Can AAPs make it impossible to lose weight ?

[sleepy borderline]

 Hey y'all.

 So I have been on low dose Seroquel for over a year now. 25-50 mg daily and I'm thinking of increasing it. I'm also on Prozac ( generic) 20 mg/ per day. I have really bad problems with sleep, and the Seroquel helps with that, and other stuff.  Anyhoo, I want to lose some of the weight I have gained on Seroquel ( hummm, somewhere between 15-20 lbs, mostly from not exercising as much as I did before the Quel' and eating more carbs and sweets and more at night)

 

I'm wondering if it's possible to lose weight on some meds. I read a lot of messages on this board going " I'm on Zyprexa ( or Seroquel or Abilify) and I have gained 10, 20, 30 lbs without a change in exercise and diet". That s***  is really scary to me. I have stopped eating almost entirely in the last couple days  because I'm scared the Seroquel is going to make me gain more and more weight no matter what. I am even afraid that the Seroquel will make me gain weight even as I eat nothing. 

 

Is it possible to gain weight on an AAP when you are extreme dieting? I mean wouldn't the person stave to death? Is this an irrational fear?

 

My Pdoc said if there was calorie deficit on ANY med ( even Zyprexa ) I would be able to lose weight or at least maintain where I am now. I need to be reassured somehow, so I can just eat healthy and exercise. I am recovering from an ED and I don't want to be sucked back in to the world of starvation, it makes me more depressed to starve and could kill me.

 

thanks in advance,

Sleepy.

[cfranco92]

NO. It is possible to lose weight on meds, especially APs. There are a lot of members here who have lost weight on certain meds, sustained their current weight on their current meds, and there are the rest of us who gain weight. But it really depends on the med.

Edited March 19, 2013 by cfranco92

[helenllama]

It is possible. 

 

However what has been snuck into studies that has not become widely known is that they actually change the way your body metabolises food. 

 

It's what causes the carb cravings etc. 

[sleepy borderline]

Thanks for the responses.

 

ahhh, yes, helenllama that would make sense. I just had another thought: I'm taking such a low dose of it maybe I should try going off of it again. My Pdoc says it's fine for me to go off of it and just stay on Prozac, but I find every time I try to go off of it I have problems falling and staying asleep. The real problem is that I will get really, really tired, my eyes will feel like they are on fire or something, my head will hurt, but I can't fall asleep. So then I will get up and take a small dose of it and sleep 12 hours. 

 

It's not worth it to me to go back into an ED because of sleep. 

 

Is 25 mg even supposed to help with anything else?

[Cacia]

;

Edited July 8, 2013 by Cacia

[dtac]

It is possible, it all depends on how you react to the meds. I've gained about 7lbs on seroquel (again!) but I could probably lose it if I ate better, cut my calorie count, and got some exercise lol. I get those night-time munchies, and it's hard to control them. I ate 1000 calories in 10min the other night because I had brownies around No more brownies in the house.

I found I lost a bit of weight of Geodon, and a bunch of weight on Latuda. Abilify has been weight neutral so far. All depends on how you metabolize the drugs.

How long were you off seroquel? The first time I stopped it, I had rebound insomnia for almost a month, and I was on 50mg. Not fun. Nothing would keep me asleep for more than 4h. I just had to struggle through the insomnia for that month (no pdoc at the time). Now I'm back on it again for sleep because nothing else has worked, but I will say there are a lot of other options to try.

[A208B]

I gained ~10 lbs on Seroquel. I went from 90 to ~100 lbs (give or take a pound depending on the day) and the weight came on uncomfortably fast. I've changed the way I eat to a healthy, low-carb diet with more-or-less set mealtimes and I'm starting to see some changes; my weight is beginning to fluctuate back downward. And that's before I've had the chance to add physical activity! I imagine the weight loss will happen much faster once I start lifting / cardio again.

I think a lot of the weight gain was due to carb cravings and excess eating when I first started Seroquel, too. After I titrated up to about 150mg, I noticed I was suddenly craving sweets and breads like nothing else--which is weird, 'cause normally I hate sweets. So I knew something was up. Oddly--but thankfully--I'm starting to lose the carb cravings.

[sleepy borderline]

I was on Seroquel on and off for hummmmmm, I would say 8 years? From doses ranging from 25 to 800 mg. I had my diagnosis changed several times over the years. a couple of the doctors I saw put me on an excessive amount of medication. Then in 2008 I went off 25 mg of Seroquel and for two years I was on Effexor and Topamax, slept fine. In 2009 I was taken off of Topamax and Effexor and was put on Wellbutrin XR. I still slept fine. I was on that until the end of 2009. Then I went off of that and was med free for the first time in 13 years. I exercised like crazy and eat really well and lost 60 lbs. I was fine off of meds for a year.

