Misc Question about weight gain as side effect.

[Mad Dash]

I tend to stay away from ANY medication that has weight gain as a side effect which is not good because a lot of them might help me a lot. I am a fitness freak gym rat, I use to be in a special operations unit, that shit is just in my DNA. So I can not deal with the idea of getting fat for no reason.

My question is even if I work out every day for an hour (sometimes twice a day) and eat very healthy will I still somehow manage to gain weight? and by weight gain I assume it means fat? DOes it just make you fatter? Does it increase your appetite? If I resist all urge to eat or decrease my caloric intake will this stop it from happening? I mean I have heard insane stories of people gaining like 50 lbs in a month!

I'm sorry if this sounds stupid but it is very important to me. I am very narcissistic I suppose, but I need that, I need to feel attractive to the opposite sex because everything else in my life suck. I use to be great with women, the best. But after my time in service and my divorce I just can't any more, so I am relying heavily on being able to stay in amazing shape.

I am mostly talking about psych meds. But if different meds have different ways of doing this I can be more specific.

 

[Drench]

I am prescribed Lyrica (Pregabalin) and Mirtazapine which both show weight gain as a common side effect. I am no fitness freak myself, I'm overweight and I am working on that as much as possible. I've found that I have put on weight since I started the medication. I know for sure that the Lyrica gives me a craving for savoury/fatty food, I'm not sure about the Mirtazapine.

It is still possible to maintain a healthy diet nevertheless, add in a bit of exercise and you should be OK.


I'm unsure if it's just down to willpower or if there is any chemical process which promotes weight gain?

 

[Mad Dash]

ya, that is exactly what I was wondering. My psychiatrist wants to start me on gabapentin which shares the weight gain with pregabalin except it is supposedly worse. I also take viibryd which is a brand new AD which has little to no side effects. No weight gain, no sexual dysfunction, and it doesn't take weeks to start working. It starts working almost immediately.

but there are other things like seroquel or olanzapine. that he wants to try me on they supposedly do the same thing. I don't know why but it appears that it is more common with psych meds than anything else, which of course most of my problems are psych related. Aside from back, knee, and left arm nerve damage.

edit: if we were in the same country I would just call you right now lol. Seems like we are the only two posting right now. I am being kind of lazy I should be studying right now but these questions have been driving me crazy and there is not much online about why it happens, just that it does.

 

[Drench]

ya, that is exactly what I was wondering. My psychiatrist wants to start me on gabapentin which shares the weight gain with pregabalin except it is supposedly worse. I also take viibryd which is a brand new AD which has little to no side effects. No weight gain, no sexual dysfunction, and it doesn't take weeks to start working. It starts working almost immediately.

but there are other things like seroquel or olanzapine. that he wants to try me on they supposedly do the same thing. I don't know why but it appears that it is more common with psych meds than anything else, which of course most of my problems are psych related. Aside from back, knee, and left arm nerve damage.

edit: if we were in the same country I would just call you right now lol. Seems like we are the only two posting right now. I am being kind of lazy I should be studying right now but these questions have been driving me crazy and there is not much online about why it happens, just that it does.

Yeah, Gabapentin is a bad one for weight gain. Ask for Lyrica (Pregabalin) instead, it is newer, stronger and cleaner. Yes it makes you hungry but if you can maintain your diet without adding any extra food and you'll be fine. Viibryd is a new SSRI and shouldn't effect weight.

I have heard stories of people who are on a low dose of an anti-psychotic (Olanzpine etc.) alongside other stuff to help with depression and anxiety disorders. I've also heard they make you fat and lazy so it's up to you.

Well give yourself a break, you deserve it! Get your head clear and in gear

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or just wanna chat.

 

[Mad Dash]

thanks Drench I appreciate it.

 

[Drench]

You're welcome mate!

Does anyone know if these medications add weight through increase of appetite or another way?

 

[Hodor]

It depends.
At one point in my life, I gained a lot of weight thanks in part to Mirtazapine, but once the meds (combined with psychotherapy) led to an improvement in my mental health status, I actually started to lose weight despite still being on Mirtazapine because I finally had the energy to hit the treadmill on a daily basis and I no longer felt like burying my sorrows under a mountain of chocolate all the time.

