This is one of my pet peeves!!!! Blaming the meds and no taking the blame for ourselves when we overeat,and do not exercise enough..Plain and simple! I always been heavy and a compulsive overeater.. from eating junk foods/comfort foods and watching tv..I been obese all of my life and started taking pressure pills in my teens.. I don't blame the medications for my poor choice making in foods and do not exercise. Medications helps and always got to support it on eating right and moving more..Medications helps on overall well being...but gaining weight with meds.. For my opionion, its a lack of self control..sorry to say. This is my view on it and a huge pet peeves of mine..

Some folks takes the responsiblity when they gain weight from having babies..and knowing thier food habits. Just like with medications. I don't blame my medications, I blame myself of not saying NO and Self Control wih making healthier food choices and moving more!!

This is my 2 cents point of view!!!

Liliann

I was taking Depakote and I gained 100 pounds in a couple of years. I'll admit, I wasn't eating that well but that kind of weight gain was unprecedented. I got off of it and I lost 50 pounds almost instantly. I do believe that medications can cause a lot of weight gain, but I agree with Liliann, that we also need to own our eating habits as well.

I will say Lillian my eating habits were the same when I was 368 and 160. When they took off of the seroquel I began to lose weight. There is scientific research that certain pills cause weight gain. To blame it all on pills is wrong but to say that the no pill can cause weight gain is not right either. I was thin all my life until I began to start taking my meds. There is no mistaking that they contributed to a lot of my current weight problems.

I have medical professionals telling me that certain drugs cause weight gain. I lived with a family that told me the same thing that you say Lillian and it frustrated me because I tried many different things and nothing worked until I got off of the pills. Lumping every obese person in a category I believe is wrong and narrow minded. There is much medical research stating this fact. There are people who are going through the same thing I have. When I took Zyprexa in the hospital over the next year I gained 100 lbs. Eating habits did not change. When I took Seroquel up until last year I gained another 100 lbs. Now that I have been off of both of those medicines I have since lost 100 lbs. I think that if you tell a person who goes through something like this that it is about them and their willpower you terribly frustrate them. Where is the compassion and understanding of what a person is TRULY going through.

I speak the truth and tell it like it is...Since I entered the internet and reading stories about this topic and how meds and weight gain.. This is my personal view and my research on different weight loss sites about million of women blames medication due of weight gain. and helped with health and mental illness. and stopped taking medications due of weight gain.. full of crap to me. I have been struggling with weight and food since grade school and hearing complaints how medications causes weight gain. It helps to keep balance and our job is to eat right and move our bodies.

I will be 46 next month and am taking medications for pressure, and am also on Zyprexa for mental health. I am responbile of my weight gain due on overeating issues of being bored or stress. My new Phd doctor had metioned that it makes me eat more, but I had told her I don't believe in that myth, am always an overeater. I love foods and moderate active.

I had been on Zyprexa for 2 years now and started on eating right and exercise more. I lost 12 Lbs this week!! Keeps my mental health stable .

Side note"""" with the side effects warning when we get medications..I don't believe in them.

You had metioned on your 1st post any feedback..Well, this is my point of view and my personal experiences regarding this topic. Its a complex issues and for me, that is my true opinion. Everyone wants to blame something, etc..and what an old fitness guru, Richard Simmons says "I overeat and don't exercise enough"

medications do cause weight gainand weight loss the affect the whole body includung metabolism. Insulin dioes too Iknow doctor said my gain after I went on was caused by it and I had carefully journalled every bite to prove it. I aklso know I stayed exactly the same after that gain, and am now losing it because I am eating nearly no carbs and end up low blood sugars from it.

Look up the side effects on various medications dont condemn everyone . dont think I want to come back here if thisis the attitude peoplehave.

Normaeh I'm glad that you have some sense when it comes to this. I thought this was supposed to be a support group not a condemnation group. It makes me want to leave too. It breaks my heart Lillian that because you have experienced something different that you take it as verbatim and feel every one should think and feel the same as you when we are all different creatures with different metabolism, chemical balances and ways our bodies respond to medications. Just because you didn't experience it does not make it true for all of humanity. They would not put it on the side effects section if there was no side affect and never had been. Do you read the disclaimer on the bottom of comment box where it says "in adding this comment, I ----- do promise to be nice" not judgemental and critical. I came here for support not criticism and whether you think you are helping by being so called truthful it is not helping in any way and misleading a lot of people in not educating themselves with what the truth really could be in their circumstances. Please you are not a medical doctor and authority on this. What do you say to people who have thyroid issues and have gained weight from predlisone? Is that not a legitimate reason to gain weight either?

pulled membership and am concidering reporting you lillian had hit ignore button as well nuf heard from you sorry could have been great to have support but...

