lexapro and weight gain

[Tigerlily]

we were discussing medications last night in vent and a few members mentioned that they stopped taking lexapro because it caused unexplainable weight gain.

here's my deal. i stopped smoking two and a half years ago and at the same time had an injury that kept me from being able to work out at the gym for about a year. during that time i gained weight and i always attributed that to not working out and the fact that i stopped smoking. coincidence, lexapro, and/or not working/not smoking?

over the last year i've noticed that no matter what i do, i can't seem to drop any weight. i can work out daily and watch what i eat and nothing happens. i've been drinking nothing but water and no change in weight. so last night i took my last lexapro and will wait and see what happens.

has anyone else experienced this? i was told that wellbutrin actually takes weight off but i'm not sure that its for anxiety. the kicker is that two years ago a client of mine told me that lexapro took weight off and prozac caused weight gain which is why i switched. :/

 

[Halla74]

we were discussing medications last night in vent and a few members mentioned that they stopped taking lexapro because it caused unexplainable weight gain.

here's my deal. i stopped smoking two and a half years ago and at the same time had an injury that kept me from being able to work out at the gym for about a year. during that time i gained weight and i always attributed that to not working out and the fact that i stopped smoking. coincidence, lexapro, and/or not working/not smoking?

over the last year i've noticed that no matter what i do, i can't seem to drop any weight. i can work out daily and watch what i eat and nothing happens. i've been drinking nothing but water and no change in weight. so last night i took my last lexapro and will wait and see what happens.

has anyone else experienced this? i was told that wellbutrin actually takes weight off but i'm not sure that its for anxiety. the kicker is that two years ago a client of mine told me that lexapro took weight off and prozac caused weight gain which is why i switched. :/

Weight gain is a side effect of SSRI's in general, regardless of brand (Lexapro, Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, etc.)

Wellbutrin is a norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitor, so its mechanism is different than SSRIs, but I don't know anyone who has taken it for long enough to be able to ascertain if it had any weight gain specific side effects.

Have you had your thyroid checked? If your T-3 is low, then you will gain weight and be lethargic. Two people I know very well had chronic issues with fatigue and weight gain, despite eating helathy and regularly exercising. Both ultimately went on T-3 (Synthroid) and were feeling better in no time, and lost the weight that they had gained in a short amount of time. One of these people was taking Zoloft.

 

[scantilyclad]

Yeah, pretty much any SSRI will make you gain weight. I've been taking SSRI's since i was a teenager, and they always make me gain weight. They do something to your metabolism. Also Wellbutrin is not as potent as Lexapro, so it may not work as well for you. The only reason it causes weight loss, is because it makes you vomit.

 

[Totenkindly]

Wellbutrin is a norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitor, so its mechanism is different than SSRIs, but I don't know anyone who has taken it for long enough to be able to ascertain if it had any weight gain specific side effects.

I took Wellbutrin (the 24hr high dose) for about six years and even managed to lose weight while taking it when I was on a basic exercise program.

YMMV.

 

[Thalassa]

Yeah, pretty much any SSRI will make you gain weight. I've been taking SSRI's since i was a teenager, and they always make me gain weight. They do something to your metabolism. Also Wellbutrin is not as potent as Lexapro, so it may not work as well for you. The only reason it causes weight loss, is because it makes you vomit.

That isn't true.

 

[Tigerlily]

Have you had your thyroid checked? If your T-3 is low, then you will gain weight and be lethargic. Two people I know very well had chronic issues with fatigue and weight gain, despite eating healthy and regularly exercising. Both ultimately went on T-3 (Synthroid) and were feeling better in no time, and lost the weight that they had gained in a short amount of time. One of these people was taking Zoloft.

i had my thyroid checked recently and everything was "normal".

i'm going to stop taking lexapro, keep eating well and exercising and see what happens. there's just too many negative reports online that point towards lexapro being the reason for the weight gain and not being able to lose any of it.

i'll report back if there are any changes.

thanks everyone!

 

[Tiltyred]

Your weight, unless it is veering madly out of control, is not a reason to cold turkey your antidepressant. I wish you would talk to your doctor and transition gradually off of lexapro and onto something else.

 

[Tigerlily]

Your weight, unless it is veering madly out of control, is not a reason to cold turkey your antidepressant. I wish you would talk to your doctor and transition gradually off of lexapro and onto something else.

i'll be fine. there have been times where i've forgotten to take the lexapro and had no side effects. there have also been times where i'll lose like 3-4 pounds for no apparent reason so maybe that was during the times i wasn't taking the lexapro. i need to stop taking it to know for sure. besides i'd rather exercise my stress away and be healthier overall. i quit smoking for that very reason so why put more shit back into my system? i've always been very responsible when it comes to keeping track of my mental and physical well being and my anxiety isn't that out of control so i'll be ok.

 

[scantilyclad]

That isn't true.

it was true for me.
it made me nauseous everyday so i would vomit 3 or 4 times a day, and it completely stopped working after a year, and I was on the highest dose possible, which was 450 mg per day, so i guess that's why i say its not as potent. This never happened to me on any other antidepressants, except for the ones that didn't work at all, like Zoloft.