 

[Hodor]

Anyway, I don't think Pregabalin is all that much of a problem when it comes to weight gain.

The biggest offenders are, in my experience, histamine antagonists (i.e. antipsychotics and those tri- and tetracyclic antidepressants that double as sleep aids) and benzodiazepines.

 

[Mad Dash]

benzos? Okay well that makes me feel a little better, I am RXd 10 mg valium a day and 15 1 mg ativan a month. And I am in amazing shape. Maybe it is a matter of will power and not a chemical thing?

 

[DixiChik]

Just my 2 cents...It's a mixed bag of tricks, IME. I, too obsess about weight gain. I refuse meds with "increased appetite" as SE. I feel the same way as you Mad Dash. There are some that I KNOW might help, but I will not sacrifice my physique.

In 1994, I had the 3rd major surgery TAH/BSO (repro organs removed) due to aggressive stage 4 disease. I went into surgery @ 118, which was really too low for my tall frame. However, my cancer surgeon removed as best he could, he insisted I take Megace to suppress growth of tumors. I also had to take injections of Lupron. I also went into surgically induced menopause @ 33. (YAY ME!) I was triple fucked.

Over the next 3 years, I bulked up 25 lbs. to 148 or so. I was devastated, though everyone else was pleased. They thought I looked anorexic at 118. Good news is that I have maintained, not gained...It's 21 years now. I take Zoloft and Ativan, which have saved my miserable life. IMO there have been no weight gain issues with either of those. My problem was not only the anabolic steroid Megace, but also a hormonal trainwreck. I'm still lost in the carnage.

I check here throughout the day, hoping for conversation about pain management. I'd like to connect with someone who is a survivor of disease and pain. You are a true survivor, my friend. A heartfelt THANK YOU for your military service.

 

[sekio]

I suspect most medications that cause weight gain do so through encouraging sedentary behavior and increasing appetite, not through some reduction in metabolic rate.

Also, not everyone will experience weight gain as a side effect from any one medication.

 

[Mad Dash]

Just my 2 cents...It's a mixed bag of tricks, IME. I, too obsess about weight gain. I refuse meds with "increased appetite" as SE. I feel the same way as you Mad Dash. There are some that I KNOW might help, but I will not sacrifice my physique.

In 1994, I had the 3rd major surgery TAH/BSO (repro organs removed) due to aggressive stage 4 disease. I went into surgery @ 118, which was really too low for my tall frame. However, my cancer surgeon removed as best he could, he insisted I take Megace to suppress growth of tumors. I also had to take injections of Lupron. I also went into surgically induced menopause @ 33. (YAY ME!) I was triple fucked.

Over the next 3 years, I bulked up 25 lbs. to 148 or so. I was devastated, though everyone else was pleased. They thought I looked anorexic at 118. Good news is that I have maintained, not gained...It's 21 years now. I take Zoloft and Ativan, which have saved my miserable life. IMO there have been no weight gain issues with either of those. My problem was not only the anabolic steroid Megace, but also a hormonal trainwreck. I'm still lost in the carnage.

I check here throughout the day, hoping for conversation about pain management. I'd like to connect with someone who is a survivor of disease and pain. You are a true survivor, my friend. A heartfelt THANK YOU for your military service.

Wow, God bless you for everything you have been through. I am for the time being going to stay off anything else because I am hoping to get through as much of this as possible naturally. It is just with everything that happened to me I could sort of handle it because I had my wife and my dog. Then she left and took my dog with her. All the way to New Jersey. That is when I fell into a pit of self-loathing and despair than I could have ever imagined. SO often I just want it to be over. I fantasize about dying in a car wreck or some other fast painless death. Life was not supposed to be like this. But thank you for the post dixichik for the kind words and hope.

 

[Mad Dash]

I suspect most medications that cause weight gain do so through encouraging sedentary behavior and increasing appetite, not through some reduction in metabolic rate.

Also, not everyone will experience weight gain as a side effect from any one medication.

