5 stone (no idea what that is in kilos!). No beer belly now (I was once 18.5 stone! At 5'7"!!) and look better than I have since I was 30, and I put a lot of it down to Citalopram.

I'm on 40mg a day and have absolutely no appetite whatsoever. I just can't stomach meat or poultry so have become an 'unintentional vegetarian'!

We're all different and I think as long as the loss/gain isn't too dramatic, there's little to worry about. Does anyone concur?

Happiness and light to all,
'Chopper'



I saw her once, one little while, and then no more:
’Twas Eden’s light on Earth a while, and then no more.
Amid the throng she passed along the meadow-floor:
Spring seemed to smile on Earth awhile, and then no more;
But whence she came, which way she went, what garb she wore
I noted not; I gazed a while, and then no more!

James Clarence Mangan 1803 - 1849

[valeriej]

I have always been overweight even when I was young, not sure if this contributed to my panic attacks or not since my panic attacks started roughly 8 years ago then eased off when I stopped going in lifts, tube etc. Stress last year started them off again. I know being overweight and unfit doesn't help though as if I was fitter I'd be better on the stairs and not get out of breath quite so quickly, getting out of breath makes me anxious in itself.

I have only late last year took the odd Diazepam but nothing else for the anxiety apart from using lavender oil and rescue remedy. I'm now trying Relora.

[tommythomson]

I was very overweight when I was affected. My only concern about GPs is that if you don't smoke and something is wrong with you they usually blame the weight!
I' ve lost a couple of stone and feel better for it and it has encouraged me to watch what I eat and drink.
I suppose that's one positive out of this!

T;)

[KOKO23CAT]

are you all over weight or do you just think you are!?

''my life is full of catastrophies, most of which never happened''

[Insomniac]

I'm not sure about the relationship between weight and anxiety. I guess the suggestion that you do less if you are anxious has a point. But also food has issues of its own. Some people (like me!) comfort eat when they are fed up, so can gain weight at those times. Others eat less when stressed. So which came first. For me it was depression followed by weight gain which added to depression, and then came anxiety. But the physical feeling of being overweight and the emotional insecurity both add to feelings of anxiety.



Lisa.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

[bubblygirl]

I was slim before then due to not going out the house much last year i put on loads of weight now ive been on meds for 3 months and am more active it is coming off but slowly but i feel better and thats all i care about x

[candie]

Hi everybody,just wanted to say im sooo skinny now due to the anxiety..
Ive always been slim but now i' m too thin and cant put the weight back on for love nor money and then i find myself worrying about losing weight!!!

Take care,Candie xx

[jo61]

When I have a bad episode I drop stones in weight. When I start to recover it just piles on again. Not fair is it?!

[debera]

Hi
I have lost weight with anxiety and I also find it hard to put it back on. When my anxiety was at ita worst i used to think that I had something sinister wrong with me. I think anxiety makes a lot of people lose weight.
Debera:)

[franfhm]

Its made me lose weight :( I'm too skinny and can't put it back on as I never feel well enough to eat properly

[Alabasterlyn]

I think quite a lot of people find that meds make them put on weight. I know some of the anti depressants are known to increase a person's appetite.

My weight has pretty much been the same for over 20yrs, but it does go down when I am going through a very anxious phase. Most of the time I am 7st which is about right for my height but I have gone down as low as 6st 4lbs when my anxiety has been really bad.

I think we are all different though and some people do comfort eat when they are stressed and a lot of us probably don't get enough exercise either. Also age plays a part in all of this as our metabolism does slow down as we get older :ohmy:

[Nervous Wreck]

I was very overweight (nearly obese!) when I had my first panic attack. I've since lost 2 stones in 3 months. I put this down to much healthier eating and much more exercise. The panic attacks shocked me into looking after myself a bit better, and I suppose thats one positive that can come out of it.

[psychofatale]

I weighed 11 stone after the birth of my 3rd child when the doctor put me on seroxat which I promptly gained another stone. Anyway as soon as I came off the seroxat I lost 2 stone and then another stone when I suffered terrible panic attacks and anxiety and was too stubborn to go back on meds. I am now on escitalopram and have pretty much averaged out but am still overweight but not the biggest I have ever been, I seem to comfort eat when down or even when happy I am also eating more because I have given up smoking. I have started a new exercise routine though so hopefully that will shift some excess fat!!.

I know we have serotonin in our stomach just the same as we do in our brain and thats why we feel such gratification when we eat nice food. I also get an awful panicky feeling in my stomach when I havent eaten so that must be linked to the serotonin too.

Basically my weight has gone up and down a lot over the last 10 years, with babies, depression, anxiety and different meds.:shrug:

[Star]

I've never been super skinny but a healthy size 10-12 now since being on actual medication and a bit of a downward spiral i've gone up to a 12-14. I'm not sure if that is because of the medication or a bit of depression. I find it hard to find the motivation to loose weight. I'm getting a bike this week so hopefully i'll start to use that and see if the weight goes down again *fingers crossed*

[Quirky]

When my panic attacks first started I was a normal weight and quite slim. I have been various weights since having anxiety and I have found it makes no difference to the anxiety for me what weight I am.

Lisa