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medication impacting weight loss?

allison34509
allison34509
So I am prescribed lexapro 20 mg daily, which hasn't stopped me from being ABLE to lose weight physically but the cravings, appetite increase and binge eating has been unreal. I was never like this before the medication. I don't want to go off of it but it makes my anxiety worse when I constantly worry about gaining back the weight I worked SO hard to lose! This matter is making me miserable. Every time I eat well for a couple days I ruin it by binge eating past the point of no return for no reason and I can't stop! Does anyone know how I can manage this or stop myself so that I can finally get to my goal weight and not have to go off the medicine?
Halterbroke
Halterbroke
Well, I have been dealing with medication related weight gain for years. Antidepressants and antipsychotics mostly. Good news is that often the cravings will start to diminish after a while once your body is used to them. More good news, you are very conscious of how they make you feel hunger-wise. Believe it or not, when I gained a bunch of weight from meds I actually had no idea why for a long time.

Bad news, yes, the cravings are awful. I recommend keeping lots of fruit and veggies around to munch on, and keeping stuff you are tempted by completely out of the house. You could also talk to your doc about switching to something else, if you find it to be something you can't deal with. Also don't let anyone tell you you can't lose weight on this kind of medication. I have lost 75 lbs and I'm still taking mine.
NovScorp
NovScorp
I switched from zoloft to prozac after I read that it actually causes carb cravings..Makes sense to me..I have cut back on the prozac about every other day..now that I am getting my hypothyroisim under control..dont need it as much.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Lexapro was great to me. The first month on it I lost 13 lbs!

I had trouble a few months ago with some med changes and I ended up gaining 20 lbs in two months!

It's hard when you need the anti-depression meds, and they make you gain weight, which makes the depression/anxiety even worse!
red47640
red47640
I definitely feel your pain... in high school my doc put me in Xyprexa and it truly killed all my attempts to maintain a healthy weight. It was only after I switched meds that I began to lose some weight. You should talk to your doctor about this and tell them you need to discuss other medications that won't have this effect - or at least, not as drastic an effect. I'm on lamotrigine right now, and it's actually been helping with my weight loss. Hope this helps, all the best :-)