That would be ideal, because pushing myself to go to the gym and work when I don't even have the will to live is something I had to do for an entire year my last year in. So hopefully if I do go on one of those I will be able will myself to keep on keeping on.

 

[Bliss26]

The only category of meds that actually encourage the storage of fat that I know of are steroids like prednisone . Prednisone makes you ravenous by keeping your insulin high, you also change shape in a very unfavourable way : it makes your face a circle, gives you a buffalo hump. It's so awful that when his pts started getting moon face and buffalo hump the doc who invented pred actually committed suicide.
But psych meds are different. No one seems to know exactly why they tend to make some people put on weight (hell they don't really even know the mechanism of action!!) but there are theories like if you're less depressed you might be hungrier etc. I don't believe that personally.
Any drug with a profile of weight gain besides steroids doesn't mean you will gain. It might make you hungrier (shoot ip insulin) which you could combat by eating low carb, or it could take away energy making you burn less, but you sound like the type who would make an intentional effort to push through, regardless.

 

[DixiChik]

Yes, in June 2014 when I thought "things" could get no worse, I got SHINGLES in my eye/face. I had no choice but to take rounds of prednisone to slow the progression of the virus. I was devastated by the PAIN that words cannot do justice to describe. Yet I hit rock bottom when told of the treatment. The viral antibodies continue to rage within my bloodstream. I've taken more anti-virals than I can count. the corticosteroid eye drops are the only thing that keeps me from clawing my eyeball out of my head.

Oh...trust me, there are MANY meds that have caused my anatomy to change. I'm uncertain of the mechanism, but I have PUSHED THROUGH so many side effects...I've endured hemorrhoids requiring 2 surgeries. Sorry...salty sense of humor sustains me. I'm just exhausting from decades of PUSHING.

Mad Dash...I am often too typative! I'm told I'm too graphic about my disease and I scare the HELL out of people. I don't live in a marshmallow world...never have.

I can never understand what you endured during your military service, nor would I claim to. I have experienced abandonment of my husband when I needed him most. He cheated by bringing other women into my bed while I lay in the hospital sliced from sternum to pubic bone. It destroyed our marriage and we separated for a while. That was 21 years ago, 15 years into our marriage. We sought couseling through a local pastor, then renewed our vows. For better or FORGET IT. We just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary last month.

Sadly, 9 days later our darling Dalmatian died of an enlarged heart (unknown) that failed. I wanted to crawl into that grave and go nite-nite with her. NO...not just because my anti-depressant died. I too am tired of the struggle of pain and heartbreak that resulted from disease. The treatments are as bad as the disease itself, if that's even possible.

I tell myself that suicide is not the answer. I busy myself with my career and community service (mostly w/seniors). I try to focus on NOW. Your goals with your career education and your discipline to keep your body fit and strong point FORWARD to a great FUTURE. Remember, although shit piles up...it's biodegradable. Use it for fertilizer to grow your new life. It's gonna be okay.

 

[Mad Dash]

Yes, in June 2014 when I thought "things" could get no worse, I got SHINGLES in my eye/face. I had no choice but to take rounds of prednisone to slow the progression of the virus. I was devastated by the PAIN that words cannot do justice to describe. Yet I hit rock bottom when told of the treatment. The viral antibodies continue to rage within my bloodstream. I've taken more anti-virals than I can count. the corticosteroid eye drops are the only thing that keeps me from clawing my eyeball out of my head.

Oh...trust me, there are MANY meds that have caused my anatomy to change. I'm uncertain of the mechanism, but I have PUSHED THROUGH so many side effects...I've endured hemorrhoids requiring 2 surgeries. Sorry...salty sense of humor sustains me. I'm just exhausting from decades of PUSHING.

Mad Dash...I am often too typative! I'm told I'm too graphic about my disease and I scare the HELL out of people. I don't live in a marshmallow world...never have.

I can never understand what you endured during your military service, nor would I claim to. I have experienced abandonment of my husband when I needed him most. He cheated by bringing other women into my bed while I lay in the hospital sliced from sternum to pubic bone. It destroyed our marriage and we separated for a while. That was 21 years ago, 15 years into our marriage. We sought couseling through a local pastor, then renewed our vows. For better or FORGET IT. We just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary last month.

