Worst SSRI’s for weight gain
In response to the ongoing discussion about weight gain when taking Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) I have added this post as I recently read some information that I found interesting.
Many people who take SSRI’s for depression or anxiety suffer weight gain as a result. Indeed it is a common reason for people to prematurely break-off from otherwise beneficial treatment. But in truth, appearance is so key to modern life that it is no surprise that people who are already suffering from mood disorders don’t want to get fat. This could lead to more depression! Relying on drugs alone isn’t wise, there are other more solution-focussed ways to help you relax and get over anxiety.
It is important to point out that when taking SSRI’s, weight gain can be mitigated against in more or less the same ways you would avoid gaining weight under normal circumstances. A good balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and not too much saturated fat and sugars as found in junk food, and of course some exercise. You will also find that exercise helps with depression as this article shows. Seeings that you will have to talk to your doctor about the medication anyway, why not ask him or her to do a quick fitness assessment and check what level of exercise your body can take.
I was interested last week when I got an email from revolution health that linked to an article on their site about SSRI’s that are known to cause weight gain. It is one of the most common questions I am asked so I am always on the look out for new material.
The table below shows what the article said, but I disagree with much of it. I personally have taken Celexa and found that it caused weight gain to the tune of 10KG! The table also shows escitalopram to be likely to cause weight gain. This is odd because citalopram (Celexa) and escitalopram (Lexapro) are almost identical. In the article and American academic stated that weight gain might be a sign that the drugs were having an effect. The professionals I have spoken to disagreed with this and thought that the point of view was outdated. I am not qualified to pass judgement on this. I would say though that the best indicator of efficacy when using SSRI anti-depressants is that the patients mood lifts!
These common drugs are likely to cause some weight gain – but that doesn’t mean they definitely will!:
- Paxil (paroxetine)
- Marplan (isocarboxazid)
- Lexapro (escitalopram)
According to the article on Revolution Health these drugs generally don’t cause weight gain (in my experience some definitely do!):
- Prozac (fluoxetine)
- Luvox (fluvoxamine)
- Zoloft (sertraline)
- Celexa (citalopram)
- Wellbutrin (buproprion)
I would be interested to here of other people’s experiences with SSRI’s and weight gain. You can email me info@anxiety2calm.com or leave a reply on this blog!
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Categorised as: cipralex, citalopram, drugs, medication, ssri
I’ve gained 25 lbs in 13 months because of ssri’s. Starting weight was 228 ( borderline 6 pack abs not fat). First it was Lexapro. From 228-238 in 2 months. Changed to Luvox went down to 231 then blew up to 248. Stopped luvox and got down to 233 in 3 months. Started Zoloft and went back to 245 in one month. I stopped on Dec 2 and I’m still gaining. Now 253. I’m just waiting for the scale to start going down but it won’t. Mental health matters alot but so does my physical appearance. That’s a huge part of me. I run miles, bike miles and lift weights. I hanging in there cause the scale should start to go down, but I’m almost at the point of why should excercice and eat right. I’m on the verge of tears, I threw my mirror across the room. My doc said Wellbutrin should definetaly make me lose weight, but I’m concerned with the seizure effect.
I have been on escitalopram for about 6 weeks, at 5 mg for two weeks, then 10 mg for the next two and 15 mg for the last two. I weighed about 116 lbs when I started. I am now at 122 lbs. (120 before Christmas). My cravings for extra food have gone up, particularly after eating a meal. Cravings tend to be for sweets or junk food. This is a big swing for me in a short time as my weight has been pretty stable for at least 10 years. I was compelled to google “escitalopram and weight gain” because I was convinced the drug was causing it as well as the cravings (which I gave in to). I am now starting to feel so horrible (lethargic, bloated and digestion off) that I am seriously considering going off the drug. I was very surprised that weight gain was not listed as one of the side effects on the drug fact sheet.
Sirley. If you read the paper that comes with the drug it’s there, it’s hard to find since just as many people don’t gain weight as do. So they say it’s weight nuetral. But somewhere in the fine print prob under metabolic it will have infrequent… Then under frequent it will say weight gain.
