Zoloft and weight gain part 4!!

Diseases & Conditions Depression
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Why do they keep locking our forums confused ??????????? o well!
Hey guys!! It has been a while but i come bearing good news this time. i went to my gyno this morning for a regular check up. In a year since i last went to this doctor i have gained 30 pounds. Well my doctor knows me very well because i have been seeing him for years. He was not only shocked about my rapid weight gain, but also concerned and asked me what i had been doing different to have put on weight like that. I told him that i had been taking zoloft. As soon as i said that he knew right away. His exact words were,"well that will do it."
i was so happy that he agreed with me from the start and i didn't have to defend myself like i do all the time. He told me that he would never prescribe zoloft to his patients and if he did he would moniter them extremely close because of the weight gain side effect. He asked me who put me on the zoloft and i told him that it was my primary doctor and my gyno asked me if i had seen the doctor lately to discuss the weight gain with him since he was the one that put me on the drug. i told my gyno that i saw him about 3 weeks ago and that my primary doctor told me that he was not sure that it was the zoloft and that he argued with me about the whole thing, But finally after i defended myself my primary doc agreed with me. My gyno told me that if any one of his patients came in with a concern that a medication was making them gain weight or for any other concern he would not tell them they were wrong based on what the drug companies say ,but he would investigate it because everyone is different and reacts different to meds. i asked him how long he thought it would take to get back to normal and he said anywhere between 6-8 months or a little longer. I feel great knowing that i have someone on my side for once right off the bat. i didn't have to convince him or defend myself at all!!!! so pretty much it is just a waiting game! i have also been in touch with a nutritionist that is a close friend to my family and she did some research for me and she told me that most of the weight is water retention. she also said that it reduces your thyroid function and that it could take up to a year just for the hormones to reach their normal levels again.It depends on age, how long you took the drug, and etc. i feel like there is hope now and i don't think i will be obsesssing to much about the weight anymore now that i have an idea of when i will see results. based on what the doctor and my nutritionist say, i have a while and there is no sense in obsessing!! if you have any quetions, ask me and if i haven't asked my nutritionist already i will ask her and then get back to you!

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So this is where we all are!!! I posted a few days ago and nobody responded and I was starting to get a complex...LOL! Then it occured to me that we may have been locked out again!
 
Anyway...had a disagreement with my psychiatrist over whether Zoloft caused weight gain. He told me it was actually "weight neutral" and then proceeded to tell me that many people with OCD are also compulsive overeaters. Umm...hello, can't remember the last time I had a piece of fried chicken or a doughnut or more than a sliver of birthday cake or chips or such.
 
Anyway...I started the South Beach Diet today. I completely nervous about it because I'm afraid I'll do it wrong and it won't work! You have to be some kind of engineer to navigate what you are supposed to eat and what you're not...and I was a communications major! :-)
 
I'll give it a whirl. I'm still on 50mgs of Zoloft but should be done with those pills in two days and start on 25 mgs.
 
I'm glad to find everyone!
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Hi Allybooboo -

I just wanted to say that the threads generally get locked if they get too long because it starts to get difficult for people to navigate through them.  So once a thread hits over 50 posts chances are it will soon become locked. 

I am sorry sad !!

~elisha
 

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hey guys yea these forums are getting locked a lot weird because the first four we almost had 30 pages.

hope everyone is continually doing good!!!

honestly for me the weight is coming off i jumped on the scale again after 3 weeks and lost 5 more lbs.

so keep the faith !!!

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Just wanted to see if anyone had been around...looks like our group is slowing down... sad

Tomorrow is the end of week 1 of Phase I of the South Beach Diet. I also started taking only 25mgs of Zoloft (which I just remembered I forgot to take this morning). My doctor likened the weight gain and attempt to lose to alcoholism and is insisting I see one of his therapists about it. I don't know what's up with him.

I do know that I miss carbohydrates!!!!! I'm not really big on eggs or having non-breakfast foods at breakfast so that part of it is hard for me. I just have to hang on for another week and then I can add whole wheat back to my diet. I can't wait!!!!

I hope everyone is well...

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Heeeey thats weird there was a forum open and now i found this one....they like to mess us around.
 
Allybooboo thats good that your doctor agreed with you about the zoloft, my doctor did too he says pretty much the same as yours ...depends how long you took zoloft and it could also take upto a year to lose the weight...and im still the same weight after 3 months now zoloft free also the dam hot flushes come up and mood swings i guess i took it way to long.
Appart from that im feeling ok but would be happy to see me figure back sad
 
Happy to hear everyone is fine
 
Speak soon
 
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smurf  Hey snickersmom, great job of sticking to the south beach phase 1, its tuff!  Have you seen the scale budge yet?  I'm kinda confused as to what the doctor was telling you on your last post?  Allyboo and Mekkie so the doctors say why it takes a year to take off the weight? Do they feel that exercise and deit help in the process sooner by chance?  confused
 
