Bipolar Support Group

Hey There

I was recently diagnosed with bipolar and have started on anti depressants ( 60 mg cymbalta)

It has being 2 weeks and I have gained round 5 kilos so far, which for me as a young female is very upsetting and distressing.

Since I have being very depressed I haven't really left the house or gotten out of bed in this time, plus I have eaten/ binged on a lot of junk ( which is what I do when i get very bad depression )

So this could be the reason for the weight gain, not so much the drugs. However my question is why do you believe you gained weight ( if you did) while taking your anti depressants, was it because you ate more on them? or did you have no diet change and just gained weight

I appreciate any input as I am new to all of this and trying to get my head around it all!

My weight has been a rollercoaster ride for 12 years.I have learned that I just can't take some of the meds.I do have to try to control the binge eating at night.Alot of the meds, in my experience, made me gain weight no matter what I do.I talk to my doc about it and she tries to give me the meds that do not make me gain weight easy.

What have you found to be the worst for you, I know everyone is different but I told mood stabilzers such as lithium are the worst for weight gain... hopefully cymbalta isnt a bad one for me

Not all of them cause weight gain. Remeron caused me to gain 10 pounds in a month, so I quit it right away. Wellbutrin has not caused any weight gain. Ask your pdoc about trying something else until you find one that works for you and is weight neutral.

Antidepressants are the worst for me. I gain fifty pounds every time I take them, except for wellbutrin, it was less. There is research indicating that antidepressants change the hunger-eat-full cycle. Something about interfering with the signal that you are full. They also increase your cravings or perhaps that is the depression. I only know for sure that when I stop them, I lose lots of weight without necessarily trying and when I take them I gain lots of weight.

Hi Jenny:

Early on I was diagnosed as having major depression and given SSRI type anti-depressants. Not only did I experience manic and mixed episodes leading to the bipolar diagnoses, I gained weight like mad. I think it was the combo you eluded too; depressed so I exercised less, ate more, and the killer was the meds had me starving hungry all the time. Not good. Then I then spent over a decade on atypical anti-psychotics (Seroquel, Abilify, Saphris) and the only one of those that didn't have me fighting weight gain too much was Abilfy. Now, after finally accepting my BP last year and learning as much as I could/can about it, I am on Lithium (mood stabilizer class of drug). After a slow ramp up of the dosage I have only one side e ffect of note; decreased appetite! In the past year I have lost the fifty or so pounds I put on using the other meds. Good diet (near vegetarian, limiting portion size, no junk/processed foods) and regular exercise has also really helped. I finally feel good about how I look and feel again.

As mentioned already, keep after your search for meds that you can live with. No sense being 'stable' if you are unhealthy physically and have a poor self-image IMHO. I learned that lesson the hard way.

Take care.

Eric

Oh golly, it seems this is going to be a long journey for me * sigh*!!

Thank you so much for your answers, I appreciate your time

my weight had ballooned like crazy and I finally just got back to almost where it's got to be...right now I can't eat anything so that is probably why I'm loosing. My weight gain at the start was from me just laying in bed and sleeping...then I'd wake up in the middle of the night and eat. THe GF has found me more than once in the kitchen sleepping standing up at the sink and alot of times I'll wake up and there is food next to the bed or open containers. She watches alot more for me and gets up to check on me but at first I was on anti-deppressants and it made it all worst. I needed mood meds and the anti just triggered me.

You need to get up and out and yes it's easy to say. If I won the lottery I'd stay home for about a year.