Severely Triggering (ED) - Meds that cause weight gain.
Medicine is the reason I have 'food issues'. About four years ago I was on a medicine that made me gain ALOT of weight REALLY fast. I finally took myself off of them. But before I did, I hated myself. There was a sheet over the mirror in the bathroom because I couldn't stand looking at myself. It was horrible. So after I took myself off of that pill, I lost all the weight in an unhealthy way. Since then I've had food and weight issues, and I've refused to take anything that will make me gain weight. So far so good.
I was just prescribed a med a little while ago and we were steadily raising the dose. I'm at 200mg now and for the past three days straight I have been eating almost nonstop. My stomach is bulging and it hurts because I'm so full. But yet I can't stop. I used to purge a little but for some reason it's extremely difficult for me to get it all up. I have an appointment with my psychiatrist tomorrow and I'm telling him to get me on something else because I feel like it's happening all over again and it's my worst fear.
Does anyone else have similar experiences with medicine and the weight gain/increased appetite side effects? How do you deal with it?
Last edited by Dreaming. : 03-03-2009 at 08:23 AM.
Reason: Removed weight, in line with the new ED board rules. Thank you :)
heya, I can relate to this as a lot of the reasons for my ed began after gaining a lot of weight from meds. I was thankfully taken off it due to it not working, but since then i've become almost phobic of taking any meds with even the slightest possibility of weight gain. All I can really suggest is that you tell all of this to ure psych, your reasons/worries etc, and see if u can work out a way around it thats in your best interests.
much love
Dani
xx
I can empathise with how you are feeling in a slightly different way. My psych wants to put me on a med which is very widely known to make people gain weight. They really think it would help me but im too frightened to start it in case I gain weight from it.
Ive had meds which have increased my appetite and I dealt with that by having lots of healthy snack type foods in the cupboard so I had something healthy to snack on/eat when I was really hungry. I didnt have 'unhealthy' foods around to remove the temptation of eating them.
GRANT ME THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE
THE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN
AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE
I had the same problem whilst I was IP. My consultant decided to put me on some medication which I'd seen used in many other people with the result of severe weight gain. I voiced my concerns to him and he an the dietician spent a lot of time with me explaining that the weight gain was due to increased appetite and as I was on a strictly controlled, prescribed diet, it wouldn't make any difference to my weight. They were wrong; my weight increased a lot faster than it had been before they started it (was on a weight gain diet so it would have been going up anyway) and when it did finally plateau, it was at a higher level than it would have been otherwise.
Saying that, I don't regret taking it because I needed it at the time to help to alleviate my other symptoms. Don't rule anything out, and don't use what you know to have happened to other people as a reason to refuse trying it. Different medications effect everyone's bodies differently. Sometimes the side-effects only last for a short amount of time and go away when you're settled on your maintenance dose.
Just make sure your psychiatrist knows your concerns and that he understands how distressing this is for you. If the drug isn't suiting you, he'll try something different.
RBT x
I give myself very good advice
But I very seldom follow it
Could explain the trouble that I'm always in...
I can relate to this. The medication I'm on is making me gain weight - not fast, but it is still rather upsetting. I try everything I can to stop myself gaining weight.
"How can I be a gynecologist? I can barely look a woman in the eye!"
♥
My medicine is not supposed to make me gain weight (or at least not much), but I have a sneaking feeling that it is, so I can relate to this too. Sometimes I want to stop taking the meds because I want to lose weight, but I know i will only get depressed if I don't take it. I guess it really comes down to a choice between insanity and sanity. at least for me.
I don't know what you're on meds for, but maybe you could talk to your doctor about getting a different medicine? with less weight gain sidee effects.
Yeah, my doctor knows my concerns and he has for a long time. But I don't fully trust doctors who's jobs depend on prescribing medication to people. All he did today is up the dosage of the medicine I THOUGHT was causing the increased appetite (because apparently it only does that with 1 in 5 people), and just told me it's because I'm depressed. I don't know, but it's making me worried. Because, like MissLala said, I'm almost phobic of meds that cause weight gain. I might just go to the pharmacy and buy appetite suppressants if this doesn't stop.
It depends what type of medication it is - I'm assuming it's an anti depressant or anti psychotic medication? If so there are plenty of different ones out there and switching should be reasonably simple in terms of finding something else. I guess it depends on your personal circumstances and whether you've tried them before and not had good luck with them or something.
I too take a medication that causes weight gain (zyprexa) but I feel that I was so sick in the head when I started taking it, that it was worth putting on a few pounds for. Weight gain isn't the end of the world as much when you're at the end of your rope mentally and you'll just do anything to feel better. Although I recognise it depends where you are with your ED to be able to think like this. As it happens, I only find I get hungry more, and I can snack on nuts and carrot sticks as a healthy alternative to junk, so there are ways around it.
Good luck though, I know it's really hard.
xxxxxxxxxx
Last edited by beautiful&dying : 04-03-2009 at 01:52 PM.
Reason: Added some more :)
How could you become as awesome as you are and still feel like a loser?
Sorry if you feel I shouldn't be posting here. I have had problems with restricting but not seriously so for over a year and a half now. I was put on a med (AP) back in October and it has really helped my self harm and I now sleep. However, it has coincided with me putting on alot of weight for me. I was secretly hoping that I would lose it again when put back on an AD which I was taking last time I was a very low weight but it hasn't. I don't have any useful tips other than those already said re speaking to another dr. I suppose I am struggling to deal with being this weight (which is still prob on the low side of normal) as I am not used to it balanced against knowing that this med has made a huge difference in my destructive behaviours. I even need bigger clothes :(
"Everything is possible through Christ, who gives me strength". Phillipians 4:13
It is hard to tell with effects of meds - sometimes someone can have a reduces appetite because they are depressed or anxious, so when the med eases the depression or anxiety their appetite comes back and they gain some weight, a sort of tangential effect of the med.
Other meds do increase appetite and make people gain weight which is hard especially for those of us who are very conscious of feeling in control of our bodies.
I switched meds from one which made me gain weight. It is early days though, maybe persist with this one trying to get the dose right? It could be you are eating emotionaly because you are unhappy - it is very hard to untangle these things.
I would really be careful of buying appetite suppressents though, the only ones that really work are the ones which make you very ill, plus mixing medication is something you need ot be very careful of, even with over the counter products really you shoudl check with yoru doctor first.
I've been on so many meds since age 11 that my doctor said they started to run out of things to perscribe. And I've been with my current doctor since 2001 so he knows me very well and I'm afraid to go to a new doctor. I think he was right, though, now that I think about it more. I don't think it's the lamictal that is causing my weight gain (I'm also on seroquel and cymbalta but I haven't had any problems with them). I don't care, I'm going to try hard to ignore my appetite and restrict.
It's good that you've been with your doctor so long and trust him/her. I hope you don't end up restricting. Do you see a nutritionist or anything? Maybe you could look into getting a meal plan that would satisfy your appetite, but not cause weight gain.
