Getting fatter? Check your prescriptions..

Finally SOMEONE else noticed this problem.Yet another reason why diet and exercise does not work as well as the diet and exercise fans claim. I know this article is true when I took certain medications my weight skyrocketed.Thorazine fucked up my metabolism bad.It was in the 80's and I was misdiagnosed.
I'm still pissed off about the drugs effects I have taken in the past, it has done damage, for no reason other than the doctors unwillingness to accept I had trauma issues..Why do you think tort reform was passed? Because companies knew eventually as rates of mental illness rose and the criteria for it changed,and more people started taking prescription drugs as advertised on TV, the drugs had side effects like weight gain and as it began to become common knowledge some drugs will make you fat and unable to lose weight, and it can mess with your metabolism and make you even prone to diabetes. Drug Companies knew as reality caught up to people,and the truth came out , scores of angry people would want compensation for damages done .
Often shrinks don't bother to tell their patients the drugs they coerce you to take,(or in some cases they FORCE you to take it by pinning you down and injecting it into your body.) will make you fat...And being fat is not easy in this fat phobic culture.You get emotionally abused.


Thousands of people who take prescription medicines for everyday conditions are gaining large amounts of weight as an unexpected side effect, scientists have warned.

Researchers, who found that some patients were putting on up to 22lbs in a year, say that the drugs may even be contributing to the nation's rocketing obesity epidemic.

http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2701322.ece

the worst disease causing the skyrocketing obesity is still the dreaded "hand to mouth" disease. And those quarter pounder pills twice a day do not help either.

unless you experience it firsthand, you are clueless. Panther, I hear you -- my thyroid meds caused me to gain 30 lbs. It sucks! Luckily I am tall, but this is way too much weight for me!

Thorazine made me gain 50 pounds, in like a month.I was switched to Mellaril and gained another 20..All the older anti psychotics will make you fat and fuck up your metabolism as do a lot of tricyclic anti depressants.The Anti convulsants and lithium do too. It's obscene that nobody investigates this connection further.
With 1 in 4 people being diagnosed with some form of mental illness, and drug companies pushing drugs like pushers to shrinks ,it would be interesting to find out how many of the people visiting a shrink are on a psych drug or combination of drugs that cause weight gain? And how much that gain is by average VS people who are not taking drugs but are in therapy.

"Beware those who seek to control knowledge, for they already see themselves your master."
-- Unknown

he's on anti-anxiety medication for severe panic attacks and he's frustrated over his sudden weight gain after taking the meds. It looked good on him at first only because he use to be slightly underweight but now it's too much for him to be comfortable with. He's slowly tapering off of them now and he's hoping he'll be able to salvage his metabolism.

switching to wellbutin later does not take off the 20 pounds prozac put on.

Paxil is an SSRI. Wellbutrin isn't.

Paxil works on your reuptake of serotonin. Wellbutrin focuses on your dopamine.

Apples and oranges.

If the answer were as simplistic as that, there would be no problem. You are overlooking the problem of poverty (filling starches are cheaper then expensive produce and proteins) and issues such as the ones presented in the article cited. If you can drop your extra weight by not eating that extra Quarter Pounder, well - go for it!

And an article that backs up my experience.

I have dieted and yo yo-ed.My metabolism is fucked.
I really get sick of people who ASSUME heavy is always choice. Sometimes it is not. Sometimes there are mitigating factors in people's weight issues that the eat less propagandists fail to acknowledge because they get an ego charge out of telling heavy people they are morally weak or inferior to thin people and that is part of the motive for the diet pusher crowd.

This size bigotry is sanctioned by this fat phobic culture a throwback to dark ages puritanism where "gluttony" was a sin.Frankly there are A LOT of factors in weight issues in people that diet pushers fail to even consider because their over-valued beliefs trump everything,or because it worked for them it must fix everyone..Wrong..
Because the diet and exercise crowd STILL fail to realize the obesity issue is very complex and apparently, it's not a one size fits all problem So the solution is not a one size fits all solution.Diets DO NOT WORK.They are a temporary fix at best,90% failure rate is not a resounding success rate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45499-2005Jan3.html
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is well, stupid.
http://www.possibility.com/epowiki/Wiki.jsp?page=EffectsOfSemiStarvation
Weight loss and gains are more damaging to the body than just being fat.
http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2701322.ece

Diet and exercise believers perpetuate the puritanical bigotry that wounds people emotionally,assuming the fat person does not work hard enough or eat too much implies that fat people are lazy and gluttons.. And I am tired of of those stupid stereotypes..Either comment about medications and weight gain or just leave the thread .That goes for any diet and exercise or food purity true believer thinking of saying the same tired truisms .. I have heard enough useless chastising disguised as "help" and unsolicited advice and ignorance from the diet crowd..to make anyone feel sick.

