Bipolar Disorder Support Group

well does it help you at all?
i gained 30 or 40 pounds on depakote and it made me like a zombie. i finally got off of it and i am losing a lot of weight and i am feeling better.
but if it is helping, you should just try to eat healthy yet filling foods. i remember i was hungry allll the time but i ate like nachos and horrible food because i was so sad and it made me feel better. but now i'm on new meds and feeling better about myself and not hurting so much.

you just need to do whatever you can to feel better. it's so hard to find good meds.

It made me gain weight - but it was only water retention. I lost it immediately after getting off of it.

The thing is I don't eat anything, I barely have an appetite, my pdoc is alwasy on me cuz I don't eat enough. It helps for a while then not. He want's to change me to Seroquel XR but everyone says that is a major weight gainer.

I only take a 5mg dose of abilify and I have gained weight- I am glad to hear you say that you have no appetite and hardly eat, I am the same way yet have gained weight-meds,can't live with em,can't live with out 'em! I am trying to make sure I get alot of exercise when I fell up to it and just hope it will plateu before I gain much more.Good luck on finding the right miz and keep your head up.

hi kat, as you know, originally i didn't gain any weight on seroquel but with the increases i have. like you i don't eat a whole lot, banana for breakfast, cereal for lunch (if hungry) and cereal for dinner. i swim when i can and walk on the shore too. i too am sick of it. for the first time this morning, i felt like throwing all the pills away, i feel so bad even on them it doesn't seem worthwhile to take them. pdoc tells me i would be worse off them but i can't imagine being worse than this. gp's who don't believe that we are eating v. little drive me insane!

well as of today I'm being weaned off of abilify and am being put on Seroquel XR which seems more likely to cause weight gain, so we'll see how it goes.

I can only add my support.... this is so frustrating! I've gained twenty pounds, my memory is shot. I did try abilify because the companydid a good job pitching it as weight neutral but when you read the fine print there was an average weight gain- just not as much as other meds. Plus, a lot of the people in these studies are coming off some other med that may have caused a lot of weight gain.

They say abiify is the best for not gaining weight but my experience has been different. It idid cause me to gain weight but it did make me feel a bit better, only slightly.

I feel that abilify is good for the racing thoughts but it doesn't help me get out of my depression.

Yeah..I've found it invaluable for mixed states/racing thoughts...do feel better on it. I haven't gained weight on it however I am careful not to eat sugar & do have a pretty healthy diet. I haven't found it to be a fat pill..I try & keep my dose to about 10-15mg.

abilify made me gain weight too.
i was 90 lbs
and then, i gained till i was 110.

once you do get off, you will lose it. promise.