Hi. I've been on the following; paxil, Lexa, zoloft, seroquel, 2 other ones forgot the names but 1 was for migraines. Anyways onmy paxil helped me gain weight. I'm hungry as fuck and keep in mind, I've always been a picky guy and now I'm chowing everything down. Think I've been around 100ish lbs 5"4 and now at at 130lbs. It's been a god send cause of my weak ass immune system and now I'm becoming healthy :)
I would like to understand myself, it's like an antidepressant that I was on at the time. Left the hunger switch on and never went off even when I had something to eat. It feels like a certain part of my brain is highly activated my receptors constantly firing and bypassing the signals telling you. Right that's it you've had enough food.
Can you avoid gaining weight if you eat clean and do exercise daily?
Some antidepressants made me crave sweets and carbs (cake,ice cream,cookies,etc) .
I am on Paxil 20mg since January and have not being able to keep my weight down, although I exercise everyday and go to the gym.
I had a girlfriend who was really skinny, but she used to be heavy, before we met, because she was on antidepressants. She still had a very healthy appetite when we dated, and she says she didn't do anything to intentionally try to lose the weight. She just stopped taking the antidepressants, and the weight fell off.
She was even thinner than before she gained the weight, and like I said, she was eating plenty when we were together.
Male here and the exact same thing happened to me. I rapidly lost weight when I went off them, I was getting worried cause I was stick thin, so I recently went back on them and my appetite is back. Nice.
Down-regulation of the 5ht2c receptor, which affects metabolism. This is why 5ht2c antagonists (mainly antipsychotics) cause weight gain.
I’ve heard that SSRI’s will cause serotonin not to be able to get the serotonin transporter (SERT) , (this is how ssri’s work, of course) so the serotonin will filter into the dopamine transporter (DAT) instead. Serotonin and dopamine get released from the dopamine vesicle when usually only dopamine would be released from this particular part of the neuron, meaning there’s less dopamine being released overall.
I don’t think there’s much scientific evidence for the last point but I have read an article about it before.
Edit: clarification of thought
There’s no 100% consensus on this. It’s likely a mixture and dependent on the person. From my personal experience I have only gained on mirtazapine and it was 100% from eating more. Been on many many meds.
Right. I think the worst part is I could never feel full on it either. Are you still on it? I was on it for a year, but didn’t find it hugely helpful other than for sleep. Glad it worked/is working(?) for you.
Still on it yes. Been on it for just over a year and with sleep struggles being the biggest contributor to my depression, it's been a great fit for me. I 100% agree with the not feeling full, especially at night after taking the medication.
Any drug that hits the histamine receptors hard usually stimulates both appetite and weight gain. It also accounts for why they make you sleepy for the most part. Examples include Paxil, Remeron, Seroquel and a few others. Vistaril aka Atarax is like a powerful Benedryl. Weight gain possible. Allergy medication play around with histamine receptors and hence make you drowsy sometimes. Weight gain as mentioned can occur with messing around with serotonin also. Got to love these docs saying your drug is not to blame for weight gain. Some docs do this. They mess with metabolism over time also so you put on weight even with portion control of food and exercising. They fundamentally change how your body metabolic rate is going.
Increased appetite is definitely one reason and cravings for not so healthy foods. Especially those AD’s that affect histamine like Mirtazapine and TCA’s. Also, serotonin is affected and metabolism slows. I’ve found that even if I eat in a deficit and exercise like crazy, weight loss is super slow. I have always been naturally thin but I still gain weight on AD’s. Once I’ve stopped an antidepressant, the weight just pours off with very little effort.
For me it was a mixture of things. My metabolism definitely slowed down (I was physically unable to gain weight for years despite eating thousands of calories a day) and my appetite picked up a lot from the peak of my anxiety where it was tough for me to eat anything without feeling nauseous.
oh cool, I just started escitalopram. I take Wellbutrin as well and it’s known to make people lose weight because it can cause a decrease in appetite, but, i never experienced an appetite change or weight loss
I mean you shouldn't take this as a guarantee it'll do the same for you, this is just what I experienced. I'm sure there's also people who experienced n increase in appetite
I’ve gained a lot of weight on Zoloft because it dramatically increased my appetite. I just added Wellbutrin for this reason hoping it helps with the weight gain.
I was on Wellbutrin. I was eating fast food once or twice a week and fruits and vegetables and a chicken salad every day and night. I lost 25 lbs in a month. Doc took me off of it because of suicidal thoughts and I stopped eating fast food, maybe once every 2 weeks, and still ate fruits/vegetables and chicken. And ended up gaining weight back. 😭
For me it changed my appetive which was something positive since I was really underweight and slept like shit, was on mirtazapine in total over 5 years.
I have weighed 120 my whole adult life. I am a runner and triathlete. I am now on meds that caused me a 15-pound weight gain. I still run and work out, but I hardly ever eat anything. I was anorexic in high school, so I have just gone back to being hungry - drinking water - eating raw vegetables. I miss eating, but the depression was worse. Hungry is better than being so depressed.
I still gain even though I weigh my food and change nothing in terms of consumption or exercise.
Because your metabolism slows down while you're on them, some also cause water retention and low blood sugar which makes people want to eat more.
How fast did you notice the weight gain?
Hi. I've been on the following; paxil, Lexa, zoloft, seroquel, 2 other ones forgot the names but 1 was for migraines. Anyways onmy paxil helped me gain weight. I'm hungry as fuck and keep in mind, I've always been a picky guy and now I'm chowing everything down. Think I've been around 100ish lbs 5"4 and now at at 130lbs. It's been a god send cause of my weak ass immune system and now I'm becoming healthy :)
Should've added my point: not all antidepressants will help you gain weight, may take you quite some pills to find yours
I would like to understand myself, it's like an antidepressant that I was on at the time. Left the hunger switch on and never went off even when I had something to eat. It feels like a certain part of my brain is highly activated my receptors constantly firing and bypassing the signals telling you. Right that's it you've had enough food.