My Post #3 agreed with you, and not with simplistic "well, just don't eat so many hamburgers!" advice.

I got confused. Yeah it was meant for post #2.

...and that's a real MD type of doc who specializes in this sort of thing...explain to me that a lot of the weight I'd recently acquired was due to the anti-depressant I was taking.
:grr:
Switched me to something else without that side effect...not only felt better, but dropped about 25lbs because I wasn't hungry all the time any more. Seems Paxil messes with insulin uptake...your muscles aren't getting the glucose they need, they send a message to the brain "Hey, what gives?" and the brain makes hungry noises.

You know what's really depressing? Fat and hungry at the same time. :banghead:

Because they're sick, they don't get sick because they're fat. Severe arthritis can limit activity, so that although the arthritic doesn't eat any more than others, he or she still gains weight. People who are on steroids for severe allergies or asthma can really pack on the pounds, as can epileptics on some anti-seizure drugs. I've even read that lately many women diabetics are cutting back on their insulin to avoid weight gain, even though it worsens their medical problems and shortens their lives.

I blame at least 20 of my own 50 extra pounds on medication I take for chronic pain, which is known to increase appetite. I could probably lose weight if I stopped taking it, but I'd be in such unrelenting agony that I'd probably be suicidal.

There are a lot of reasons why sick people get fat, just as there are reasons why many lose weight due to illness.

To treat either as a character flaw is both cruel and illogical.

I wish I could nominate just this one. :)

but I see a lot of rich people that are fat also. BTW did not go to med school. I earned a degree a Macon State in Nursing. Have been an RN for a little over ten years and I have seen a dramatic change in the populace at large in regards to weight.

You know about drugs and side effects right?
Well what about that? How many patients who are heavy are on medications that have weight gain listed as a side effect in the PDR?
Have you counted them? It would be interesting to see how the numbers add up.

there are drugs that cause weight gain. That is there main purpose ie Marinol, Megace. Other meds do have an impact on weight, mood, bone density, cardiac problems. There are no perfect medicines. Remember for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. THis is so true with medication. Lithium keeps you down. Vicodin causes constipation and the list goes on.

So I wonder how much the medicines fix one problem but cause another?
And how much of that is weight gain?

all of my patients on overdoing it with medicine. I realize that sometimes certain meds are necessary. Have you tried any diet medication. Although that has side effects also.

And it had some nasty side effects ,couldn't keep taking it,and the weight loss was really not worth the suffering the medicines caused me.

Anyways I found when I just relax and eat and listen to my body's signals about food without withholding and I try to shut out the inane yammering of the diet gurus I do better..
I have lost around 40 pounds now probably closer to 50..in the past year and a half without any dieting or self weigh ins.I get weighed at my doctor..

I just eat and listen to my bodies needs and signals more.Trust in myself that my body knows how to eat and it's my mind that confuses things.

Discipline and cracking the whip doing psychological self flagellation didn't do a damn thing for my weight loss, however it made me able to not eat for almost a month.
So I am not lacking discipline.And diets are all about discipline.I don't respond to that kind of mind fuck..I guess.

I could lose 25 my self.

I hope you don't start cracking a whip over your own head tho.

15 lbs. I've lost ten by stopping my intake of sodas. One of the stated side effects is weight gain, and sleep disorders. Sleep is important for weight loss I have read.

>And those quarter pounder pills twice a day do not help either.<

I don't eat hamburgers from McDonald's.

In the meantime, your concern is touching.

Julie

nobody eats quarter pounders twice a day, it's the damn prozac or the damn chemo making them fat from what i've seen of my friends

It would be hard to prove how much it cost a person to be fat.

The obesity epidemic means so many people are fat that it's not really all that damaging. Fat people can be nice to each other.

Though I'm sure your comments on the drug companies are right on, and would apply to worse symptoms than gaining weight.

Sometimes, I seriously think we would all lose weight if we just quit obsessing about it.

So many diet gurus in one place!

And gastric bypass surgery isn't something people do out of laziness or moral weakness. They do it because they are in danger.And DIETS FAILED them.

So what are you trying to say? :shrug:

Does more than reduce intake.

Three common problems after bypass surgery are: vomiting, dumping syndrome and nutritional deficiency.

Nutritional deficits fancy that.
Maybe FOOD is less packed with nutrition than it was say 30 years ago? So maybe being forced to eat less via surgery means less intake and less nutrients a BODY needs.Maybe nutrient cravings was one factor that made them fat? Ever consider that?
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2005/sep2005_report_veggies_01.htm
http://www.glisonline.com/soildepletion.php

If your problem was the addiction of overeating - you switch addictions.

