Putting On Weight Is It The Meds ?

[J_trustno1]

OMG, Diabetes by seroquel :( !!! How about Venlafaxine? Can Venlafaxine also cause weight gain? I have been having dry mouth and feeling dehydrated ever since I started taking venlafaxine.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Wait, do you mean to say that you haven't tried any other medications, period, that Seroquel is the first medication you were put on? That's the impression I am getting from your post. Were you having psychotic features that warranted an antipsychotic?

 

[Sammyiam]

Yep you got it, I have never ever been on anything before, oh wait over twenty years ago I was locked in a room and was well you can guess the rest....... They took me to the doctor etc and he put me on something then but it was so long ago I would have no idea, I only took it for a few weeks and it knocked me out so much I stopped taking it. I was only in my twenties young and stupid I suppose when it came to stuff like that as I didn't ask anything about meds etc, well I was incapable of even speaking for three weeks ....... Oh and I tried herbal things for three years on my own not with any doctor so I suppose you can say nothing really.

I went to the doctor and it was one my skin specialist sent me to so it was the first time I had ever met her because he was getting very worried about me and said that I have two choices I can go to see her or he will make me go and see her, so off I went and had a meltdown in her office she sat with me talking for an hour and a half (what doctor does that ) she said they have an agreement at the surgery that if anyone comes with my sort of problems they all share out her patients so she can have time with them, I had no idea she specialises in sexual abuse and PTSD especially with women I was pretty messy and hadn't worked for a few months, terrified of dying 100 times a day, was petrified of certain smells going to kill me etc etc, the thing is I'm on all this stuff and I still am terrified of the same things. I've been on the same stuff for nine months now and all they keep doing is upping them I have to see my psychiatrist on the 19 the and all this stuff isn't helping much so I don't really know what to do, have you any ideas ? I would love any ideas of what to do

 

[purgemeofthepain]

Wow, so many people have gained tons of weight on Zyprexa and Seroquel fron what I see here. I also gained around 40 lbs while on them. I was never able to lose the weight up until last January but it was very difficult to do so because these meds mess up your metabolism royally.

I am now on Risperidone and have been for a long time, without any apparent weight gain, but I am exercising daily and eating healthy, so obviously that's a must when you're forced to live with antipsychotics or else it's back to chunky town...or in my case obese-town.

Like others have said here, I suggest you and your psychiatrist keep on trying out new combinations and doses of medication to see what helps the most, while also keeping these nasty side effects at a minimum.

Just be thankful you don't have tardive dyskinesia! Now THATS a side effect I'm absolutely TERRIFIED of!

 

[Deleted member 12723]

Being on Effexor caused great weight gain for me which I am in the process of trying to lose the weight now. I would rather take the meds because they work great and stabilized me. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[joeylittle]

@Sammyiam - you could ask your prescribing physician about the benzodrines - clonazepam and lorazepam. If the seroquel isn't doing it's job then it could be time to switch. I had decent success with Abilify as an adjunct to Venlafaxine, but it definitely put weight on me.

It sounds like you might be one of the sorts of people who get stimulated by the Venlafaxine - and so seroquel makes sense as an adjunct to quiet your system down. But your anxiety levels are described by you as being very high.

The only person who can help you with this is your prescriber. You can help yourself by doing more reading about the various classes of meds (just google around). And most importantly, talk to your doctor about exactly what is happening. Try logging your moods and anxiety levels for a week. Tell your doc you are interested in making a change.

It's scary, sure - but getting the combination right can really make it easier to focus on getting the trauma work done. And try and add some DBT/distress tolerance, if you can. I'm on decent drugs, but would not get through some days without also applying coping skills. Multi-pronged approach.

Hang in there.