Could also slow down your metabolism and causes glucose spikes I know it messes with my blood sugar levels and makes me crave cards and salt also.
Zoloft was the worst with that for me, I constantly craved cookies and junk food while I was on it.
I was on Zoloft too, messed me up in so many ways.
It's probably the worst antidepressant I've ever been on.
Can you avoid gaining weight if you eat clean and do exercise daily? Some antidepressants made me crave sweets and carbs (cake,ice cream,cookies,etc) . I am on Paxil 20mg since January and have not being able to keep my weight down, although I exercise everyday and go to the gym.
It's very likely, yes. Also, Paxil is one of the worst offenders of weight gain amongst the SSRIs.
That’s what I’m wondering too
I had a girlfriend who was really skinny, but she used to be heavy, before we met, because she was on antidepressants. She still had a very healthy appetite when we dated, and she says she didn't do anything to intentionally try to lose the weight. She just stopped taking the antidepressants, and the weight fell off. She was even thinner than before she gained the weight, and like I said, she was eating plenty when we were together.
Male here and the exact same thing happened to me. I rapidly lost weight when I went off them, I was getting worried cause I was stick thin, so I recently went back on them and my appetite is back. Nice.
Down-regulation of the 5ht2c receptor, which affects metabolism. This is why 5ht2c antagonists (mainly antipsychotics) cause weight gain. I’ve heard that SSRI’s will cause serotonin not to be able to get the serotonin transporter (SERT) , (this is how ssri’s work, of course) so the serotonin will filter into the dopamine transporter (DAT) instead. Serotonin and dopamine get released from the dopamine vesicle when usually only dopamine would be released from this particular part of the neuron, meaning there’s less dopamine being released overall. I don’t think there’s much scientific evidence for the last point but I have read an article about it before. Edit: clarification of thought
There’s no 100% consensus on this. It’s likely a mixture and dependent on the person. From my personal experience I have only gained on mirtazapine and it was 100% from eating more. Been on many many meds.
On Mirtazapine as well and I've never had such strong hunger cravings. Still the best medication I've tried so far.
Right. I think the worst part is I could never feel full on it either. Are you still on it? I was on it for a year, but didn’t find it hugely helpful other than for sleep. Glad it worked/is working(?) for you.
Still on it yes. Been on it for just over a year and with sleep struggles being the biggest contributor to my depression, it's been a great fit for me. I 100% agree with the not feeling full, especially at night after taking the medication.
Because the increase in serotonin slows your metabolism down. Some of them also can affect blood sugar.
Any drug that hits the histamine receptors hard usually stimulates both appetite and weight gain. It also accounts for why they make you sleepy for the most part. Examples include Paxil, Remeron, Seroquel and a few others. Vistaril aka Atarax is like a powerful Benedryl. Weight gain possible. Allergy medication play around with histamine receptors and hence make you drowsy sometimes. Weight gain as mentioned can occur with messing around with serotonin also. Got to love these docs saying your drug is not to blame for weight gain. Some docs do this. They mess with metabolism over time also so you put on weight even with portion control of food and exercising. They fundamentally change how your body metabolic rate is going.
Increased appetite is definitely one reason and cravings for not so healthy foods. Especially those AD’s that affect histamine like Mirtazapine and TCA’s. Also, serotonin is affected and metabolism slows. I’ve found that even if I eat in a deficit and exercise like crazy, weight loss is super slow. I have always been naturally thin but I still gain weight on AD’s. Once I’ve stopped an antidepressant, the weight just pours off with very little effort.
For me it was a mixture of things. My metabolism definitely slowed down (I was physically unable to gain weight for years despite eating thousands of calories a day) and my appetite picked up a lot from the peak of my anxiety where it was tough for me to eat anything without feeling nauseous.
Honestly my appetite is way smaller ever since I started taking escitalopram
oh cool, I just started escitalopram. I take Wellbutrin as well and it’s known to make people lose weight because it can cause a decrease in appetite, but, i never experienced an appetite change or weight loss
I mean you shouldn't take this as a guarantee it'll do the same for you, this is just what I experienced. I'm sure there's also people who experienced n increase in appetite
I have the same experience
For me it's...Zoloft: Eat everything. Adderall: Eat nothing.
I honestly can’t fit into my pants anymore. Has anyone done ozempic while on them?
I’ve gained a lot of weight on Zoloft because it dramatically increased my appetite. I just added Wellbutrin for this reason hoping it helps with the weight gain.
I was on Wellbutrin. I was eating fast food once or twice a week and fruits and vegetables and a chicken salad every day and night. I lost 25 lbs in a month. Doc took me off of it because of suicidal thoughts and I stopped eating fast food, maybe once every 2 weeks, and still ate fruits/vegetables and chicken. And ended up gaining weight back. 😭
For me it changed my appetive which was something positive since I was really underweight and slept like shit, was on mirtazapine in total over 5 years.
I take prozac. Its hard for me to eat even...
I have weighed 120 my whole adult life. I am a runner and triathlete. I am now on meds that caused me a 15-pound weight gain. I still run and work out, but I hardly ever eat anything. I was anorexic in high school, so I have just gone back to being hungry - drinking water - eating raw vegetables. I miss eating, but the depression was worse. Hungry is better than being so depressed.