People who never smoked become chain smokers. Alchoholics.

The basic problem is cleared - but the overwhleming addiciton behavior has not been treated.

The "by-pass" part of gastric by-pass means they by-pass a large part of your intestine so you absorb less. Therefore, the way it works is two-fold - reducing your intake AND whatever you take in does not get fully absorbed. Even if most people only got the by-pass part (and not the stomach reduction/stapling part), they'd lose some weight.

Besides, a lot of people don't overeat because they are simply bored, or lack willpower. I have excess insulin circulating in my body and insulin is a hunger hormone. I get very hungry, often. We're talking ravenous. It's really hard to not eat when your stomach is grumbling all day and you have hypoglycemic episodes. Which is why the 'stomach-stapling' works so well, it helps people feel full.

>It would be hard to prove how much it cost
>a person to be fat.

Not really. Calculating the costs of health complications is done all the time. Obesity damage would be assessed like any bodily injury caused by an unsafe product or being misled about it.Psychological damage the same. If judges and insurance can figure out the damage awards for class action law suits for bad drugs like bextra and phen phen they can figure it out for other drugs too.

>The obesity epidemic means so many people are fat that it's >not really all that damaging. Fat people can be nice to >each other.

Yeah we can be nice to each other.Defend one another.It's the self righteous thin people we run into that tend to give us their unsolicited diet advice and that veiled judgmental snot and sometimes outright bigotry.

>Though I'm sure your comments on the drug companies are >right on, and would apply to worse symptoms than gaining >weight.

Yeah it would be important to take care of the severe things first,.But I think Diabetes is a pretty scary symptom don't you think?

>Sometimes, I seriously think we would all lose weight
>if we just quit obsessing about it.


It is too profitable for drug,diet companies,fashion industry and food manufacturers to stop encouraging the body image obsessions,insecurity and desperation that fuels the bigotry and hopelessly unattainable ideals of beauty that leads to dieting that for 90% of dieters leads to despair and in some cases to drugs with side effects of weight gain...and such that feeds some of the problems fat people face culturally..It's a vicious cycle.No one bothers to connect.Misery sells solutions to misery and often the solutions are designed to keep you coming back and buying more solutions for the misery.

If our culture shut up about size-ism it may work for some, that's what the fat acceptance and body positive stuff is about. I am thankful these organizations exist. But on the other hand if you KNEW you were heavy due to an INJURY caused by a drug you were not fully informed about the risks of, or were forced to take against your will,wouldn't you want that damage addressed?

Weight depends on so many things. I was always skinny until I took anti-depresssants, but then most of the women in my family gained weight when they got to middle age - so I could see where I'd need a bunch of expert witnesses (while of course Big Pharma would get a bunch too) and it would be pretty hard to say whether it's just genetic or whether it was due to the anti-depressants.

Not to mention all the diet/exercise factors, though I tend to have this unpopular opinion that people are genetically set toward a certain weight, and that our society's obsessing over body shapes and accepting only a limited range of them borders on the insane.

And there are skinny ugly people and fat people who are pleasant enough to look at!

They don't work for those unable to set those limits, for whatever reason, and there's no shame in that. However, it is a basic biochemical equation--calories lost vs. calories consumed. It's completely possible ailments or medication (or diet itself) can affect one's metabolism to the extent that it is extremely difficult to lose weight, but it is never impossible. This is why subsistence farmers (not the starving ones, but the ones who subsist) in sub-Saharan Africa or rural North Koreans, etc., tend to not be obese. Reduce calories in enough and/or increase calories out enough, and you will lose weight. Sometimes against your own wishes. That's not saying it can't be incredibly hard, but it's always theoretically possible.

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

medications. Your body will not metabolize fats and other "toxins" if your liver has been damaged or overloaded by damaging pharmaceuticals. This is fairly commonly known. It's not just a matter of diet and exercise at that point.

The damage needs to be stopped and reversed before diet and exercise can be given a chance to work. That means no pharmaceuticals, no processed foods, no sugar, no artificial sweetener, no alcohol, no street drugs, etc. - anything that damages the liver and prevents is from metabolizing fats and toxins needs to be cleared from the body for a long period of time and then the body will start to work properly again.

BTW - I have done this myself, and it's amazing how, once you stop taxing the liver, kidneys, etc., the weight comes off, your skin looks better, you feel better, healthier, more energy, etc. It's not easy though - you have to eat and drink as "clean" as possible for a while before your body starts to adjust again.