I have been taking Citalopram for a year and it has only taken the edge of my obsessional thoughts but has given me a voracious appetite and I have gained two stones. I worked really hard for a year in the gym to lose three stones prior to Citalopram and now despite a healthy diet and exercise I am watching the scales creep up on a weekly basis. It is soul destroying because it has made my self esteem sink lower. I am now over weight and uncomfortable so have stopped the meds…weight gain at that rate is not good for my head or my joints. I am hoping to get a prescrition for the gym and swimming pool so I can go and shift all this weight if they are available in my area.
As for the original problems…phew. Who knows?
I have the same effect as Johnhopps, I have tried experimenting and my doc said i would lose some weight under Citaloparm compared to Seterline! So far i have gained 10kgs or 20lbs. I am trying everything and it wont even go down if i starve, i know how to eat right but yet i wont work, i have tried starving and it still will only go up! I mean where does it get its fat and calories to keep going up like that?
I can feel a lot sympathy for John because we both have the same problem and mental health also matters i dont want my mood to swing back to anxiety.
May be this is mostly water gain and i need to switch to Atkins Diet which would dry out my body. Hope something works because i dont want to break a perefectly good mirror and get 7years bad luck like John!
Just kdding.
Good luck John and dont be too bothered just keep up the exercise and stop Anti-deps for a few months and keep swinging thats the best we can do for now.
I have been taking Prozac for three months and have gained five pounds. The food tastes better and I know I am eating more than before I got adjusted to the Prozac. I just have to be VERY careful about what and how much I put in my mouth.
The trade off for a few pounds is worth it though.
I feel so much better and I feel like everything in life is so much better and brighter now!
Hi. Just an update. It’s now been 4 months since stopping sertraline and I’m down 9 pounds. I still have 18 to go as I continued to go up to 256 even after I had stopped all together. The last 4 days I have eaten low carb and extremely low cal. I’m trying to no go over 1000 for the day. I’m taking a couple of multi vits a day because I know 1000 is a bit dangerous. However, I have to see if it’s a metabolism thing now because I am off the meds and calories in vs out I should’ve lost the whole 27 by now. So far it seems to be working but it may just be water so time will tell. Think I’m gonna do a second run tonight and every so often. This weight MUST come off. And Karthik FYI the mirror didn’t break from the throw but there is a hole in the closet door.Lol.
I can empathize with you all – it’s so discouraging. I’ve taken four types of SSRIs in my life and all have caused me to balloon in weight. Huge cravings for chocolate and junk food. Any benefits from the medication are offset by the depression, frustration and humiliation of gaining so much weight and not being able to lose a pound after trying over and over again. Looks like I will gradually wean myself off again, in order to lose some weight.
I took Zoloft and it caused me to gain 30lbs in 3 months! It was aweful! All I thought about was eating! Then I switched to Welbutrin and the exact opposite happened. I never wanted to eat at all. It was kinda nice!
Neither were effective for my anxiety though which is frustrating!
I have been using Paxil for 5 years. I gained some weight and now I think maybe it is because of Paxil. So I will switch to Prozac now, and see if it is any different.
I have been on a cocktail of antidepressants over the past year – fluoxetine, sertraline and trazodone, and stopped earlier this year due to all the other side effects, and no positives. I’ve put on over 12kg. I curb my food, majorly increased my exercise, tried water retention tablets (over the counter), and even started just using a tape measure, because the scales only seemed to go upwards!!. This has made me feel so bad, that I look forward to being on my own so that I can curb my food further and do more exercise without anyone checking up on me. I finally made an appointment to see my doctor, because I’m doing all the right things, and still not getting any good results. How can you put on weight after coming off antidepressants? Keep going Johnhopps, I understand how you feel. Roll on tomorow doctor.
I had been taking Celexa for 4 months and have gained 30lbs. Even after I stopped taking the medication I was still steadily gaining weight. Finally I am at a steady weight of 150lbs. I have been walking 7km a day, eating right, drinking lots of water for the last couple of weeks but I haven’t lost any weight yet. I’m trying to keep pushing on but its soooo frustrating.
