Can weight loss cause anxiety/depression

[chantelle]

Hi there

just wondering if anyone can help. I've been on cipralex & buspirone since Mar 14 for anxiety & depression following loosing 6&1/2 stone since Sept 07 at a slimming club. I thought that I'd feel great as I'd lost so much weight and went from size 22/24 to size 10/12. However, I feel a lot worse. I never had depression when I was fat!!!!! I just wonder if anyone can suggest a good supplement or indeed if this happened to anyone else. I feel that I am getting better but it has been so slow and every day is a struggle. Life wasn't like that for me ever before.:weep:

Thanks, in advance, for your replies
Chantelle

[JaneC]

Chantelle, is there any possibility you thought losing weight would change your life for the better in particular ways, only to find out it it didn't? Or that in some way being overweight shielded you (for want of a better word) from some aspects of life you are now having to confront?

I think the latter at least was a factor for me but apologies if this has been no help whatsoever! Have you been able to talk to a psychologist or some sort of counsellor?

[chantelle]

Hi Jane

I have been seeing a counsellor but I don't think she's much good - she just keeps saying I will/should be pleased about my achievement and that I am looking well. However, she dosen't think it caused me to feel bad and said to put it to the back of my mind, but I can't. [B]Did you? and how did you do it? I want to be pleased but more importantly I want to be back to my 'old cheerful self'.

[JaneC]

Hi Chantelle,

I remember the psychologist I was seeing at the time saying the things that were bothering me were things that happened to everybody and in the end you just had to deal with them. I didn't think this was great (not everybody copes with stuff as well as others) although I suppose that's what I tried to do for a while.

Is there any chance you could arrange to see someone else? I've had good and bad experiences with psychologists/psychiatrists and find things so much better if you "click" with someone. If you don't have faith in them, they aren't going to be a great deal of help, in my experience.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy has been of great assistance to me on the depression front, any chance you would be able to give that a try?

:hugs:

[chantelle]

Hi Jane

I have done CBT on-line (livinglifetothefull.com) as my GP said this was the best option as the waiting list for CBT courses were so long in this area!!!!!

My work pays for 6 counselling sessions and I have had 5 as I kept hoping we'd click and I didn't want to hurt the counsellors feelings by asking for another counsellor.

I have went to a 'kinesiologist' and she has been brilliant. I'm so much better than I was a few months ago and now she feels that I could continue on my own with the techniques that she has shown me. She also prescribed omego 3&6 and multi-vitamins.

I feel about 85% recovered but am stuck with the last wee bit and I am striving for an answer to how to get back to myself.

Thanks for your words of wisdom and hopefully I'll soon get there

Chantelle

[mapmaker]

Actually the same thing happened to me twice in my life.. I lost 30 lbs of weight 15 years ago and got run down so I was down to 135 lbs at over 6 ft tall. Poor nutrition, little activity, stress at work intensified my IBS to the point where I didn't want to do anything.. I developed anxiety and had several nocturnal panic attacks. *I wasn't diagnosed with anxiety.. just IBS at the time*
It took me 6 months of proper nutrition, a month of vit B injections, and 3 months of drinking ensure, and counseling to recover.

Then in January I went on a crash diet because I was overweight. And I became a nightowl online, cut back on eating.. ate poorly, my diet was missing Vit D and All the B vitamins. *I'm vegetarian because of IBS* I lost 30 lbs in 3 months... shortly after that I had my first symptoms of Anxiety....and my first daytime panic attack.....that lasted for 36 hrs. From there my symptoms grew worse.. especially after I exercised or was exposed to heat. Like I couldn't tolerate the stress of exertion and exercise so my hormones went into overdrive..... from that I developed anxiety that severely worsened over 2 months to the point I had nightly nocturnal panic attacks and needed medication to get some sleep. My mother put me on vitamins and supplements in Late June...and I've been taking them since. I saw an alterative medicine MD last week.. and he added more supplements...and put me on a restrictive diet. He told me that my body was run down and couldn't handle stress like it normally could. My hormones were over reacting to stress. He didn't like my good chloresterol being very low...nor did he like the way I was digesting my food because of my IBS. This diagnosis came from a doctor with 40+ years of experience as a doctor.......vs my normal doctor who is thorough..but follows standard procedure and practiced for 15years.
so Now I'm on a different road to recovery similar to the one I was on 15 years ago...but it will take me a while to recover. I still need medication to sleep..and control my anxiety...but hopefully I won't need it for long if this alternative doctor treatment works. Right now though, it is very hard to function..but my mother says I'm doing better than 6 weeks ago.
So yes it is possible to develop anxiety from losing weight....especially if you don't get proper nutrition while on a diet. Its happened to me 2 times in my life...and yes you can recover..but it takes a long time. and its hard to be patient with anxiety :P So good luck to you and take your B complex vitamins... lots of Vit D.. Omega 3 fish oil.. Vit C.. Calcium Magnesium tablet and a multivitamin everyday. You will see a difference in how you feel in several months.