Antidepressant Weight Gain

Calipso Thank you.

I was prescribed the old antidepressant Amitriptyline a few years ago to help me sleep & relax with severe back pain & sciatica. I gained a lot of weight quite quickly and even though I stopped taking it some time ago I am still struggling to lose the extra weight. I hit the menopause around the same time so it was probably a double whammy but I did seem to be constantly hungry and ate a lot of extra carbs while taking it.

I agree it's certainly better than the alternative.

I did lose a bit of the weight I gained but nothing like I was pre antidepressants.

I wonder if it’s because anything with a sedative effect makes you feel tired and I know that when I’m tired ( which I am now…not sleeping well) I can’t stop eating.

I've gained a lot of weight on mirtazapine, but it's better than the alternative...

HowVeryDareYou2

I took Citalopram for years, didn't gin weight on it. I then swapped to Mirtazapine and gained a couple of stone quite quickly. I'm too fat (but trying to lose weight) but would rather have that than ever feel so depressed again. I'm currently on a high dose of steroids for 4 months and trying hard not to gain weight (the hospital said they cause weight increase and increase in appetite)

Mirtazapine is well known for increasing appetite resulting in weight gain. Our very elderly cat was tried on the feline equivalent to improve her appetite but she didn't tolerate it well and so was started on steroids with much better effect. I hope you can find a way back to your happy place HVDY2

Many MH meds do make you put on weight. I've been on a bewildering array for a number of years and met others on different MH drugs and discussed this very thing.

OK: not everyone is affected, and some drugs more so than others, but anything that is basically sedative is likely to slow down your systems inside. A very small number of drugs make you feel hungry. Not general anti-depressants, btw, more serious psychiatric meds.

Its cost benefit time: many of us have no choice.

My personal path initially was to carry on exercising a lot as I always did, but cannot do this much now. Reasonably vigorous exercise as it were makes the digestion work better as well as calorie loss.

So now I practice a very strict diet indeed and I have managed to maintain my weight. It's not a miserable path, I've a far greater appreciation of the foods I do eat and never have fatty or sweet food except on exceptional occasions.

Sorry not to have magic answers!

I have been on Escitalopram for about 18 years,hasnt made any difference to my weight.

MissOops has been on them for some years, still as slim as ever.

didn't GAIN weight.......

I took Citalopram for years, didn't gin weight on it. I then swapped to Mirtazapine and gained a couple of stone quite quickly. I'm too fat (but trying to lose weight) but would rather have that than ever feel so depressed again. I'm currently on a high dose of steroids for 4 months and trying hard not to gain weight (the hospital said they cause weight increase and increase in appetite)