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Mental Health Best Meds for anxiety and depression that don't cause weight gain?

A

AnythingEverything

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 17, 2014
Messages
540
Just wanted to add, as it seems to have been misconstrued. I DO NOT need to lose weight, nor am I gaining weight! Im just looking at options that will not cause me to do so.

Hi. Will try and be quick. I have my dr appt tonight and really want to go with as much jnfo as possible.

My anxiety is at an all time high at the moment, nearly unbearable, plus I am depressed and cannot sleep/function yet I need to for my kids. I have also been suicidal.

Currently on suboxone 32mg and diazepam 20mg. Last anti depressant I was on was pristiq 200mg for a couple of years and weaned myself off last year sometime and don't feel any worse/ better without it. This one did not cause weight gain which is why i was put on it.

I don't really want to take another anti depressant but need to do something (along with therapy of course) so am in need of suggestions. I have found propanolol (beta blocker) good for acute anxiety so will get another script for that but it's the all day anxiety and the anxiety produced by my husband arriving home of an evening :(. Also it does nothing for sleep and depression obviously.

I cannot take anything that will make me gain weight due to battling eating disorders for over 20 years. I had anorexia at a young age, was put on aropax which made me lose the anorexic mind set and control and I ended up binging which started my lifelong battle with bulimia. I am now for the first time doing well in that area so cannot risk something messing it up again. It's been the hardest battle of my life.

Any suggestions of something that has worked for you? I'd kill for xanax right now but have less than zero chance of getting that and have been through hell with benzo addiction and withdrawal.

Thanks. I just want to be happy.
 
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Thanks, I've heard a lot abour Kratom on this forum and others but I am unaware whether it's available anywhere in Aus. I've never known anyone to use/sell it. Unsure what the other one is, could you give me some info? I will google it now. Many thanks
 
Have no idea how to get either of those. Anyway, had my appt and nothing new, just a 2mg drop in my suboxone so pretty uneventful.
 
I wouldn't use kratom for depression for myself, it's effects are too temporary to me personally. I do know it raises serotonin, but there isn't real health research on how it effects the liver and what not. I would think that kratom would be better then suboxone.
All antidepressants are hit or miss, you have to try them all to find if they work for you. There isn't one thing that works for everyone.
For me opiates work, but honestly that is no way to live, so I don't take them everyday because they are a dead end.
I'd say you need to find a coping method, because benzo's are not worth the hell they will put you thru when you your dosing escalates and you can't get more.
 
Yeah, I have heard mixed reports about kratom. I honestly don't think I could get it if I wanted to. Over 20 years of being around or using drugs and many times in rehab, detox, I've not once heard of one person in this country ever mention it. I've only heard about it on forums such as this and mainly in the states.

I really don't want to go on another anti depressant, I've been on a few sinxe I was 18 and never found them worth it. For me it's going to be more hard yards of therapy etc. Im a PT so exercise is crucial for my mental health.

As far as benzos go, no. I have done several detoxes and have been tapering off 500mg of diazepam (or equivalent of xanax/temaz/loraz for 3 years now to get to my 20mg.). Im black listed in this state so can not be prescribed more benzos if I wanted to. Which of course I do, but I do not want to go through that again, the worst is yet to come unfortunately:(. I have had 3 or 4 xanax binges (clearly not prescribed) over my 3 year taper, bought 200 x 2mg pills planning to use them sparingly hahahahaha, they were always gone in a week, im a hopeless addict no matter what the drug, hence my username, luckily I was able to jump back on my low dose of valium without too much trouble but I don't plan to do that again.

I agree, opiates have always worked the best for depression for me...but here I am on 32mg of suboxone a day, it's a dead end as you say.

Thanks for responding. I had my appt and notning new has been added. Just a 2mg drop in my sub dose so down to 30mg for the next 3 months.
 
I have used kratom for about 2 years now and have loved/hated it. It is addictive for sure, and i have had some problems with that aspect, psychologically, but have never needed to increase my dosage at all. Also, Kanna is probably the better option here, as many have said kratom is short lived and can cause other problems sometimes, but kanna is great. one of a few sourcing violations in this thread and take it sublingually. It doesnt taste good, but the subtle mood lift and motivation it gives me are much needed on some of my harder days. I also feel no inclination to increase my dosage from 400mg daily, nor do i use it on the weekends. Its effects take like 3 days to really be apparent for the first time, but i personally enjoy kanna very much, especially in combination with kratom.