Which make it easier or more difficult to regulate how much you take in, and can also make it difficult to burn what you do take in. That doesn't take anything away from the science of it--health care professionals the world-round recommend diet adjustments and exercise first and foremost. It is the least intrusive method of weight loss therapy. The secondary methods employed are usually a means to artificially restrict intake. For example, have you ever heard of a stomach-staple outpatient getting fatter? Not often, possibly almost never. That's the result of reduced intake, with no other variables added.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/134144/after_gastric_bypass_surgery.html






Redo Morbid Obesity Surgery

In the event that a patient requires revision of a previous obesity operation, either because of a complication or unsatisfactory weight loss, gastric bypass has been shown to be more than twice as effective as VBG in inducing loss of excess body weight.9,10 Open surgery is almost always required.
In one large series, surgical failures occurred in 43% of patients undergoing VBG, principally from narrowing or enlargement of the outlet from the upper stomach. Surgery failed in 23% of patients undergoing gastric bypass due to breakdown of the staple line.12 An isolated gastric bypass, in which the upper stomach pouch is separated from the lower stomach by division between the staples, eliminates this complication but increases the leak rate.

An operation which restricts the size of one's stomach means one will never be able to eat "normally" again. After a period of a completely liquid diet, intake is advanced to a pureed diet and then finally a modified regular diet. The small upper stomach pouch will always limit the size of a meal. At first, no more than 1-2 ounces will be accomodated, and later no more than approximately 8-12 ounces (after the pouch dilates over the first 4-6 months). Overeating will cause vomiting. Patients will need to eat smaller, more frequent meals for life. In addition, eating high-calorie foods will likely result in dumping, a syndrome of sweating, weakness and diarrhea related to the too-rapid delivery of calories to the small intestine.

I thought my weight problem would be solved when I had the Rue-N-Y gastric bypass in October 2001. I weighed in at 400 pounds the morning of surgery. The surgery itself was easy. I believed it saved my life.
In 18 months I lost a total of 140 pounds, but I never lost any more weight.

Still weighing 260 pounds, I knew I had to lose a lot more weight, but the bypass was no longer doing it for me. Soon my weight started to slowly climb. The more I tried to lose weight, the more I gained.


http://viper.med.unc.edu/surgery/gi/obesity.html




Ann Surg. 1982 November; 196(5): 553–559.
Copyright notice
Metabolic consequences from conversion of jejunoileal bypass to gastric bypass.
N B Ackerman
Abstract
Conversion of jejunoileal bypass to gastric bypass was performed in 11 patients because of metabolic problems and physical discomforts, and in three patients because of insufficient weight loss. There was no mortality and little morbidity after operation. An additional mean weight loss of 6% occurred, and weight stabilized satisfactorily in most patients. Two patients regained significant weight. Serum cholesterol levels rose within a month in most patients, with a mean increase of 61%.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1352786
This surgery basically RUINS a person's ability to eat food normally.

Notice the person in the first article dropped 140 lbs(!) just from having her caloric intake artificially reduced. That should prove to you how much you take in vs how much is burned has some impact. The gain in weight is easily explained in the same way--if the person's system is shocked by the weight loss and the lack of accustomed amounts of food, the metabolism may slow down yet -further-. In this case, the weight will slowly creep back in as the metabolism adjusts to the drastically reduced intake. It is doubtful the person will ever get back to 400 lbs, however. With consistent exercise, which boosts the metabolism, restricted calories work wonders, whereas just starving oneself can make the metabolism even more jealous of its fat reserves and more likely to store away as much as it can. Exercise is needed; as is a -sensible- calorie restriction.

Some of these people had excercised before and after . and It did not work.
I see you ignore the fact fat people work harder to do anything. Carry around a fifty pound bag of cat litter every time you work out and tell me if you think it's so simple..

That's it I'm blocking you. Tired of your stubborn refusal to stay on topic and quit preaching. I can't convince a true believer to stop the faith anymore than you will listen to something besides what you want to hear.Preach to yourself..

Who's to say the exercise was regular enough? Who's to say the caloric intake was carefully maintained? More mass means more calories burned with movement, but that's meaningless if:

1) There isn't enough movement/exercise.
2) The amount of calories eaten and/or the quality thereof negate the exercise
3) The metabolism is slow, and requires continual exercise with little visible change before improvement
4) The habitual addictions of food and sedentary life can't be overcome

Number four is really a problem--it can be incredibly hard to break such addictions. I would compare it to quitting smoking. But also in general consistency is the problem--it's hard for anyone to do something consistently that is not enjoyable at the start. Exercise and careful diet are not enjoyable at the start for someone used to a laid-back lifestyle and rich/fatty/sugary food.

