Did anyone else experience weight gain while on antipsychotics/antidepressants?

[Inferno]

I was prescribed quetiapine and sertraline in 2020 and after taking it for a while my weight rapidly increased, I was approximately 72kg before but after taking it I gained 10-15kg (I'm 177cm tall if that helps). It was one of the worst times of my life, it took a lot of effort to lose all of the weight and looking back at photos of me in that period make me feel disgusted at myself. Ever since I've had extremely low self esteem and can't view my appearance the same ever again. I don't know if I have body dysmorphia but even after losing some of the weight when I look in the mirror I still view myself as the same fat ugly slob I was back then, it's like nothing changed. I wish I was never prescribed them so I could've avoided this. The worst part was the social isolation, your appearance really is everything to the majority of people, and when their first impression of you is an overweight greasy loser they're less likely to want to interact with you, I guess that's part of the reason I struggle with finding a romantic partner, because I hold myself in such low regard. Any thoughts? What was your experience with quetiapine/sertraline like?

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Yes, it's surprising to me when people don't gain weight on APs.

 

[MidnightDream]

I'm on citalopram, and I'm not really sure. I'm eating a lot less, so I've lost weight, but probably not as fast as I would without being on the meds

 

[Anonymus]

As I wrote here:

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/threads/name-and-shame-that-medication.4682/page-2#post-1711141

I gained 14 kg and then, when I stopped taking the antidepressant, I lost 22 kg.

//

Com vaig escriure aquí:
Vaig pujar 14 kg per després, quan vaig deixar de prendre l'antidepressiu, perdre 22Kg.

 

[asterisk3]

they completely destroy my body

on the other hand, stimulants do too but in the opposite way

 

[justwanasleep]

I've been taking quetiapine for almost 13 years and I've always been around 52kg. I don't understand how pills can add fat on to your body unless you're eating a lot more. I have a cousin that I hardly see and she takes a cocktail of pills including quetiapine and every time I see her again she gotten bigger so maybe it does contribute to weight gain on some people. Good luck.

 

[rationaltake]

This is so hard. I used to be on the bipolar forum and a major topic of discussion was the weight gain caused by the medication. I've not taken this medication myself but I know a lot of people gain weight when taking it.

And obviously it affects body image. This might not help at all but it's just a suggestion. Could you take a photo of yourself and then pretend it's somebody else? A stranger? Just to look at it as if it's a random human being. I used to find it helped me be less judgemental.

Anyway I know how much suffering this causes.

 

[lili]

For sure especially quetiapine. With quetiapine its when I gained the most weight in my life.

For me its always ironic because its supposed to help with my mood but then I think it sort of makes the depression linger because then I start to develop body image issues.

It's hard to find a medication that doesn't have any weight gain, in a few weeks I gained 4 kg with depakote, prozac and gabapentin.

 

[GlassAlwaysEmpty]

I put on almost 40kg when I was on quetiapine. I was underweight when I started taking it, and was on the verge of being classed as overweight when I stopped.

I dropped most that weight off very quickly when I stopped though.

 

[Rainy_days]

Olanzapine makes me insatiably hungry so I don't doubt I would balloon if I was on it regularly. Just take it as needed for sleep though.

 

[Looking]

TW: Eating disorder mention

I used to be 100lbs (About 45kg) - This was mainly due to me having an ED at the time - I started antidepressants and they made me feel better emotionally enough that I started treatment and recovery for my ED. The sad thing is, I didn't really benefit much from recovery, I still felt the same as always (Feeling worried about calories, weighing my food, tracking everything, being nervous to eat in front of others, so mentally it was the same etc.)

What happened was during the pandemic I had switched my antidepressants and the ones I was on, at the time, made me gain 50lbs (About 23kg). The antidepressants made me gain weight mainly due to an uncontrollable hunger and never being satisfied after eating kind of thing, even if my diet habits didn't change that much. e.g. I knew I was eating too much, I felt guilty that I was, but I just straight up couldn't control it.

I've since then switched from that antidepressant and switched to Bupropion (aka Wellbutrin); one of the side effects of Bupropion is the fact that you lose your appetite/hunger, and I've since lost 10lbs (About 4.50kg).