Oh my…. taking 100 mg. zoloft since Feb.20 2011. i have been a 5’2″/ 105lb.gal for my entire life. active… eat right… Within 5 days of starting Zoloft, i noticed my depression lifting… WOW… now,5 months and 25lbs. fatter…. i am sick of this. have weaned myself off and then today i found myself crying at a meeting for no apparent reason… so i’m going to check in with my doc. i can’t be fat and depressed and fat and depressed because i’m fat.. something’s got to give… the urgency to eat sugar/sweets/chocolate is overwhelming and i try to eat lots of protein to keep my blood sugar leveled out, but there seems to be no use. it seems like NO ONE has anything concrete to say regarding this…each is different.. i hate the thought of trying THIS… then trying THAT…until something works.. whaaay..whining
took prozac for 15 years. increased weight gain on the last 6 or 7 years, very gradual. But i switched to zoloft 6 months ago and i’m down 10 lbs. no diet change or exersize changes (going to the gym 2-3 days a week for years now). But prozac had been increasing my appetite of the past couple of years so that prompted me to change to zoloft.
Oh. My. God.
I googled escitalopram, weight gain and found this blog.
I’ve been on antidepressants now for several years nonstop. These included trazadone, fluoxetine, citalopram and now escitalopram for the past 3 years or so. I used to be 55kg and now I’m 105kg. I felt better mentally, but nothing helped my weight gain, and my depression is now getting worse. I’m about to go to a counsellor for a top-up session, but think after reading all your posts that I should speak to my GP about this.
I have Crohn’s disease and got an ileostomy two years ago, which I’ve blamed for my weight shooting up. I thought maybe that was why I was getting so many cravings – even after a full healthy meal and two helpings!
Thanks so much for sharing your stories, guys. It really has opened my eyes!!!
I have been on Remeron worst for weight gain, Tried Bupropion SR helped to quit smoking but overall a weak antidepressant , Finally tried Zoloft 100 mg great medication for depression and anxiety but gained 25 pound in three months. tapered to 25 mg and added 12.5 x2 mg of Stablon (not available in United States) figured out as Stablon works exactly opposite of Zoloft this combination does not slow your metabolism. and in fact helps to lose weight without any extreme dieting or exercise.
25 mg Zoloft
12.5×2 Stablon
Balance Diet
4 times a week 45 minutes Resistance weight training
3 times a week 40 minutes trade mill
Generic Name: Stablon
Other name for Stablon: Tianeptine, Coaxil
What is Stablon and for what Stablon is used?
Stablon belongs to the antidepressant class and is chemically related to amineptine. It is a serotonin reuptake accelerator and works opposite to the action of SSRI’s. Like the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and in contrast with most tricyclic antidepressant agents, Stablon does not appear to be associated with adverse cognitive, psychomotor, sleep, cardiovascular or bodyweight effects and has a low propensity for abuse.
The antidepressant and anxiolytic properties of Stablon and its action on somatic complaints make this medicine particularly suitable for the treatment of the entire range of depressive symptomatology. Tianeptine and Coaxil are other names for Stablon.
Now, if I can take a step back for a moment, I’d like to tell you about an interesting thing about both SSRI’s (zoloft) and SSRE’s (tianeptine). An earlier poster at the beginning of this thread about tianeptine remarked that they couldn’t understand why both prozac (an SSRI) and tianeptine (an SSRE) both worked as an anti-depressant, since, as you’ve probably already read, SSRI’s work by inhibiting the uptake of serotonin in the brain, and SSRE’s work by the exact opposite function and actually enhance the reuptake of serotonin in the brain.
This is only contradictory if you think that depression is caused by a lack of serotonin in the brain.
In fact, as new research is showing, the effectiveness of anti-depressants like SSRI’s (and SSRE’s, I would argue too) may have to do with neurogenesis in the brain. I would be citing sources for all of this by the way, but apparently I don’t have enough street cred on this forum yet.
However, as many of you who have taken SSRI’s will agree, zoloft and prozac make you feel like an emotional zombie. According to the posts and articles that I’ve read about tianeptine (stablon), this drug reduces cortisol, and also has the affect of causing neurogenesis in the brain, which is exciting because it brings about the hope that it can help repair some of the cognitive damage that is the result of the high levels of cortisol in the brain as a result of the faulty overactive HPA axis. And, at the same time it doesn’t cause emotional blunting!
Wellbutrin is not an SSRI – it is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. In my experience it does not cause weight gain.
