Posted by Kimba on April 6, 2001, at 15:23:45
I've been on SSRI's since '92 and have tried getting off of them several times but experienced relapses after a few months on each occasion. My first 2 years or so I was on Prozac. I lost the initial 10 pounds or so but started upward perhaps 6 mo to a year after that and was soon 20 - 25 pounds above my low weight. Very alarmed, I went to both my psychiatrist and internist and both insisted that on Prozac I should be losing not gaining. The psychiatrist on my insistence that it had to be the the meds switched me over to Paxil - obviously the wrong thing to do since Paxil appears worse than Prozac it terms of causing weight gain.
Another 3 years later, with continuing weight gain and now added menstrual abnormalites and weight related back pain, I went back to all the MD's, and all insisted there was no evidence of weight gain on Paxil - it had to be my eating/exercise habits and getting older. Endocrinology did turn up polycystic ovary syndrome and put me on the pill to even out my periods. At one point I even ate the same low fat balanced diet every day for 6 weeks in an attempt to prove to a weight loss clinician that it wasn't my eating habits, but still the implication was that I had to be concealing food intake since any ordinary person would be losing weight on the program I was on.
The last year has been the worst weight gain even though my dosage was lowered to 10 mg. My mood is fine though.
Now after nearly nine years I am ~80 pounds up and nothing I do takes it off. About a week ago I did an internet search on weight gain and Paxil and turned up this board, many others, and an abundance of information from reputable sources that this is a real symptom. I feel vindicated but still very let down. I have to deal with this weight gain because with the social isolation, self-disgust, and low energy that have come with the weight gain are unbearable.
I started tapering off my dosage the same day and have the spins and nausea, but I'm ready to go to an appointment with a new psychiatrist next week and demand Wellbutrin. Has anyone out there managed to successfully remove these excess pounds or is it a lost cause?
poster:Kimba
thread:58950
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010403/msgs/58950.html