 

The end of 2010 I stopped sleeping, started acting nuts, got really depressed and my current Pdoc put me on Prozac and low dose Seroquel. Since then I have tried to get off of the Seroquel a few times, not successfully. Maybe for a week at the most. I have tried other things to help me sleep. Ativan worked great until I tried Seroquel. Low doses of it doesn't work anymore and my Pdoc told me not to take it for sleep. I have some anxiety, but .5 or 1 mg used to work for sleep, but not anymore. Trazodone works but not as well as Seroquel. 

 

I still exercise, but I sleep so much that it cuts my day in half. Also I feel very worn out and tired. Cardio is harder. Lifting weights is harder. Motivation is null. Maybe I will just have to put up with the rebound insomnia, I'm sure will be pretty bad. 

[dtac]

I will say the first 10 days of stopping seroquel was the worst. I woke up every hour, every night, but I also had nothing else to help with insomnia, so I did it cold-turkey. If I had to do it again (and I will in the near future) I would talk to my pdoc about a 2-3 week regimen to help with the rebound insomnia until the seroquel is totally gone. I've been through a lot of meds, and seroquel is the only one that's caused rebound insomnia.

For what it's worth, seroquel is the only thing helping with my sleep right now too, and I dread stopping it.

[SpartanForce]

gym + metformin = weight loss

[Wonderful.Cheese]

gym + metformin = weight loss

I would agree that the gym helps maintain or lose weight. But metformin did absolutely nothing for me as far as weight loss goes. It's not a magic pill, unfortunately.

[sleepy borderline]

I don't think metformin would be needed for such a small dose. I'd like to point out that also I am not overweight: I'm almost 5'3 and about 125 at night ( finally gave in a weighed myself last night for the first time since November). I have gained about 15 lbs since I started it, but mostly from binge eating at night after I take it, not working out as much, and not eating as well. After weighing myself last night, I'm thinking I should stay it, maybe even try up til' 150 mg of it at the most, I think also for sleep, it is a great AAP and working well for my thinking, anxiety, and depression. 

 

I'm going to try to get back between 110-115. I think I can do it ( know on this dose I can do it) by eating more thoughout the day, more protein and veggies and less carbs and sweets, going to work out 4-6 times a week, watching portion sizes. 

 

I'll let everyone know how it goes.

[Cacia]

I've lost 1.6 kg (~4 pounds) so far in the past 3 weeks by eating 3 meals a day with plenty of vegetables and fruit, cutting back on sugary/carb based snacks and walking for about 30-60 minutes a day, while still being on high doses of Seroquel and Remeron. Good luck

[jarn]

I gained 40lbs on Seroquel, general doses from 500-800mg.  I was off and on it for years, and would lose weight on other AAPs - Invega and Abilify in particular - and regain when I went back on Seroquel.

 

I know I needed to eat better, but I ran regularly, and I still couldn't keep the weight off.  I could not control my cravings, I was constantly hungry. 

 

Since going on Saphris I've lost over 30lbs, and I hardly eat perfectly. 

[Guest]

AAPs can make it almost impossible to lose weight.  I tried everything I knew to try.  Nothing worked.  I gained less on Abilify than I did on Zyprexa and Seroquel but I still gained a couple of pounds a month.  The only thing the really helped was adding Metformin.  Metformin made it so that I at least stopped gaining on Abilify. A few weeks ago I had to go back on Zyprexa for about a week.  I was shocked that the gaining was so quick even with Metformin.  I gained three pounds in a week.  Then, my pdoc had me start back on lithium.  After a week, I'd gained two additional pounds.  Luckily, it was a spring "blip" and things are back under control and I was able to discontinue the meds.  Now, I've got to get those five pounds off.  

[sleepy borderline]

It's a different kind of fat too, the kind that goes straight to your gut and thighs ( well, at least my gut and thighs). Weight gain is so so shitty. It makes me really upset that I feel like I have to * choose* between my health, self-esteem, etc. and my mental health. As if I don't have enough problems as it is. 

 

Why can't they make a anti-psychotic that doesn't cause weight gain and that will let me sleep at night? Is there such a thing?

[Luna-]

I am on Geodon which doesn't make me gain weight (Seroquel did). It is also sedating, though not as much as Seroquel was for me; I am on 160mg and have to take it 40mg in the morning and 120mg at night because of this, even though my pdoc originally wanted it to be 80-80. YMMV, of course and I don't know if a low dose will be effective for sleep?

 

 

[sleepy borderline]

Thanks for the imput Luna, Geodon is one of the AAPs I haven't tried. I might ask my doctor about that one. 

 

I guess I could also try Trazodone with Geodon. I am trying to look for a non-weight gaining combo for me.

 

Third day and already the weight lose thing on low-dose Seroquel is not working out .