Do You Gain Weight on Antidepressants?

By Merely Me Tuesday, April 05, 2011

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Hi everyone

One of the most commented upon pieces that I have written for MyDepressionConnection was my series about antidepressants and weight gain.

In case you missed reading them here are the links:

Will my antidepressant make me gain weight?

Which antidepressants are least likely to cause me to gain weight?

It seems that for so many people, weight gain is a possibility when taking certain antidepressants or other psychotropic drugs.

My question for you is: Have you gained weight while taking an antidepressant? If so which medications seemed to be worse for you as far as weight gain? Do you think that mood has anything to do with weight gain? Do you feel that you tend to gain more weight when you are sad or happy?

Looking forward to hearing about your experience. Thank you for participating in our community question of the week.

Antidepressant Research: Which Depression Medications Work Best?

Comments (12) | Add comment

Paul

4/ 5/11 9:12pm

Seems like there should be an, "All the above," choice in here, somewhere, Merely Me.

Rick44

4/ 5/11 10:18pm

For me Paxil seemed to make me want to eat when I wasn't hungry, and yes I nearly reached 200lbs. At 5'7'' I didn't recognize me in a photo next to my wife. I knew I had to get off the drug and onto something more suitable. My PA-C switched me to Zoloft, and added Buspirone, and now I'm under 180 and headed to my ideal weight of 160. I sometimes think though that my desire to overeat overpowers my clear thinking. It like I got to 168 and then figured, I think I'll eat a whole apple pie, and then after consuming it I beat myself up. I hated having a puffed out stomach, as I felt so self conscious in a skirt. hahaha For the past few months I've been adding 1 tsp of Raw apple cider vinegar into a glass of water 3x a day. Its the apple cider vinegar with the Mother, and you know it seems to have helped me immensely. I just had a whole batch of labs done two weeks ago, and my PA-C said they were all great. Raw apple cider vinegar has healing properties in it. Its on the label. And you know I haven't felt depressed or had an anxiety attack for quite some time.

4/ 6/11 6:41pm

Abilify was new when I 1st started on it many years ago for bipolar 1. I gained weight on it though at that time it was considered "weight neutral." Nowadays, Abilify has the same warnings as all the other atypicals on their inserts--metoboliclic syndrome (which I now have after gaining 50 lbs.) & high blood sugar...

In my DBSA support group ALL people (men & women) gained weight on Abilify EXCEPT one man who had been underweight before starting on Abilify.

Now I take meds for high blood pressure & high cholesterol & trying to keep diabetes medication at bay w/a diabetes education class.

It is terrible to have these kinds of severe side effects.

AND weight gain adds to depression as well.

pamela

4/ 6/11 9:12pm

Wow, I didn't know this about the raw apple cider vinegar.. What is the brand name you use?? I need all the help I can get.. Thank you.

Rick44

4/ 7/11 5:21pm

Alright Pamela, it is the BRAGG Organic Raw-Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar "With the Mother." There is a story about the healing properties on the bottle, and the little Jesus Fish on the label. Its amazing stuff. It took me a little usage for me to get acclamated to the taste, but now its like the American Express Card for me, well, " I never start and end a day without it." Availabe in Health Food Stores, online, and if there are any Wegmans or Whole Foods Markets near you, they're likely to have it.

pamela

4/ 7/11 6:52pm

Thank you!

Marishka

4/ 8/11 4:36pm

Thank you Rick. I am going to look into this too.

Marishka

Rick44

4/ 9/11 3:16pm

Here is the website:

http://www.bragg.com

pamela

4/10/11 10:20am

I purchased the Braggs raw apple cider vinegar at Wegmans. I put a tablespoon in

8oz of water with honey. I drank maybe a little more than half. Do you know if you can mix it with green tea or anything else to make it easier to drink??? I really want to stick with this!

Rick44

4/12/11 1:23am

I'm actually not sure if you can add the vinegar to tea. I know you can use real syrup and honey to cut the "vinegar" taste. I know for me it was difficult in January when I started using it, but now the taste and smell, actually I don't even think about it. I'll google and post what it can be used with. Good question. :)

Rick44

4/13/11 8:08am

I checked with a website for Braggs Raw Aplle Cider Vinegar, and while tea wasn't mentioned as something you can consume to benefit from drinking the vinegar. The suggestions are: Organic Honey, Molasses, 100% pure maple syrup, and Stevia, a natural sweetener. I know its difficult to start drinking the raw vinegar, I've been there. I used honey and maple syrup. After three bottles I'm at the point where I don't even think about the smell and or taste. For me I focus on the positive benefits.

pamela

4/ 6/11 9:09pm

Have you gained weight while taking an antidepressant? If so which medications seemed to be worse for you as far as weight gain? Yes I did, and I'm struggling to lose it.. I took Paxil. Later I changed to Effexor and still put on weight. I asked my doctor straight out recently, that I needed a med that doesn't cause weight gain because when I look in the mirror I get more depressed. Do you think that mood has anything to do with weight gain? Yes, definately!!!!!! Do you feel that you tend to gain more weight when you are sad or happy? When I'm sad, after my husband left and took our kids I gained the most weight in my life. I have other issues to deal with along with guilt and I can't gain anymore weight.

Do You Gain Weight on Antidepressants?

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