Posted by ana67 on September 17, 2004, at 12:04:45
Hi, I'm new here but found this place while researching why I might have gained 20 pounds for no particular reason mid-may to mid-september. I take a low dose of liquid tegretol and a low dose 5 mg of Lexapro, both begun concurrent with the unexplained weight gain. I always have been very thin and have been called a "super-burner" ... have had to be on very high number of calories to even maintain weight.
Suddenly, I eat nothing but sugarless popsicles and sugar-free jello, Trident gum and diet soda, along with a few saltine crackers a day; have joined the Y and have been working out on top of running around with a household of 3 boys; yet I am gaining weight.
The lexapro induced mania, and so I was taken off cold-turkey, with no ill effects. I no longer sweat through two sets of PJs per night. I have a better memory ... we though I was still struggling with memory due to a string of uncontrolled seizures last spring. But since quitting the lexapro and the tegretol (past 2 weeks or so), I have been more alert, awake and less foggy. I also don't have the depersonalization I had ... I read some of the rest of you didn't feel emotion so much on lexapro. That was me. My husband thought I was a kinder, gentler version of myself ... not rigid or anxious, very suddenly just real mellow.
Despite the mania and accompanying activity increase and eating very little, I haven't lost weight. Is this a deal where your body has permanently changed? How does one undo what has happened?
The tegretol Rx didn't say anything about weight gain, only warnings about sun and hydration and taking with food ... and my neurologist assured me that it did NOT cause weight gain. I have been on other drugs notorious for weight gain and not gained weight. Yet, on depakote, I gained weight like crazy for no reason. I had to go off because of bleeding episodes, and when I did, I lost 8 pounds in the first 10 days and another 8 or 10 within the next two weeks without changing a thing. That doesn't seem to be happening here, and I am freaked out.
Does one have to take something to rev up metabolism, or will it come back? Does simple cafeeine and normal activity help or not?
Does topamax, for those of you who take mood stabilizers or anti-epileptics cause any weight gain at all and does it help with loss of the already gained weight. I have gone off the tegretol without MD knowledge and so could have, mot problematically, seizures. I don't need the antidepressant ... I've been without for years, but Lexipro did seem to help some things. I was happy for the first time in a long time. I am not, however, fat and happy. Actually, the initial effects of the SSRI have ceased and I am like I was before. I am very wary of putting trust in my docs to tell me these things, for fear I won't take the meds. It does't help any to find out in retrospect and be even more likely to quit therapy. Any feedback?
poster:ana67
thread:391975
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040915/msgs/391975.html