Zoloft and Weight Gain

Here's another thought, is there something about people who are depressed that they have the tendency to gain weight? Or, maybe the Zoloft gives you the attitude of feeling so good you don't care about gaining weight. Since I have been on Zoloft NOTHING bothers me.

You have had three kids...give yourself a break here   everything isnt going to just fall back into place no matter how much you may want it too.  Weight Watchers is a good first step, maybe add in some exercise if you can manage the time.  I am sure you will see the right results if you stick with it.  It just may not come that quickly but hang in there as you can get over the Zoloft weight.

Please do keep us informed of how your doing and feel free to post as often as you like.  We are always here....take care

As for the weight gain I hear about, I read one study that showed the reason people gain or lose weight with this drug is because of changes in appetite. Some people lose their appetite when they're depressed. So when they start feeling better their appetite comes back and they eat more. Just watching your diet can avoid unwanted weight gain from this. On the other hand, some people lose weight on Zoloft because they eat more (and junkier food) when they are depressed. So when they start to feel better they get up off the couch away from the potato chips and TV and start eating better and moving more.

Sounds reasonable at first. However, so many people who gain weight on Zoloft swear they do not change their eating and exercise habits. So that isn't the whole picture. There is some evidence that Zoloft can mess with blood sugar levels. If you ever read the theory behind the South Beach Diet you'll know there's more to burning fat than cutting calories. Carbs affect blood sugar levels, blood sugar levels affect insulin levels, and insulin levels affect fat metobolism. A calorie is not just a calorie. My guess is that Zoloft amplifies the roller coaster effects on your blood sugar levels from eating carbohydrates. I've been eating foods in the South Beach diet style and have actually lost weight during the few months I've been on Zoloft. If you have gained weight, look at what you are eating, not just how much. My guess is a lot of you are trying to eat "healthy" by eating low fat (which means high carbs, generally) and that is wreaking havoc on your insulin levels. High insulin levels cause your body to metabolize fat poorly and store it instead, regardless of eating low calorie. While I'm no doctor, my suggestion would be to consider trying a low carb diet and see if that doesn't help.

You might also want to get your thyroid checked. Low thyroid causes depression and weight gain but doctors are much quicker to hand out Zoloft than thyroid meds. So if the thyroid is the real culprit behind the depression the Zoloft might help your mood but the low thyroid will continue to pack on pounds. It may appear the Zoloft caused the weight gain because low thyroid causes the depression that causes you to seek out antidepressants so it all sort of happens at the same time. Not saying this is true for everyone, but I think it happens for some. It's not at all uncommon to see people with low thyroid on antidepressants.

Post Edited (Sunnivara) : 4/17/2007 4:32:00 PM (GMT-6)

katelynn27 said...
 To:Sunnivara,

Yes, you are correct, I am very impressed and doesn't happen very often w/me.

I do have Hypothyroidism, which is funny because when I was diagnosed I was rail thin and not that Im overweight now, Im actually just perfect for my hieght, though because I am built very hour-glass like, most people if they guess my weight guess that I am about 10lbs less than what I really am.

Hope to hear from you again.

Katlynn

I know from personal and family experience that hypothyroidism is about more than just gaining a few pounds. It can be debilitating and painful as well. It can also lead to high blood pressure, high cholestorol, diabetes and, consequently, an early death. My mother suffered 2 strokes from years of untreated thyroid disease. My sister has "fibromyalgia" and it turns out she needs thyroid meds too. I was never actually diagnosed with fibro but I used to get a lot of pain in my lower back, legs and feet. Since I've been on thyroid meds (about 8 months now) all that pain is gone except for one small spot in my back, which is much better than it used to be, so I'm hoping it will eventually go away too. So I'm curious, if you were diagnosed with hypothyroid why are you not taking medication for it? It's easy to treat so you should not suffer from it when you don't need to!

And no, I don't think you are doing anything wrong. But I think doctors are all too often wrong concerning this disease. If you visit the thryoid forums you will find story after story about people who have low thyroid and who have been misdiagnosed, untreated, undertreated, and even mistreated by doctors. For some reason getting proper diagnosis and treatment for low thyroid is liking pulling teeth. For this many people have found they have to diagnose themselves and educate their doctors (or dump their current doctor and find a more enlightened one) to get well again.

Please read those web pages I mentioned earlier. It will explain why doctors often misdiagnose or undertreat thyroid disease. When your doctor does a thyroid test he/she will do what's called a TSH test. The commonly used range is from about 0.5-5.5 and anything within that is considered normal. However, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists has determined that many people are not healthy and have symptoms with a TSH of more than 2.5-3 but most labs and doctors have not adopted the newer guidelines and are leaving people feeling miserable and untreated at the higher end of the "normal" range. My TSH was "only" 4.5 and I had horrible symptoms. I had to find a doctor who followed the narrower guidelines to get proper treatment. I've felt so much better since she's not afraid to keep my TSH around 1.0! But many doctors feel safer keeping it closer to the high end of the range than the low end, even though that often leaves the patient with symptoms.

As for the Cytomel, most doctors also do not prescribe it even when hypothyroidism is diagnosed. Your thyroid makes both T4 and T3 hormones. Synthroid replaces only the T4 hormone and doctors usually prescribe only that because the body does convert the T3 it needs from the T4. However, that's really only true for people with healthy thyroids. For us hypothyroid types the body often does not convert T4 to T3 adequately. So it helps to supplement a small amount of T3 (Cytomel) in addition to your Synthroid. You can read more about it here http://www.altsupportthyroid.org/t3/t3medrefs2.php or by just doing a web search for "T4 to T3 conversion".

Post Edited (Sunnivara) : 4/18/2007 1:42:49 AM (GMT-6)