But I can tell you since my son started taking a particular medication, success is very limited if at all.

no matter how little you ate or how much you exercised they would make you gain-I think now they're not as bad but that the main reason I only took them for a couple years.

thank goodness I didn't have an so telling me that it was my fault I "let" myself gain wait (or I'd probably have a police record;)

Diets as in severely restricting calories don't work. Most people gain the weight back plus a few extra pounds, until they diet again - perhaps months later after the weight gain back or years later. I know I can trace the number of diets I've been on, by dividing my weight now - minus the weight I first dieted at (100 pounds) by 5. Every single time I have dieted (or even just exercised to lose weight), I have gained all the weight lost back quickly, plus 5 extra pounds whenever I stopped dieting or exercising. I remained this weight (5 pounds over my last pre-diet weight) until I dieted again. Sometimes for years at a time....No matter what I ate or drank I didn't gain another pound until I dieted again. I often feel that if I never dieted in the first place in 10th grade when I thought 100 pounds on a 5'5" frame was FAT, I wouldn't ever have had a real weight problem. For this reason I completely disagree with the calories in vs: calories lost equation. There's no doubt in my mind that I screwed my metabolism - probably through losing lean muscle mass - after years of yo yo dieting. My body fights every time to gain that weight back the minute I go off of severe calorie restriction, and I believe it adds an extra 5 pounds for extra protection in case I'm 'starvin' again.

Another thing that has made me disagree with this simple calculation is that when I gave up real coke (about a 2 liter bottle a day habit) and switched to diet coke I should have dropped about 600 calories a day from my diet, which would be about a pound a week. Scale didn't budge.... nope not a bit. I did not replace those calories with other food ect either.... still didn't lose a freaking pound 3 years after giving up regular cokes.

Lastly, I recently think I found my own solution. My body doesn't process carbs well - wants to store them or something. I am finally losing weight effortlessly by eating very low carb. I'm still eating the same or more calories a day as I did when the scale wasn't budging. but I've lost about 2 pounds a week for the last 5 months by almost completely elimating carbs. I've kept the calories the same (or more), eating as much as I always have - but the weight is dropping. Again doesn't explain the simple equation of calories lost vs: consumed..... I have never lost weight without almost completely starving before - or combining severe calorie restriction with daily exercise.... until now with the low carb (under 20 per day) eating plan. I've decided that I'll have to eat this way basically for the rest of my life.... in order to kept the weight off.

I'm not on any type of medication, but you'll never get me to believe it's as simple as calories in vs: calories out..... there's no way in hell that's true - at least for me and my own 20 years of experience.

Granted, calories in v calories out needs to be fine tuned to folks, but as to a base belief, it's dead on.

I started taking pain meds for arthritis years ago, and they've slowly been upped, and sure enough, though I have a fairly decent diet (cut out all sodas, etc) and eat little, I've grown a potgut that I KNOW I shouldn't have. And as I've gone through the spectrum on pills, using less now and then, and watching the belly subside, I know EXACTLY what you're saying, and it's true.

Not only that but the drug co's INSIST on tossing in a TON of adjuncts, Tylenol in the hydrocodones to the point of FRYING your liver, enlarging it if you aren't careful when all you may need is the basic pain relieving ingredient.

And while I'm not a doctor, I was charged with "diagnosing" veterans after Nam in a VET Hospital who couldn't communicate, guys who'd been literally scared into insanity by war. 300 of them, read all of their charts and histories, would wander the halls and underground channels between bldgs in the VA there and see WHERE they were hurting, then advise as to which doctor they'd need to see for a proper diagnosis. I can't even hang out in big crowds now because I'm a virtual "empath" and can literally SEE what's Wrong with people who stroll by, see their Pain.

We also did a Community Care program, where we'd go to a city farther north, and all the Street Veterans would show up, and the Govt Faithfully SHOT THEM ALL UP WITH THOROZINE, then sent them back out to talk to Parking meters for two weeks.

It was sickening, of course along came Reagan, and he "FREED" them all. Like throwing Canaries into a howling snowstorm in Alaska, setting THEM Free.

Everyone I know who's a pain person, complains of weight gain. Sometimes it's water, fluid retention. Of course folks in pain are more sedentary, and may eat more, But I believe that some pills DO cause weight gain in and of themselves.

SO THERE, You Doubters :)

>I can't even hang out in big crowds now because I'm a virtual >"empath" and can literally SEE what's Wrong with people who >stroll by, see their Pain.

But I am walking wounded myself..I too know exactly that feeling of SEEING pain.And it tears me up inside too. I don't go in big crowds too. For the same reasons.
Sometimes I see hearts are so broken, battered by this fucked up world and the way it is,I could cry myself dry and the pain inside my heart and the pain I see everywhere is not soothed.