Although I've been overweight for most of my life, I too, gained a 100 lbs over 2 years and eventually 150 over 12 years before I said enough. The pills (Paxil for depression) caused me to be happy and on a constant plateau, but I never got full and ate ALL the time. Getting off the meds (I was on two meds at the end) was super hard and took six months of weaning but was worth it. I'm almost to the 60 lb. weight loss mark and I don't have that constant hunger anymore. Of course, I've had to relearn how to eat better and get out and walk and move but it's all coming together. Meds are a double-edged sword and have a lot of side effects. If it's in our power to get off meds that cause us further harm, then it's the best thing for our bodies. Do what's right for you and no one can tell you otherwise.

Hugs :)

This thread makes me so sad. I feel we should say what we feel but also temper it with kindness and understanding of other people's experiences.

I am on two types of pain meds and both say "may cause extreme fatigue" on them. Do I blame the meds for my weight gain? No, I blame the fatigue and pain. My life is so much better because of the meds and I truly cannot function without them. (Look up Chiari and you will understand why.) However, i also blame myself and the eating to feel better.

My meds also carry a disclaimer for weight gain. Of couse when you are extremely fatigued and in a ton of pain and getting out of bed even to use the restroom is a huge and monumental task, I ask you, how can you exercise those 30 minutes the dr recommends?
So I do believe medications can contribute to weight gain. They may not cause it completely, but they can contribute to it.
In my case however, I'll take a little weight gain (over 85 pounds) to the constant headaches and pain and black outs and resulting bruises and concussions ANYDAY.
Stephanie 777 and Normah I will miss you. (Please consider not leaving.)
Good Luck on your weight loss journey. My heart continues with you.
Lisa

WOW.
Please no one leave our group. I know that occassionally I have mis spoken n may have had tunnel vision. Darn medication n depression.
I think that we should share. I also think that we are adults who r knowledgeable, n can goggle to get n check things out...
regarding meds when I don't understand summary, I ask pharmist n/r my Dr. n/r goggle- reseach.
I think that we all get along quite will n that we should try to be understanding of ea other where every we happen to be. Again I live w daiy depression n it has many shades of gray. Let me take this moment to appologize for anything that I may say that may be incorrect or come across are mis leading or condisending...
I went to dentist yesterday. I'm on pain med n it's kicking my butt. it shows in my writen. I'm doing the best that I can at this moment.
Lillian I think that you are wrong but I do understand your underlaying message/point.
I hope that you didn't intentionally mean to attack. a part of me thinks that that was not your intentions.
1 size doesn't fit all. Based on my pharmist, Dr's, my reseach n exsperance, certain meds do cause weight gain.
Except for this Opp's, you have been an inspiration, benifitual n encourge everyone n supportive, our cheer leader.

PLEASE people, don't leave this group.

Pain med I'm on is time release. I half to go lay back down.
I just go up to take my med n sorta sip 20 oz of water.
I pray that everyone will stay on this group.
For myself, when neeeded, I agree to be able to disagree n remain friends. I also think that it's short of merical that people get along as will as we do. siblins fight/disagree but re unite.

I am totally with you Admiral....Please no one leave this group....This is too important for all of us. I would hate to see each one of us not get the support we deserve. I am sure there will be other times when we will disagree on a given subject. Can't we just accept that that is ok? Please be gentle with each other.....let us see things from each other's point of view and not just our own. We can be truthful without being hurtful and condemning each other.

We all get passionate about different subjects, we get fired up and sometimes are not as compassionate as we could be.
Like right now, I AM PASSIONATE about nobody feeling like they want to leave this group.....like they can't get the support they want and need.
There is no doubt in my mind that some meds do cause weight gain. I have a sister with Bipolar and the meds she is on definitely have done something to a part of her brain that tells her when she has eaten enough.....It definitely has increased her appetite and that is not to say that she shouldn't take responsibility for that and to accept that she needs to exert more self control now than ever before.... to accept that losing weight will be more difficult on her meds, but to not use that as an excuse.

Be calm...Be blessed and please forgive anyone who has wronged you....we are all at different stages mentally and emotionally and we are all doing the best we can.
Love, and hugs
Lynda

PS: Love is patient
Love is kind
It does not envy, It does not boast, It is not proud
It is not rude, it is not self seeking, It is not easily angered
Love never keeps a record of wrongs
Love does not delight in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
preservers. Love never fails.

I like Lillian but medications do have powerful side effects that we must weight carefully before we begin or continue on them.
I have glaucoma (high eye pressures that can lead to blindness) and the doc prescribed beta blocker eye drops to reduce the pressures.
Well, they did reduce the pressures but lowered my heartrate so much that I was falling asleep several times daily and when I tried to exersise I could barely move. If I stayed on that drug I'm sure I would have gained a lot of weight in a short period of time. I got off those drops FAST!!!!! I felt awful on them. For me, the side effects were not worth it. The doctor put me on non beta blocker drops and my eye pressures went down just as well and I felt like my old energetic self and immediately was able once again to do my 1 1/2 hour daily workout.
Drug side effects are a very real phenomenon and must always be taken into account as some side effects can be deadly.
Please, don't anyone leave DS.