Sadly, 9 days later our darling Dalmatian died of an enlarged heart (unknown) that failed. I wanted to crawl into that grave and go nite-nite with her. NO...not just because my anti-depressant died. I too am tired of the struggle of pain and heartbreak that resulted from disease. The treatments are as bad as the disease itself, if that's even possible.

I tell myself that suicide is not the answer. I busy myself with my career and community service (mostly w/seniors). I try to focus on NOW. Your goals with your career education and your discipline to keep your body fit and strong point FORWARD to a great FUTURE. Remember, although shit piles up...it's biodegradable. Use it for fertilizer to grow your new life. It's gonna be okay.

I really enjoy reading your posts, I fell like we have a great deal in common kindred spirits. It is a shame that you had to go through all of that. I can not understand cheating. I have never done it, and it has actually happened to me multiple times. My ex wife being one of the few that never did and never would it is just not in her DNA. She would leave somebody before doing that. And she left me. She claims I have ruined relationships for her forever. Yet she was physically and verbally abusive, in the midst of one of her manic drunken episodes she called the police after she had been hitting me, biting me, and scratching me all night. I was bleeding from three places and had bruises and bite marks all over, she got so enraged she wanted to leave and she tried to take our dog with her, but I stood behind the car because she was drunk she was screaming and called the police on me. because I was trying to stop her from drunk driving. When they arrived, they took one look at the situation and immediately put her in hand cuffs. They tried very hard to get me to press charges because of the visible scars. But I did then and still do think that it wasn't a big deal because I was a big tough army ranger. But through months of therapy I have learned she was toxic, and I am still severely depressed about it. I don't know why I am telling you all of this, but I guess I needed to tell somebody. I have no friends, because all my friends were in the military, and they are all over the world. I have my family, but they treat me like a mental patient. Because I have PTSD they treat me with fear and look at me as dangerous. I hate my life. I know it could be worse, but I just am truly depressed.

 

[SixBuckets]

A lot of psych meds cause weight gain because they slow the metabolism and impair your glucose response. It's nothing to do with how much you eat or how much you exercise.

I'd personally rather be fat than crazy - if you're seriously thinking about not taking meds because of your appearance, I'd suggest your symptoms probably aren't that serious.

 

[DixiChik]

Mad Dash...Don't apologize for "opening up". Sometimes a good purge of bad feelings can improve your outlook. I seem to have the perfect life (façade). What lies beneath is tremendous pain and darkness. I don't dare bleed amongst the sharks I call family.

BTW...I'm neither "crazy" nor fat. I am depressed by my health issues that cannot be repaired. I'm depressed that my health is as good as it will ever be. I'm depressed that I've spent my life fighting dragons of disease, one after another. I DO take an antidepressant and antianxiety. I have for almost 30 years.

I'm looking for pain relief for significant daily pain in spine/joints/pelvic/abdominal/vaginal/rectal...what else? Oh, yea...abdominal adhesions so severe I can't eat, sleep or poop. Opiates exacerbate the GI issues.

Mad...Hang in there, friend. You can talk to me anytime. I understand trials and triumphs. You can PM me anytime you want.

 

[Kittycat5]

Definitely stay away from olanzapine (clozapine is bad too but doubt you will be offered that. While all atypical antipsychotics have warnings of weight gain, olanzapine is particularly nasty. It can cause your appetite to be uncontrollable and induce boughts of hyper eating. On top of that, it causes havoc with your endocrine system. Lower levels of leptin, hyperinsulinemia, alterations in blood glucose and lipids, just to name a few. Put this all together and you are certainly going to gain weight.

If your doctor insists on an antipsychotic, aripiprazole may be an option as it seems to be more weight neutral but still carries the same official warnings regarding weight and metabolic issues as the rest of the class.

 

[manboychef]

quietipine, or seroquel caused me to gain weight. I've always slept walked, but when I was on it, I ate in my sleep. It made me crave sugar. I'd wake up and I'd have spilled cereal in my bed, or a half eaten ice cream tub on the night stand.

I have stopped taking it, as I find that not sleeeping works just a bit better than uncontrollable weight gain.