Kanna (sceletium tortuosum) has alkaloids in it that act as an SSRI and PDE-4 inhibitor, which are great aspects for both depression and anxiety. It doesnt give a high persay, but it does absolutely give me motivation and a mood lift
 
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My doctor gave me a prescription for Topamax which is actually a migraine medicine commonly used off label as an appetite suppresant. It's not a stimulant of any kind.
I'm only 5"0 tall and taking so much medicine with weight gaining side effects made me gain 30-40 pounds which is a lot when you're petite. I just told the doctor that I was worried that being overweight would be bad for my health in the long run. We agreed on Topamax and I lost 20 pounds fairly quickly and have lost more recently from diet and exercise.
 
Thanks. I have heard of Topamax and need a migraine remedy!

My dr saw the meltdown i apparantly had in his office when he weighed me on my first ever appt with him (when I started on suboxone) ... I have no recollection of this appt at all, no idea how I made it there but apparantly he's never seen anything like the panic attack I had when he weighed me ?. I had put on q couple of kilos from the psych Meds I think and being someone who has suffered from long term eating disorders plus the condition I was in, it was not a good combo.

Anyway, my dr Unfortunately will not prescribe me anything that would suppress my appetite or cause me to lose weight because of this and my history. Im stable at 54kg now (5 foot 8 ) and seem to do well at this weight. Thank you for the suggestion though, im glad it worked for you! My anorexic head would love to have Something like that that would also help my migraines!
 
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You should consider vitamin b-12 injections. They give you energy which in turn helps you lose weight without affecting your appetite.
 
Im not trying to lose weight? My BMI is 18 which is just under weight though where im mainly happy. As much as I hate the BMI way of determining weight:height ratio. 54kg (not sure what that is in pounds sorry) is fairly light for 172cm (5'8".)

My anorexic head of course used to tell me I need to but im thin. Im doing a lot better in that regards. That's what I was trying to say in my post. I've NEVER been overweight, even when pregnant. I just can't risk putting on weight or i risk becoming unwell and i would just stop taking any medicine that causes weight gain. I am a vegetarian but not vitamin b deficient.
 
kratom is illegal in Australia. I am in Aus too and i have never come across it either. Like the OP i know of it cos of forums like this one.

As for the OP's original question i think it would be the diazapam that would be causing the weight gain. IME anti depress meds don't typically cause weight gain.
 
Im not gaining weight! Im thin and need to stay that way. Im down to 20mg of Diaz from 400-500. My question was about anti depressants apart from Pristiq that don't have weight gain as a side effect. Several anti depressants do and I won't take them. I actually don't really want to go back on anything else but sometimes I think I need to. I haven't been on an anti depressant for over 6-9 months now.
 
I feel like prozac never made me gain weight. I started it in highschool when I was stick thin and didn't gain an ounce.
I never gained weight from pills until I started taking mood stabilizers and when I was exhausted and unmotivated to do any kind of exercise.
 
I haven't been on Prozac and I've heard that was one that isn't too bad in that regards too. Im not sure about Effexor?

I've been in the fitness industry most of my adult life so exercise is a way of life for me. And I can't stand junk food, don't eat bread or dairy. Quite a few anti depressants list weight gain as a side effect and j can't have that due to past long term issues. Aropax was one that made me gain weight when i was anorexia and caused me to become bulimic for 20 years, the most painful and worst/ hardest addiction out of them all. Only a year into recovery if I need to go back on an anti depressant, it can't be one that has that side effect. Prozac might be one to consider.

And yes, I will never take serequol, zyprexa, endep (apart from occasionally Ive had it for sleep, not prescribed) etc bevause imo they do cause weight gain for whatever reason. I believe benzos could cause weight gain due to lack of motivation but im on such a low dose now they don't have any effect on me whatsoever, I don't even know I've had them, they're only for taper purposes until im off them altogether. I did lose 5 kilos in 2 weeks in my biggest benzo detox (weight I didn't need to lose, I ended up at 49 kilos which is too light for me.)
 
Ok thanks. Im probably better riding it out with therapy and prayer etc rather than going on another med again. Im down to just the 2 from over 15 so doing well. Just sometimes things become unbearable and I think I need something. Probably not worth it if it effects my weight either way. I should not lose weight either
 
I am also saying that therapy is the best way to go. After going through three years of cognitive therapy along with mindfulness exercises I will say that I haven't gone through a single manic episode anymore and depressive episodes have been much milder and tolerable. I tried pretty much every antidepressant available here but none of them helped.

Ketamine did help wonderfully but that was given while in surgery, but I don't suggest anyone to use it without proper medical expertise available.
 
I do agree. It's just those really dark times I consider trying another med. I've been in therapy so so long. I am trying to get into see someone who does dialectal behaviour therapy which is supposed to be ideal for those who have borderline personality disorder :). Glad to hear CBT helped for you, my husband is a therapist and gets good results with CBT.
 
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