This is why I hate this reality.And if there is some god that made the world this way, I hate it too. The way this world is,not just humanity but nature too.. abuses life and hurts love, stunts gentle emotions, shatters minds, breaks hearts,rewards evilness, and dulls bright spirits..The predator parasite poison has many forms and it preys upon anything noble,precious,vulnerable,unique and sacred until it traumatizes,hurts and kills it.This world is a sadistic destroyer, captor and thief of life,beauty and love.

Generates that Life, Beauty and Love :)

Once in a while I'm bothered by the fact that we live in a "vampire" reality, that everything must steal the essence of everything else to Live at all. But I get over it, there's too much raw beauty and genius in the engineering of these beasts and plants :)

Really would be nice to have humans evolve to the point where plants are, they could just lay in the sun and feed and be done with it, no food wars :)

I think I can see why you may have needed some assistance, you're a sensitive person, and like a lot of creatives, need something to keep the hell of raw Truth at bay. Michelangelo used to complain, get into funks feeling that as an artist he was one of the lonliest people in the world.

Feels like that sometimes, eh?

Good thing you're not a drunk like I was :)

Kidding!

Don't get too down, since we sort of have no choice I get over it, sublimate it or something, and enjoy what's available to me..

taking prescribed and OTC pain meds for chronic back pain. 8 months ago I took myself off all pills and have dropped 35 pounds over the course of that time. Interestingly enough, my back pain has improved, I don't have any more depression and no rebound headaches that were causing me to take the OTC tylenol. I know that my liver is much happier. I have far more energy and feel better than I have in years.

It reminds me of a story I heard where a woman went to the Dr for a relatively minor problem. She was naturally handed a prescription. She developed other bigger problems, went back to the dr and was handed more prescriptions. Eventually she felt so bad that she attempted to do herself in by going off all her meds. In a short time she felt wonderful.

Symbolman, you might try taking (organic unpasteurized) apple cider vinegar for your arthritis, its reported to do wonders for that. I take it for general health. Lots of info here: http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/acvinegar.html

one of the side effects of several of the medications of which you speak is significant weight gain.

birth control shot. One of the side effects was weight gain. I was 115 and size 2 and now I'm 140 and size 8-10 (depending on what clothes I have, some 8s fit some 8s don't). I stopped Depo around 2 years ago and finally am losing weight!

There were other factors to my weight gain but Depo was one of the main factors. I think it's true for most BC prescriptions. I'm on a BC prescription that I made my doctor absolutely promise that it wouldn't make me gain weight (my sister, an OB-GYN doctor, also recommended it to me).

EDIT: prior to the Depo, I walked every single day and went up four flights of stairs to my dorm room so I would be relatively fit. Took the depo and kept to my exercise regime and gained weight!

most women I know on BC pills gain significant weight. I gained 12 pounds, and like you the weight started coming off as soon as I stopped using the pill. Not all doctors warn you about that, unfortunately.

I was put on paxil in 2001 to control severe panic attacks. Over the next year I put on 50 pounds. I attributed it to my dad dying, my cat dying (on 9/11) my husband suffering a breakdown and losing his job. A couple of months ago a friend told me one of the major side effects of paxil is weight gain. My new doctor switched my meds and I've already lost about 15 pounds. Yes, it's a problem. While I bear some responsibility for not checking the side effects, it just never occured to me that it would be the med.

Not only do some of the medications change your metabolism, they can actually change your appetite. Many anti-depressants are known to cause a craving for sweets; Remeron is probably the top one in that category.

They are now prescribing Remeron for cancer patients who've lost their appetites. That's how much it causes cravings. Yet, you usually aren't told this when you're prescribed it for depresssion, sleep, etc.

A side effect of some anti-seizure drugs is weight gain. Depakote is one of those. It can affect your liver and cause your cholesterol to increase.

It's a tough battle, for sure.

years ago and is now way overweight for his height. We've spent a lot of time and money on personal trainers and gyms ever since.

and remember how FAST psych meds put the weight on me. I wonder if it damaged my body.I have been on a LOT of different psych meds. I think the Abilify did something to me.Before taking it I never had bowel problems. Now, I do.I don't take it anymore.

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Of course individual metabolisms vary and medicines can alter metabolisms, but limiting what you eat and exercise can only help and overeating and more sedentary life can only hurt.

Your message of "Diets do not work" seems even more irresponsible than the message you claim to be fighting since YOUR diet is working for you (at least according to you).

It's actually called inuitive eating which is most certainly NOT a diet.

