They say we have to be careful with what we eat because we can gain weight with BP treatment. They just forgot to say that no matter what, you will gain weight because it will accelerate your metabolism and you will have so much hunger in the beginning that you cannot avoid eating frequently to stop it.
I gain 22lb in 6 weeks, when I was in my exact weight, after starting my treatment and I was eating every 2 hours because I had no choice!! I was so hungry that my stomach hurt if I didn't eat. They forgot to say how we can lose it all because I am too out of energy to workout well enough to lose this weight.
I do workout everyday not to be depressed about these 22lb but it's hard when your clothes stop to fit you and you don't like what you see no more.
On top of that my new Pdoc decided out of the blue to ignore me saying that the 1st treatment that was given to me was the best one and worked wonders, she doubled most doses and put me on 2 Lexotans per day!
Needless to say that I was sleeping most of the day and gaining more weight, if I fought against it I would be with a headache!
So I went back to my 1st prescription and now I'm getting more awake and more focused as I need to be, taking only one Lexotan at night to sleep well.
It's already too hard to control this illness and the psychiatrists should be more careful with the way they treat their patients because we are not Guinea pigs. They have to learn how to listen to us or I'm going to start just asking to my family doc for my prescriptions and do it myself.
Alex
I understand what you mean. I was so sick when I was diagnosed that I was grossly under weight from being so manic. I wopping 87lbs Once I started taking meds there was really no mention about any weight gain or even possible side effects. Once I got back to my normal size about 110lbs, I had to change meds, and after that I had to keep changing because nothing was able to control my rapid cycling. At first I think the Dr. was more worried about getting me back to a normal weight.
I noticed that there were a few meds I was put on that no matter what I did that I would eat. I was taking like 900 mg of seroquel at night, and not even 20 minutes after I would take nightly dose I would be feasting on something the size of a small thanksgiving dinner. My lithium and ambien days were pretty bad too.
And after a nearly fatal attempt on my life I ended up with trachael stenosis and had to get rounds of steroids shots and take packets of pills (which had an awesome affect on my cycling, BEWARE OF STEROIDS they irritate bipolar mood swings...) No one told me that all the meds were causing this uncontrollable weight gain. I gained about 110lbs within 6 months. And thankfully I am not on nearly the amount of meds i used to be, and I am finally stable due to ECT treatments... But it is everday, and every moment practically that I struggle with the destruction that this illness has done to my body and my appearance. I long for the size 2-4 that I used to be and despise everything about the size 18 I am today. I have been trying an extremely healthy diet and exercise for nearly 2 years and have only lost about 30 lbs give or take. Doctors definitely need to think of the person that has to live on, after the meds have taken affect, and consider how their patient may feel if they are completely unrecognizable to themselves, and others.
Being over weight it's not something I am accepting, although some of my clothes still fit.
I'm on a healthy diet since Sunday and will be on it until I have my normal weight back again.
I'm 42 years old, gaining weight at this point is not a good thing and I don't want to have heart problems or some other illness because of this weight gain. I will start my workout soon which includes weights and it's quite good to gain muscle mass and lose fat.
I'm giving all I've got because I don't want to let it out of control and gain even more weight.
Fingers crossed, good luck to you on your weight loss too, thanks for sharing.
Alex