View Full Version : Anyone gained weight whilst on antidepressants?
I have mentioned this before and I am sooooo sorry for repeating myself, but I am really freaking out over my weight gain. I went on Prozac 5 years ago and gained almost a stone very unexpectedly, this maintained even when I ate like a pig, then last year I was put on Paroxetine and I gained another stone! My diet and activity has never changed, I am a comfort eater too so theoretically I should have lost weight whilst on AD's.
I feel horrible because I look nothing like how I used to look, I was 8 stone 7 weeks after having my daughter and now I am 10 stone 6. I cut out takeaways, don't drink alcohol, don't spend hours on videogames like I did in my late teens, I just do not understand how I have gained this weight. I really feel like AD's affect your body mechanisms.
What I mainly want to know is did anyone else gain and is it possible to lose when off meds?
They are nortorious for weight gain I'm afraid, I'm on mirtazpine and I have gained nearly three stone in weight. I am trying my hardest now to get it off but it's very hard.
Thank you very much for replying. I have been Paroxetine free for 9 weeks now and have been on paxilProgress and they seem to agree that the weight will come off once you stop the meds, that is the hard part though isn't it.
Good luck with getting off and hopefully in the next few years we'll both be our normal selves weight wise ;-)
Some are worse than others though. Mirtazapine is one of the very worst ones to take for weight gain - it increases your appetite massively.
Catherine S
08-07-14, 14:43
I've never taken anti-d's but since taking propranolol which is a beta blocker I have also gained quite a bit of extra weight without changing anything. It doesn't increase appetite but it does slow the body down so the burning process is slower. It can also interfere with insulin levels apparently, and after a recent scan for liver and gall bladder and being told to cut out as much sugar as I can, including some carbs and certain fruit, ive now decided to try and follow a diabetes diet and see if that helps reduce the weight. I gave up alcohol more or less completely 6 weeks ago but weight still hasn't changed and i'm still taking 40mg propranolol.
ISB x
I wish it was as simple as my appetite increasing (although I am aware that increased appetite isn't simply something you can overcome), I am the healthiest (food wise) I have ever been. I'm not a clean eater mind I still eat sweets and crisps but much less than I did when I was skinny.I drink no alcohol at all which I was told can cause weight gain too and I must have between 4 and 6 takeaways a year (I do have the odd McDonalds mind but again, much less occasionally than I used to).
IStillBelieve, I was on Propranolol too until about 4 weeks ago and it made me so tired. Wonder if my weight gain could be a mixture of them both.
Catherine S
08-07-14, 15:08
It could definately be the combo keekee yes. My weight never changed all my adult life until i started taking this medication. Mind, I wouldn't have been without it for the benefits it gave me but there are side effects for sure, although since halving the dose it hasn't been too bad. I'm hoping that the lack of alcohol will change my body in ways that mean I can gradually come off them as I think now that alot of the anxiety came from the evening drinking I did and the hangovers weren't a walk in the park either! and then hopefully the weight will start to come off too...who knows.
ISB x
It could definately be the combo keekee yes. My weight never changed all my adult life until i started taking this medication. Mind, I wouldn't have been without it for the benefits it gave me but there are side effects for sure, although since halving the dose it hasn't been too bad. I'm hoping that the lack of alcohol will change my body in ways that mean I can gradually come off them as I think now that alot of the anxiety came from the evening drinking I did and the hangovers weren't a walk in the park either! and then hopefully the weight will start to come off too...who knows.
ISB x
I agree, the Propranolol completely eradicated my panic attacks, haven't had one in at least 14 months.
Whilst I was only 20 when I gained my first bit of weight, I still don't think I could have gotten through pregnancy, lost all but 7 lbs and then gained 2 years later through absolutely no change of diet. My doctor would say otherwise but I am living proof as are others such as yourself.
I hope your weight will come off as that will bring a positive too and lift your mood. I also believe once we lose even a small amount of weight we will be much more appreciative of the weight we were before.
I did gain 50 kg in 8 years of antidepressant "therapy" (paroxetine, fluvoxamine, venlafaxine and fluoxetine). Everytime I was switched of antidepressant I gained even more weight. That's why I stopped taking fluoxetine in April and I started dieting and exercising in June. I've lost 10 kg so far. But the anxiety and panic is coming back and they're getting more intense day after day. Antidepessants make me eat tons of sugary and fatty food (cakes, chocolate, burgers).
Yep, I gained when I switched too, what bothered me though is they never altered my appetite. At all. I was doing an exercise DVD foe the first time in my life whilst on Paroxetine and lost not even an ounce. This was so disheartening as it took A LOT of effort for me to even do that DVD as I HATE sweating.
Maybe one day the doctors will admit weight gain can be caused from antidepressants.
I quit in April too ;-)
I gained weight on some medications in the past. However, I managed to lose tons of weight while taking Venlafaxine (effexor) a few years back. More recently I've kept my weight stable on Moclobemide (manerix) without any special diets.
Generally they cause weight gain due to increased appetite so if you can control that, which not easy at all, you will be OK weight wise. Having said that some do seem to cause weight gain even without a change in diet, e.g. Amitriptyline. The really bad ones have a double whammy effect - cause increase in appetite for junk food AND slow down your metabolism. Evil!
Some people seem really unlucky with antidepressants - they either don't work or if they do work then they get tons of weight gain which then makes them depressed again!
Maybe one day the doctors will admit weight gain can be caused from antidepressants.
I quit in April too ;-)
They won't admit it because they want us to take the pills. But as a matter of a fact in the information leaflets of the ADs I've been on so far it says that it can cause either weight gain or weight loss. So when my doctor says that fluoxetine doesn't cause weight gain it's a blatant lie. It might not cause it on persons who get nausea whilst on fluoxetine (not my case). But nevertheless my GP insists that fluoxetine is the drug anorexics use to lose weight. Be it as it may, it has the opposite effet on me. Besides, ADs mess up our metabolism and hormones. While I was taking paroxetine my prolactine levels were higher than normal. This hormone causes breast augmentation in the long term. ADs also provoke the accumulation of adipose tissue on the waist and high cholesterol, both of which are harmful to the cardiovascular system. I'm struggling with anxiety not to take anymore of that and anxiety and stress aren't good for the heart as well. So this is a difficult situation to deal with. I'm going to see a psychologist and try to overcome this without having to resort to ADs again. I just hope it finally works, but it's been being difficult to cope. I think that as long as I am not able to change my life, and thus the sources of my anxiety and panic, nothing will be able to cure me. My Id impulses are not being satisfied and are causing all this tensions that my weakened Ego isn't capable to deal with. Thankfully my Super-Ego is still somewhat functional.
I totally believe the medicines mess up our bodies! I had absolutely NO sex drive too, although they'll admit to this as it doesn't damage your (physical) health. It's so frustrating especially when my own relatives are trying to tell me I've increased what I used to eat, I would actually take a lie detector test for that. Nothing changed except from my weight, not my activity levels, my food quantity or even food type, NOTHiNG changed (although I was 8 months older when my first weight gain hit but come on, metabolism doesn't naturally decrease that much that fast then all of a sudden decrease again at exactly the same time I switched to another SSRI). If only we were told this could happen beforehand then we could try to prevent it through exercise or something! But most people only find out once they have actually gained the weight and decided to research.
Rant over, I'm just so sick of it and people not believing me. I got through a pregnancy eating like a pig and after having my baby I weighed 8 stone 7, then BANG! 2 years later (and 8 months on Prozac) I was 9 stone 5. Complete joke. Then after 7 months or so on Paroxetine, 10 stone 6.
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