Dieting simply does not work. If you are hungry, then you should eat until you are satisfied and eat for nutrition. All dieting does is promote disordered eating. Obsessing over numbers: calories, carbs, points,fat grams, BMI, weight,and clothing size. Add to that logging every bite that goes into your mouth and it isn't a mentally healthy picture.

What UP is trying to say is that being fat AND fit is possible. You don't have to be a certain size or weight in order to be healthy.

Everyone's weight set point is different. Get below that point and your body goes into starvation mode. That's why most people who lose a large amount of weight regain. It's not because they are lazy or lack willpower, it's because it is horrifically difficult to ignore a constant hunger. And when you are hungry, food is what you think about.

The study is in the book Rethinking Thin, but the NYT also has an article about it.

Your definition of dieting is narrow.

when I was taking Adderall for my ADD I started losing weight, but then when I started taking birth control pills I gained 12 pounds-no other changes in lifestyle. However, I'm someone who exercises regularly and always watches her diet (mostly organic veggies and grains, very little processed foods or meat). I've found that yes, a lack of sufficient exercise-which includes weight training-and a poor diet will indeed lead to obesity, illness and depression. Prescription drugs can sometimes cause obesity, illness, and depression too-so I research the alternatives as much as possible. More often than not a change in diet, the right kind of exercise, and natural supplements along with alternative therapies are far more effective than an easy little pill from your doctor for your condition.

For mental illness I suggest the above, along with this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=276&topic_id=1649&mesg_id=1649

If you can't afford it, then a couple sessions with this bizarre machine can really help: http://www.vibemachine.com/

sounds weird, but it works!

that doesn't mean that they should be discarded because of that. My sister is on Prednisone for Lupus, a notorious medication for weight gain. She can't be off it or her Lupus gets out of control. However, she recently started excercising much more and eating better and has lost a considerable amount of weight DESPITE her meds. Meds can make this worse, but diet and excercise are still the key to keeping weight down. Lets not just blame the pharmaceuticals here. Thats a bit of a distortion.

says so there in the little tiny print on the inserts. Wellbutrin can cause weight loss. Apparently, my previous and current meds (Pamelor, Paxil, Cymbalta) are one of the reasons I have gained weight. Fortunately, I started out underweight, but I am still around 200 lbs, which is a bit heavy for my height. I didn't lose much weight even when I was taking 3 hrs of ballet classes a week.

So sometimes it is the meds. My choice was skinny or sane. I took sane.

She's been on many meds that have given here drastic weight gains. Startling, really.

However, I don't think this is a valid reason to put down diet and exercise nor should we forget all the high fructose corn syrup, msg's, and artificial sweeteners that are put into just about any pre-made prepackaged food we buy - including so called health food bars and whatnot. These drugs are but one more roadblock to good physical health.

A healthy diet and daily exercise does work for many people, myself included (that's all I did to loose my mommy weight). Healthy diet and exercise, if continued long enough, will change metabolic rates. Again, it has for me. Unfortunately, we consumers have to be food and drug sleuths to boot. Sucks big time.

Obviously there are medical conditions that need prescriptions, but I get creeped out at the sheer amount of drugs America offers and how willing we are to pop a pill for whatever ails us. The side effects on some of this stuff is outrageous and severe weight gain doesn't surprise me one bit.

For many of us, I bet getting back to basics with our nutrition would clear up most of the minor problems we experience.

I used to take Prednisone which is a steroid and it would cause weight gain, 30 pounds within a 4 month period. Now as soon as I stopped taking it I lost the weight over a short period of time. I don't advocate going against doctor's advice.

Some of the other side effects from this drug caused me to discuss it with the doctor and reevaluate another course of therapy. It was horrible to my bones and I suffered fractures. I can remember feeling horrible when I was on it especially the swelling of my face and my blood pressure was soaring with each visit.

I can fully see that how drugs are adding to the obesity epidemic and I can see how frustrating it is when not only do you feel horrible from an underlying illness and balloon to an unnatural weight that was caused artificially by medication.

A slow metabolism caused by an underactive or dead thyroid.

Supposedly one in five women have an undiagnosed or undertreated case of low thyroid.

My thyroid died when I was ten or eleven and I 've been on Armour Thyroid (natural sheep gland extract) since then. It's quite often misdiagnosed as simple fatigue. Well, yes, you are exhausted, sleep all the time, and never feel good, your hands and feet are cold, your face gets puffy (myxedema) which I have had. I had that when I was taking thyroid, but not taking enough for me. Then an idiot doctor took me off of it. After five years, I was near death, according to the doctor who put me back on it. Enough years go by and it can kill you. I also had osteoporosis because the calcium I took in was going to my hair, not my bones.

