Lamictal and weight gain
Common Questions and Answers about Lamictal and weight gain
lamictal
I'm a little confused. Your suffering a major clinical depression and your worried about gaining weight?
When I was suffering from this disease at it's worst, even if taking an AD medication ment that my hair would fall out and would cause me to gain 400Lbs, I would have still taken it. That's how bad I wanted the pain to stop.
They all have side effects without exception.
I did a little research on Lamictal. Some say that it can cause weight gain and some muscle problems. I take lexapro and it helped a lot for depression. Do your own research, but apparently you can take both together. I have taken Wellbutrin and my husband does for bipolar (him) and we did not gain wt. on it. It just did not work for me, so I switched to Lexapro. It helped me in less than a week. I have been on it for several years and actually lost wt. while on it.
Well olanzapine, which I was on before I was diagnosed too, is actually an antipychotic and did cause a ton of weight gain for me too. I don't know about lamictal but I just wanted to say its not a main bipolar medication, so you have a lot of other options. Why not do some of your own research and find a list of medication that you think might help you, then present that to your doctor.
I read about them in a study and the best was Geodon with no incidence of weight gain, and Abilify had very little chance of weight gain. The older drugs tend to cause more weight gain.
However; having said that I attended a Bipolar support group meeting and we voted on this issue and only one out of 22 people would rather be sick than be healthy and gain a few pounds. I think with this disease vanity has to take a back seat.
Yes and it worked well as a mood stabilizer/anti-psychotic but I had a severe problem with weight gain as did other people I know who have taken it and that's relatively common. However, it is an effective mood stabilizer though I know the most likely out of the anti-psychotics to cause this problem. It is definitely worth going back on medication though I might ask about something else.
Depakote and Seroquel did cause me to gain 30 lbs in two months -- since off of those and on Lamictal and Lexapro my appetite has calmed down and I have lost most of that weight I gained.
Everyone reacts differently to the meds -- and like the other posters above -- sometimes I react the opposite of what my doc says to expect -- even he cannot predict all the side effects.
Ive been on lamictal for around 5 months. added to depakote and has changed my life (diagnosis bipolar). i can actually get off the couch.
I have been trying to lose weigth for a while with no avail. Started lamictal: nausea and some light cramping. although hungry, sometimes I can't eat. Am down from 118# to 112# and continue to fall without effort. even eating chocolate.
just wondering if I should be concerned something else is going on.
I have been on them for a couple of years. Started off with Celexa and then added the Lamictal. I started to gain weight before I got on Lamictal. I gained 50 pounds in two years, since then I have been the excat same weight(for the past two years). I also just found out I have hypothyrodism. I started medication for that and go back shortly to test my TSH. My psychiatrist told me that as soon as my TSH levels are in normal range we will have me start get off the celexa.
He told me it should not give me the weight gain or fatigue, and the only thing I need to watch for is if a rash develops on my body to let him know immediately, as it could be serious enough to land me in the hospital. Other than that, does the lamictal really have relatively few side effects? I've already gained 35 lbs. in the 3 months I've been on the other stuff.
told me to take it at night before I went to bed and then I noticed weight gain from it and I stopped taking the meds all togther and lost the weight but felt horrible mentally and emotionally, so 6monts ago, I went back to the DR. and she put me back on lamictal 100 mg final dose, 25mg serquel at bedtime to sleep and 36mg of concerta a day and I feel great and have not gained any weight at all, actually seemed to have lost a few pounds and able to keep a lower weight. Maybe it is the abilify.
I had to quit Latuda because it made me manic- irritable, restless, agitated, racing thoughts, the whole bit. It started about 2 hours after I took the med. This is the number one reported side effect from it, although they call it "restlessness" and not mania. In my case, it was definately mania, not just physical restlessness.
I'm on Seroquel XR now which works great but I've gained 14 lbs. in 3 weeks.
I just started it. 150mg at bedtime. Right now I'm at a healthy weight of 120 and am 5'4. I also take 300mg of lamictal and 2mg of clonazepam as needed. Did serequel make you gain? I'd rather not gain weight.
As anti-psychotics can create diabetes and tardive dyskinesia if a person has straight bipolar (as opposed to bipolar with psychotic features where an anti-psychotic is absolutely needed) there is the potential to change to a mood stabilizer, none of which have the risk of creating tardive dyskinesia and out of all of them Lamictal has the least potential for weight gain and is generally safe and effective. Perhaps you could ask your psychiatrist about Lamictal.
The information is out there - just takes a lot of googling to get to it. And as always your psychiatrist will know this information and if weight gain is a big issue for you - talk to them about it. Another thing to know is that the weight gain usually levels off so it isn't like you will grow and grow. You will hit a certain weight and then stop (provided you eat properly of course).
I have read that this can work wonders for rapid cycles in bipolar patience. I ussually do some research and tell my doctor what I think so I don't have to worry about suffering from unexpected side affects that we're not properly explained when I was put on the medication. And I refuse to take any medicine that has a good chance of weight gain ( I was 5''2 and 200 pounds a few years ago) I don't want to gain that weight bak. Has anyone tried this medicine before?
Have you considered Lamictal? It doesn't cause weight gain, and when I take it alone, I don't feel any negative effects at all. I take a low dose...
what mood stasblizer wont cause weight gain if any??? exclude serquil and lithiem and topamax..cant do these already been on them..
Yes I gained a fair amount of weight on Depakoate (another brand name for Epilim) and Seroquel. I do know I had less of a problem with weight gain with Lamictal and that among the current generation of antipsychotics, Abilify, Fanapt and Saphris are the least likely to cause weight gain but each person responds differently to each medication. Ask your psychiatrist about available options.
When I looked up weight gain and bipolar medications, Abilify was at the bottom of the list for weight gain, Geodon people gained the least then Abilify. I'm on 2mg. of Abilify and in the begining you tend to feel sleepy, that's why they start you on it at bedtime. I would be surprised if Abilify caused a racing heart but you definately have to tell your doc about that. I was also on Wellbutrin and had to come off because it caused to much anxiety.
My advice, only because I've been through this my whole life..is to express your concerns about weight gain on these types of medication. I've found a good combination of meds for my bipolar. My doctor informed me that these meds I'm on are weight neutral. Lamictal, and bupropion xl. I've been on Lamictal for almost 5 years now and no weight gain at all. I know people ask what's more important, happiness associated with meds that make you gain weight or skinny and unhappy.
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