Posted by ptroy on March 13, 2000, at 7:56:45
In reply to Paxil....weight gain revisited., posted by deb2 on March 12, 2000, at 17:36:44
i really hope someone gives us good news on how to drop the paxil weight post meds. Let me tell you my story and you can make of it what you will.
I started taking paxil about 13 months ago (feb of 1999 for panic/anxiety attacks/disorder. It was great, after feeling like a heroin addict while taking xanax (be very careful, very physically addictive, and i personally had very bad withdrawals), paxil seemed to be the best. things went great for about 6 months, no really changes to my life.
After about 6 months, i started noticing that i was gaining weight, but i figured it cannot be paxil because it had been 6 months since i started taking it. I also (which i did not attribute to paxil for the same reason) COMPLETELY lost my libido, and was very tired in the evenings.
As my clothes no longer fit, and the new clothes i bought also began to not fit, i said something must be wrong. I called my doctor, asked our fitness manager, and they both told me the same answer: you are just getting older, this happens, blah blah blah. But i know my body, my health, and my history, and something was just not right. I figured i must have gained 20 pounds, and was disgusted.
I must tell you also, during the year i was taking paxil, i maintained a low cal EXTREMELY low fat (to the point that i am neurotic). I am a 29 year old mail, exercised 4-5 times a week (cardio for 45-60 minutes), and have always been very thin, along with my family. So gaining excessive weight out of the blue was not normal. I read the drug books and the paxil maker drug info, and they both said that it should cause weight loss if anything.
Well, long story short, i finally went on the internet and did some poking around, and quickly found an ENORMOUS amount of people who had taken paxil and gained EXCESSIVE weight (40, 50, 60+ pounds), were unable to lose it while on the drug, and had an EXTREMELY hard time losing it when OFF paxil. Well i just about keeled over, since i would have NEVER taken paxil had i been told there was a possibility of weight gain. I flew back to my doctor, he fed me the same line of crap again about getting old, so i got on the scale and came to the horror that paxil had caused me to gain 40 POUNDS in one year.
I immediately stopped taking the drug, and started taking wellbutrin (but i stopped wellbutrin also because i needed to ensure that no drugs could be playing into my attempt to lose this weight.
Well, it has been 2 months med free (i am fortunate in that i am able to control these attacks naturally, but sadly that is not an option for all), and i have lost 3 pounds. I am DISGUSTED with the maker of paxil, my doctor, and myself for allowing this to happen. I have since changed my doctor, written to the maker of paxil, and been trying to drop the weight with very little results.
It has caused me extreme duress/stress (although i did get my libido back which was putting a serious strain on my relationship with my fiancee), and i hate myself for ever taking it.
I now take a few all natural metabolism "increasers", have stepped up my exercise, and eat even less than i had (1500 no fat calories a day), and have barely lost an ounce. People tell me it does come off in time (6-8 months, sometimes years), but i dont see why people should have to go through this, especially when they are lied to about the effects of paxil.
In closing, if you find out anything about successful post paxil weight loss methods, please post it, i would love to read it. Also, encourage anyone you know who has had bad side effects with paxil (especially weight gain, since the maker of paxil STILL claims this is not a side effect) to post their story. It might make others think twice/heavily investigate taking paxil.
Thanks, i hope all works out for you.
poster:ptroy
thread:26779
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000312/msgs/26842.html