Speaking of calorie restriction: I went to a diet doctor a few years ago who put me on a diet of a strict 500 calories a day, a bunch of vitamins, and things like B-12 and HGH. And I was exercising too. I was taking my regular high dose of thyroid.

I lost about ten or fifteen pounds, and couldn't lose any more. The doctor thought I was cheating and I wasn't. Eventually I stopped going because I skipped breakfast for a blood test, had the blood drawn, went home and ate, and slept all day. I had low blood sugar and was starving to death, although I was about 40 lbs. overweight at the time. Now I'm about fifty pounds overweight.

Check out this website: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

It explains all the stuff I went thru arguing with doctors and a lot more too.



Another hormonal cause of overweight in women in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).

I don't mean it as a judgement on anyone else's experience.

I've been on various anti-depressants for nearly 15 years. I was already overweight before I started on the meds. Over those years, I put on an additional 60 lbs. Over the last year, I have taken off 80 lbs, and would like to lose about 35 more. I recently changed doctors, and with that came different psych prescriptions. My previous medication had lost it's effectiveness, and I was starting to have panic attacks again. This was at the point where I had lost over 60 lbs. So I don't the meds had much effect on my weight gain or loss, except for the fact that my depression and anxiety was getting better treatment at different times.

I've been on and off diets several times over my adult life, actually starting in my mid-teens. I've lost and gained a lot of weight during that time. For several years, I made a conscious choice to avoid dieting. I decided to accept my fat self just the way I was. Over this time, I began to stop judging and beating myself up based on my weight. Eventually, (about a year ago), I realized that I hated feeling tired all the time, and that a family history of diabetes and high blood pressure was bearing down on my middle-aged body. I decided that I deserve to live a long, healthy life, and that my weight was making that less and less likely as time went on.

For the first time in years I decided to begin a weight-loss plan, and I actually started losing weight. This made me feel physically better. For the first time ever, I wasn't doing it because I felt like a horrible person. I was doing it for positive reasons this time, so I could live that long healthy life, and so I could feel better. This seems to be the key for me. If I diet as a form of self-punishment, I doom myself to failure.

My doctor was delighted when she saw my weight starting to go down. I'm due for my annual checkup next week, and I'm sure she'll be even happier this time. My weight loss has slowed in the last couple of months, mostly because I don't like exercise. And I think I'll have to increase my activity level to get the last 35 lbs off. But I also haven't gained anything back while the weight loss has been stalled. I think I've found a way to finally beat my weight problem this time.

Over the years, I had used food as a form of (emotional) pain relief. Maybe I've finally realized that not only doesn't it help me emotionally, but that it was hurting me. I don't know for sure, but something is definitely different this time.

I'm very happy to read that you are feeling better, and that the plan is working for you.

I'm thrilled for you!

Julie

The only times there are sodas in my house is when someone is sick or graduating high school!

I banned trans-fats years ago.

It's been skim milk and low fat yogurt for 28 years.

It's whole wheat bread and whole grain oatmeal all the way.

A pound of meat feeds 5 people in my house.

Despite all this, I began to gain weight when I developed depression (90% of depressives lose weight and have insomia. 10% gain weight and can't wake up.) I continued to gain weight with my medications, but at least I wasn't depressed. I'm not certain if it will ever be safe for me to go off my medications. In the mean time, all I can do is try to keep moving and eat healthy.

my friend w. hodgkin's disease, a dancer, became seriously depressed because the steroids prescribed as part of his treatment caused him to gain weight, and steroid weight is not really something that most people can ever lose, he couldn't

it was disturbing to see someone beat cancer and his reaction to it was to be seriously depressed and suicidal enough to be prescribed prozac, crap, because the drugs to cure him made him chubby, not even "obese" just a little bit over the recommended weights

many, many, MANY drugs cause weight gain -- the steroids for your allergy or your cancer, your SSRIs for your depression or your OCD, the hormones to keep you from an unwanted pregnancy or constant bleeding during menopause, it goes on and on

we need to stop judging people for being "fat," a lot of those people wouldn't be here at all if they killed themselves w.out their precriptions due to depression or died of underweight during chemotherapy for their cancer

... has been good old birth control pills.

I did not gain weight from taking them, and I think they are now specifically developed not to cause weight gain, or to cause as absolutely little as possible.

I guess the implication is, my female hormones were somewhat out of balance before. Fitness magazine said some very interesting things about female hormones: about how your susceptibility to exercise injuries and prone-ness to addictions are influenced by hormone composition, level, and cycle.

gosh...I am still trying to work off the weight I gained....