Hello,
I took seroxat (paxil) about 9 years ago and my weight went up hugely and I went from a UK dress size 6 (US2) to a size 16 (US12). However before the pills I did have some eating disorders and once i took them i started to relax and did eat much more normally. Hence its hard to say if it was the pills per se or the lifestyle changes they afforded. After coming off the medication in 2005 I did start going to the gym and got back to a UK 10 (US 6)
I then went on Citalopram in 2009 and since then I have again gained considerable amont of weight althougb I haev changed from an active to a seditary job and am now in a relationship with a man who adores cheesecake!!
Basically I put on weight both times but my circumstances changed both times. But the emds must be doing some damage on the scales. My worry is that I am hoping to come off them soon and really hope to see the weight drop again…….
I’m impressed, I must say. Actually rarely do I encounter a weblog that’s each educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you may have hit the nail on the head. Your thought is excellent; the issue is something that not enough persons are talking intelligently about. I’m very blissful that I stumbled across this in my seek for one thing relating to this.
After taking all the SSRIs except zoloft, i can state that for weight gain, Celexa, lexapro and Fluoxetine are the WORST for weight gain
Fluxoetine was so bad i gained nearly 80lbs in three months.
Paroxatine (paxill) and effexor took my appetite away in low doses, but do not take high amount of these drugs as they are hardest to withdraw from but work best long term although weight gain and weight loss is small with both paxil and effexor, 50 percent will gain weight and 50 percent will lose weight and the majority will go back to the weight they were before they started
I’ve been on Prozac for 4 years and have put on 21lbs. My GP said I wouldnt put on any weight but I totally disagree. Yes, it improved my moods and anxiety but I’m so fed up with this unexplained weight gain. I admit to having a good appetite; HOWEVER, any diet I’ve been on, i.e SW/WW/Atkins, has not budged my weight at all. I’ve done a boring amount of research on SSRI’s and the link to weight gain, and I’m a firm believer that Prozac has put my weight on. I’m now weaning myself off them and have two weeks left to finish. I really hope I can see a difference when I finish completely x
Thankyou. Thankyou. Thankyou. I have gained 3 stones (42lbs) since starting to take Escitalopram around 3 years ago. On many occasions I have asked different GPs at my practice about this and all of them said it was because I was feeling better & eating more! I knew this wasn’t true as I eat more (and more unhealthily) and drink more alcohol when I am depressed. I’ve tried to taper down my dose (currently 20mg) but was left feeling very strange indeed and with huge anxiety (which I don’t usually suffer) so have remained on the higher dose as I’m due to start a new job. I feel frustrated and upset at being this weight. I’ve rejoined Weight Watchers but am seeing no weight loss even when sticking to it 100% and stepping up exercise. Also I’m feeling quite down. I think the meds have stopped working on the depression but am worried at how they’re affecting my brain and metabolism.
It’s such a relief to know that others have experienced weight gain. My doctors made me think it was all in my mind (no irony intended).
Going to do my best now to wean myself off escitalopram and get back to what passes for ‘normal’ lol
So glad I found this
I took escitalopram for 2 months in June / July of this year and put on a stone very quickly – so I stopped taking it very quickly and the weight continued to pile on – I have put on another stone since. At first it did cause an increased appetite but since I have cut down what I am eating and eating healthier foods the weight won’t move. I am now overweight for the firs time in my life and this has made me more depressed than I started off! I exercise for about 1 hour a day – I will struggle to increase this any more
when the doctor wanted to prescribe me ciitalopram for anxiety, i asked about weight gain, which i was terrified of. she said no way. i have gained weight, about 6 kg in 3 months, so i have stopped taking it. No side affects for stopping, but the weight is not shifting. normally, i can lose weight easily, but for me the citalopram has definitely screwed up my weight, slowed me down and given me painful menstral cramps (which i never got) and am still getting. i stopped the pills two weeks ago. i’ll give the weight loss attempts my best effort – even though i have been reading depressing comments about waiting a year after quitting citalopram for weight to reduce to normal.
I have been taking Escitalopram for a two/three years now and have certainly gained weight. I am getting concerned about the weight gain and whereas I used to be able to shift weight easily, nothing seems to be working! I have attributed this to hitting 40 also and the metabolism slowing down etc! Is very difficult to find a balance, I have never felt better mentally, but physically am definitely more shapely. I often think about coming off the tablets, but would rather be a bit more curvy than feel that anxiety again. Eat healthy, exercise when you can, laugh a lot and accept that is the best I can be, which having been trained to be more positive isn’t such a bad thing!!!!