I'll be honest - I have bad BDD. I don't even know if it's BDD at this point or if it's just an obsession of hating myself, because I don't show OCD symptoms too much (As BDD is a type of OCD to my understanding) and I don't have "one" flaw I hate about myself, but I just hate my appearance overall. The weight change has definitely made it a lot worse and I'm trying not to relapse due to it. So I relate a lot to what you're saying.

 

[Inferno]

Thanks for the contributions to the thread! I'm surprised how this is basically a universal experience on this medication.

I don't understand how pills can add fat on to your body unless you're eating a lot more. maybe it does contribute to weight gain on some people.

It's not the pills necessarily, more the increased appetite while taking them. Not all side effects are experienced by everyone.

 

[disillusion]

I've been taking quetiapine for almost 13 years and I've always been around 52kg. I don't understand how pills can add fat on to your body unless you're eating a lot more. I have a cousin that I hardly see and she takes a cocktail of pills including quetiapine and every time I see her again she gotten bigger so maybe it does contribute to weight gain on some people. Good luck.

Some pills give people more appetite
I was usually 100-110 ( 5.3 and asian) and 138 when pregnant.
I started escitalopramwhen pandemic hit ( because i got so irritable) and now I am almost 160lb and been walking over an hour a day but cannot lose much. Having diagnozed as hypothyrodism does not help.

This is my second round of anti depressants

In 2006 i was on citalopram for 6 months ( side effects: nightmares daily that you wake up screaming) when i attempted suicide and i again gained like 20 lb too back then ( from 100 to 120lb)

For me, anti depressants kinda give me appetite and maybe make me eat somewhat more?
I

 

[Krieger]

Yeah. When I was a teen I gained about 60 pounds but lost it all by the end of my 18th year alive. I noticed I became less hungry and instantly started losing weight when I chose to stop taking meds. I also discovered that the meds never fucking worked.

 

[justwanasleep]

That makes sense. The only side effects I really had was being very drowsy, I was on the standard release pills and I had to take half my dose in the morning before school and I was just a zombie. that's how I've ended up on the XL slow release version you take at night, it's much better.

 

[CandyCane]

Yes. Anyone telling you different is gaslighting you. Psychiatry is a quack show.

 

[theboy]

No
The pills just "fry" my brain

Both medications did not work well for me, so now i take others
What is your diet like now?

 

[spacehardware]

Yes, quetiapine. Increased my appetite, but not the only contributor to my weight gain. Disordered eating linked to mental health was another key factor. Using food to regulate emotions. The quetiapine though, was on 800mg daily, now 500mg. Don't know how I'll ever reduce it any further as apparently I am an insomniac without it, anything below 500mg daily just robs me of all sleep and I end up more nuts than I was already.

 

[HerculePoirot]

Antidepressant since 3 weeks (due to a fire in my house). Lost 5 kg.

 

[WhiteRabbit]

Wellbutrin is one where most people don't gain weight. It actually makes some people lose weight.

 

[Ilayis]

I was on Seroquil on and off the last 2 yrs.

Before I started it I weighed 184 pounds, was insanely depressed and hadn't eaten in 5 days. After starting the meds I became a human garbage can who couldn't get enough food and now I'm at 234 pounds.

Fucking hate meds and myself!!!

 

[pillow933]

Used to take risperidone a few years ago, put on 10kg in the space of about a month...

 

[jay308]

I was prescribed Zoloft , some anti anxiety and sleeping pills . I realized meds were making me more and more sick. I stopped all of them

 

[UpandDownPrincess]

I have gained a ton of weight on Seroquel (Quetiapine.)

It sucks, there's no question about it.

For those wondering how it makes people gain weight, it has two effects in lots of us. First, it causes carb cravings like you would not believe. I would crawl over broken glass to curb these cravings. They're that bad. Second, the drug monkeys with your metabolism. It puts pretty much everything you eat into storage. This can cause you to eat more and get weaker at the same time as your body puts everything into fat stores and leaves you almost nothing to power through your day.

These drugs can be the devil. I am genuinely concerned by the facts that 1.) they are now prescribing these drugs to kids, and 2.) more and more depression patients are being encouraged to add these so-called "second generation" antipsychotics to an SSRI.

