Experiences with antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds that don't cause weight gain

[frogthroat]

I'm trying to research common antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds before I go to my first pdoc appt. My big concern is feeling sluggish on them and I'm also afraid of weight gain.

As an adolescent, I remember feeling like I was floating under water on certain meds.

As an adult, Zoloft and buspar made me violently ill and dizzy. I was just recently put on Cymbalta during an inpatient stay and it was terrible. I felt like I had drank 10 cups of coffee. The only med I remember making me feel stable was Wellbutrin but that was a long time ago.

I read Lexapro is for both depression and anxiety but it also doesn't make you gain weight. I haven't had much experience with anti-anxiety meds besides buspar.

Maybe it just depends on the person and their body too? It would help to know. I'm actually kind of terrified of meds.

 

[blackemerald1]

Maybe it just depends on the person and their body too? It would help to know. I'm actually kind of terrified of meds.

I cannot comment on any of the meds that you have mentioned. Partly because I was trialled on so many I have forgotten the names of them all. Safe to say if it was an anti-depressant I have probably tried it or something similar in it's family. And they did not work for me - side effects were not worth any therapeutic gain.

I do know that anti-depressant's can cause weight gain in some people or it is a common side effect. I know there is a medical reason why this may be so but also I was told once that some people gained weight because having improved, they began to eat better. I'm not sure that I agree with that at all.

I think you are correct meds., their side effects are entirely dependent on who is taking them, dosages and even possibly why they are being taken. So there isn't a one size fits all.

I know you are very concerned with the idea of taking meds but if you need them and a being reviewed regularly then they may be a way of breaking through a illness that is intractable by any other means.

Remember though, you have choices. You always have choices and even though your doctor will tell you he's the expert... you still make the choice to take them or not.

Take care,

 

[PTSDGuy]

I've been on Wellbutrin for years now... It was the only thing I could take that didn't pile on pounds.... Years ago I did Lexapro... and gained 60 pounds in a couple of months... That was while I was eating right and exercising... Instead of helping, it made me more depressed...

My Psychiatrist keeps wanting me to try new meds, but I really can't handle the side effects...

But like @blackemerald1 said, taking them is your choice... you have to be comfortable with it, no matter what a T says...

 

[somerandomguy]

It's totally dependent on your body chemistry. I had zero problems with weight gain with any antidepressant. Most of them made me tired. All of them, every last one of them, prevented any kind of sexual expression for me - both SSRIs and SNRIs.

I'm on a mood stabilizer now, Tegretol, that is working great. The first one I tried, Lamictal, worked even better but gave me a rash.

 

[Sideways]

Pristiq (desvenlafaxine). Been on it for a few years now. Doesn’t seem to have influenced my weight at all, but for those who do have weight-related side-effects from it, it worka as an appetite-suppressant, so some people report weight-loss as a side-effect (wowsers!!).