 

[Tigerlily]

^ well, yeah what's good for some isn't always good for others. i took 20 mg's of lexapro last night (before i was notified of its nastiness) and feel like shit today. i was taking 10 mg's but my dr accidentally wrote the script for 20 so i figured i'd give it a shot. i am now drinking acai juice to try and flush this shit out of my system. blah.

i was given wellbutrin years ago to help stop smoking and i was sick as a dog so i won't be trying that again. i thought i was going to die.

 

[Thalassa]

it was true for me.
it made me nauseous everyday so i would vomit 3 or 4 times a day, and it completely stopped working after a year, and I was on the highest dose possible, which was 450 mg per day, so i guess that's why i say its not as potent. This never happened to me on any other antidepressants, except for the ones that didn't work at all, like Zoloft.

I've taken it for a year and a half. I don't puke. I also don't find it "weaker" than SSRIs - I found that it took care of my depression without having some of the more unpleasant side effects for me that I totally HATE about SSRIs. However, what works for one person may not work for another.

For example, there is a medication called Abilify which is supposed to be GREAT in treating severe forms of schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, which can cause some other people to have an internal sense of restlessness that can lead to suicidal behavior (I've heard similar things about Chantix).

Instead of saying "this isn't true" I should have said "this isn't true for everybody."

I have a friend who takes Lexapro and Lactimal who is skinny as a rail. It really all depends on the individual.

 

[Fecal McAngry]

we were discussing medications last night in vent and a few members mentioned that they stopped taking lexapro because it caused unexplainable weight gain.

here's my deal. i stopped smoking two and a half years ago and at the same time had an injury that kept me from being able to work out at the gym for about a year. during that time i gained weight and i always attributed that to not working out and the fact that i stopped smoking. coincidence, lexapro, and/or not working/not smoking?

over the last year i've noticed that no matter what i do, i can't seem to drop any weight. i can work out daily and watch what i eat and nothing happens. i've been drinking nothing but water and no change in weight. so last night i took my last lexapro and will wait and see what happens.

has anyone else experienced this? i was told that wellbutrin actually takes weight off but i'm not sure that its for anxiety. the kicker is that two years ago a client of mine told me that lexapro took weight off and prozac caused weight gain which is why i switched. :/

Most SSRIs do cause weight gain primarily by raising your appestat...Paxil is probably the worst offender, and Prozac is probably the least likely to cause substantial weight gain, but YMMV...

Wellbutrin is an norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor. As you would expect from such a drug, it suppresses appetite in many, mildly increases metabolic rate, increases libido in some--and also has all the unpleasant side effects associated with stimulants--insomnia, for example.

If you quit Lexapro suddenly, you may experience mild to severe withdrawal symptoms. To avoid the possibility of these, taper down very slowly, or switch to Prozac and taper down slowly (fluoxetine's extremely long half-life is very useful for those trying to get off SSRIs).

You may be hypothyroid--please have your TSH checked...

 

[Synapse]

I do wonder at the logic by Dr's giving people drugs with a fluoride compound like paxil, prozac, fluoxetine when fluoride is a thyroid inhibitor in large doses.

 

[Synapse]

Say Jen just because you had your TSH tested means very little if that is all you get tested for, you are better off doing a basal body temperature test at home and going from there.

Here are a few extracts I found interesting reading.

You can read more articles here Endocrine System, Endocrine Disrupting Hormones, Adrenals, Ovaries, Testes

Department: Office of Communications (with news releases)
The test to measure thyroid hormones, which uses tandem mass spectrometry, was developed by Steven Soldin. This is a very specific test and is not plagued by the false readings that make the currently used immunoassay test notoriously inaccurate.

Article about plastics - NRDC: Endocrine Disruption - Overview

And about iodine deficiency Iodine for Health by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD

Iodine removes toxic chemicals – fluoride, bromide, lead, aluminum, mercury – and biological toxins, suppresses auto-immunity, strengthens the T-cell adaptive immune system, and protects against abnormal growth of bacteria in the stomach.

In addition to the thyroid and mammary glands, other tissues possess an iodine pump (the sodium/iodine symporter). Stomach mucosa, the salivary glands, and lactating mammary glands can concentrate iodine almost to the same degree as the thyroid gland (40-fold greater than its concentration in blood). Other tissues that have this pump include the ovaries; thymus gland, seat of the adaptive immune system; skin; choroid plexus in the brain, which makes cerebrospinal fluid; and joints, arteries and bone.

Iodine was removed from breads, starting in 1960 and was replaced with bromide by the mid 1970s. Before then, the average American got about 1mg of iodine daily through breads and vegetables. But now we don't get enough iodine daily because poor farming practices have depleted the soil of minerals we don't get enough iodine from iodized table salt to compete with fluorine, chlorine and bromine. These sister minerals can expel iodine from the thyroid receptor sites and take over where they serve no useful purpose in the body.

Iodine has many roles in the thyroid gland. All the blood in your body goes through your thyroid every 17 minutes where the iodine will detox heavy metals, kill pathogens, and activate the thyroxine hormone which stimulates metabolism. Iodine also plays a role in binding with synthetic molecules which enables your body to identify them as trash and expel them. Otherwise, these molecules will mimic estrogen and create problems or get stored away in fat cells where they interfere with metabolism.

It is relevant to discussion in some way, I just don't like SSRI's.

 

[Domino]

I take Lexapro for nerve/body pain (not for anxiety) and I've noticed no change in my weight. I know that these sorts of medications CAN cause weight gain. :-\ I've noticed that my weight has stabilized, but I attributed it to muscle weight gain from exercising?