On the flip side, Prozac made me skinny as a rail.

 

[Inferno]

I'm glad to see the universal resentment of psychiatry here. Better than going elsewhere and being told to "take your meds" and "get help". People never give you real help because it's easier to just feed kids pills.

 

[AnonymousS]

I was prescribed quetiapine and sertraline in 2020 and after taking it for a while my weight rapidly increased, I was approximately 72kg before but after taking it I gained 10-15kg (I'm 177cm tall if that helps). It was one of the worst times of my life, it took a lot of effort to lose all of the weight and looking back at photos of me in that period make me feel disgusted at myself. Ever since I've had extremely low self esteem and can't view my appearance the same ever again. I don't know if I have body dysmorphia but even after losing some of the weight when I look in the mirror I still view myself as the same fat ugly slob I was back then, it's like nothing changed. I wish I was never prescribed them so I could've avoided this. The worst part was the social isolation, your appearance really is everything to the majority of people, and when their first impression of you is an overweight greasy loser they're less likely to want to interact with you, I guess that's part of the reason I struggle with finding a romantic partner, because I hold myself in such low regard. Any thoughts? What was your experience with quetiapine/sertraline like?

I was prescribed quetiapine and sertraline in 2020 and after taking it for a while my weight rapidly increased, I was approximately 72kg before but after taking it I gained 10-15kg (I'm 177cm tall if that helps). It was one of the worst times of my life, it took a lot of effort to lose all of the weight and looking back at photos of me in that period make me feel disgusted at myself. Ever since I've had extremely low self esteem and can't view my appearance the same ever again. I don't know if I have body dysmorphia but even after losing some of the weight when I look in the mirror I still view myself as the same fat ugly slob I was back then, it's like nothing changed. I wish I was never prescribed them so I could've avoided this. The worst part was the social isolation, your appearance really is everything to the majority of people, and when their first impression of you is an overweight greasy loser they're less likely to want to interact with you, I guess that's part of the reason I struggle with finding a romantic partner, because I hold myself in such low regard. Any thoughts? What was your experience with quetiapine/sertraline like

Most antipsychotics will cause weight gain to different degrees according to dosage etc. Sertraline probably wouldn't, but this is the situation with psychiatric treatment in respect to medications. Don't get me wrong they save lives, and can help some people live a richer life, despite being ill. However the side effects of some, particularly antipsychotics are frequently dreadful.

 

[lionetta12]

I was prescribed quetiapine and sertraline in 2020 and after taking it for a while my weight rapidly increased, I was approximately 72kg before but after taking it I gained 10-15kg (I'm 177cm tall if that helps). It was one of the worst times of my life, it took a lot of effort to lose all of the weight and looking back at photos of me in that period make me feel disgusted at myself. Ever since I've had extremely low self esteem and can't view my appearance the same ever again. I don't know if I have body dysmorphia but even after losing some of the weight when I look in the mirror I still view myself as the same fat ugly slob I was back then, it's like nothing changed. I wish I was never prescribed them so I could've avoided this. The worst part was the social isolation, your appearance really is everything to the majority of people, and when their first impression of you is an overweight greasy loser they're less likely to want to interact with you, I guess that's part of the reason I struggle with finding a romantic partner, because I hold myself in such low regard. Any thoughts? What was your experience with quetiapine/sertraline like?

No, but I only used anti depressants for a few months last year. Never used it before that and I didn't have any side effects, they just didn't work on me and didn't help my mood or depression at all. All they did was drive me to actually attempt suicide.

 

[lost&lonely]

I was prescribed mirtazapine when I was younger and I noticed weight gain. I refused to take it any more and lost the extra weight quite quickly.

 

[disorder]

yes, not much because I went to the gym while on them and was previously underweight but it increased my hunger a lot and before antipsychotics I rarely was hungry. for reference i increased around 10kg my weight (putting me in a normal weight) in like 4 months even while going to the gym. when i quit antipsychotics i lost 2/3 kg in two months and i haven't had so much hunger since

 

[DonTellMeToStayAlive]

10 kilos at least, Might have been slightly more though