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nivram...My nutritionist told me that zoloft slows down the thyroid hormones and on average it takes about a year for the hormones to level out again. But it really depends how long u were on the drug and how much was being taken. my gyno told me that it would take about 6-8 months or a little longer to see results. he did not tell me why zoloft causes weight but he did not have anything nice to say about zoloft. i told him that i was very upset and that i feel horrible about myself and he told me not to worry anymore because now that i am off the meds i will see a change but it may take a while.
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Allyboo i know how you feel ..i have not wanted to go out or even buy new clothes because of my zoloft weight gain ...it still makes me realy unhappy i just feel that i lost myself ...when i look in the mirror i hate myself, i have got more problems from been on zoloft than before i took it ...a low selfasteam im more depressed than ever!!!
Even reading about what your doc said dont make me feel beter cause i just dont see the movement at all.
I also dont understand why other people are losing weight quick ..should it not effect everyone the same and when will they print this on the box of zoloft and remove that irritating zoloft add on this forum.
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some people may be losing weight faster for different reasons. i know that our day is about a year down the road. hang in there. i have gone through this before.when i was about 15 i was on welbutrin and i gained about 15-20 pounds and i remember it took about a year and the weight just came off. i didn't do anything. at the time i didn't think that the weight gain was from the medication. now that i think back it all makes sense. it was easier to deal with then because i didn't have a clue what was going on. now i do and i am very impatient because i know the weight will come off but i want it off now!!!! One thing i keep reminding myself is i am so glad i caught it when i did. i was gaining weight so rapidly, that i can't even imagine what weight i would be at right now if i had continued taking that crap these last 4 months i have been off. i am thankful i caught the weight gain and now all i can do is wait for it disappear.
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My doctor just was comparing losing weight to stopping drinking...I didn't really get that comparison either.

I've seen the scale budge a little on Phase I. It is tough!!!! All this other food is really rich and I'm not used to eating that way and now it's a little boring so I'm trying hard not to flame out. I am dreaming about bread though...oh, how I miss it. sad :-)

It did take me about a year to lose my Zoloft weight but I will say that once it started coming off, it came off so you all hang in there...I've lost Zoloft weight...TWICE!!!

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Snickermom you don't understand how good it feels to actually know someone who has lost weight from zoloft!! i know that the weight will go, but it feels great to be reassured by someone who has gone through the process!! But i have a question, how long after you stopped the drug did you start to see the weight come off? i bet is sort of how fast the weight came on huh!!!! how are you doing with your ocd? i hope you feeling better. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
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Yeah i agree it is good to know that the weight will finaly go and ok a year seems along time ...the thing with me was i was begining to think its not the zoloft,but it has to be. What bothers me is the fact that i finaly felt good and could stop with zoloft(i had no panics) now i have to wait upto a year to lose the weight and when its gone i can finaly feel happy about that ...BUT im then scared that my panic attacks come back and i have to take the bloody zoloft again ...know what i mean ??? Like a visious circle
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Gosh, I want to say I started noticing about three months in to being off the Zoloft but don't quote me on this. I wasn't really paying close attention because I was concentrating so hard on eating the right things but when it did start to come off, it came off quickly.

I completely understand about being nervous that panic attacks will come back and you'll have to go on Zoloft again. I worry about that with my OCD. That's why I'm still on 25 mgs. I think it's enough to keep my OCD in check and still allow me to lose some weight...but I'll tell...I'm really ticked that I have any weight to lose because of this stupid medication. Yes, it did save my life and help me through an unbelievably tough time but then again, I'm agitated that I gained most of the weight through no fault of my own but I'm the one having to sacrifice to lose it. If I had done this to myself, I might feel differently but I didn't. None of us did...but it's us that are having to pay the price and that makes me mad!!!! mad

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:-)  Hey everybody, I see you were all busy today chatting, its good to see everyone posting, it really helps for support reasons.  Tomarrow my daughter will go and visit with the trainer up at the work out therapy place we go to.  She's hoping that she can help her establish a good ab work out.  She is so with you guys on this weight gain thing, she hates going to malls  and is really depressed  about the weight too.  All the girls she hangs with are probaly about a siz 0 to a size 4, it seems her weight that she lost that week in half had came back in a matter of days still doing the deit so she gave up in fustration, but now is trying to stick to a 1000 calorie deit and working out.  I just feel so bad for everyone because this is truley not your faults.  I look back at pictures of her from last year at this time or even the year before and think how unfair of that company to not tell people to be aware of this!!!!  It was like all of the sudden this stomach was their and the weight was too.  By the time we relized what was going on it seemed to be to late.  Allyboo did any of them say anything about the insulin resistance becasue that has to do with the hormones and them not functioning right.  I also read that hot flashes are sign of it too along with the abdominal weight gain that is impossible to lose.  Could the zoloft effected this, I did read about it on a sight about birth control and side effects.  I was wondering if your gyno or nutritionist would know about this or have any comment about it.  I know my daughter feels so much like you guys, her pains and words are the same as yours!!!!  Do any of you think jaymay lost eaier and quicker becasue he is a male and that the hormonal effect is different and the metablosim is faster?  Have to go but hope to hera from you all soon!
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Hi everyone, I'm new here and so happy i found this site.I was on zoloft a couple of years ago, but not long enough to gain weight.I did, however, gain on effexor and wellbutrin and i gained like 25 pounds in 5 months.I am now off of the meds altogether but the weight is still hanging on.I never ever had a weight problem before, i have 3 children and i just can't understand this.Some one i hadn't seen for a while asked me if i was pregnant in the grocery store the other day.You know also, alot of people don't even believe it's from the meds.On a certain message board i frequent, there was a fellow that told me and some one else (who happens to be on zoloft) that the reason we were "fat" as he so eloquently put it, was because we expected it to happen so we went ahead and ate like crazy anyway....also said that MOST people lose weight and weight gain is not even a symptom.I was pretty upset at that, it didn't make me feel better i'll tell ya! I sympathise with everyone posting here...i am so darn TIRED watching every little thing i eat and drink...i seem to be almost obsessed with food at this point...i wish i had never ever been on anything at all!
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Rebeccastarr ... i have to tell you that when i started on zoloft i did`nt eat much at all, my diet never changed and i guess thats a typical man way of thinking.To say that we expecte it to happen !!!! I didnt even know that it was possible to put on weight with zoloft because it stands so clear on the box NO WEIGHT GAIN. To top that off i sported like mad and still was gaining weight so what he said was utter bullcrap,i can understand that it made you feel crap.

Nivram.... what i notice with the weight gain is just before a mensturation you hold alot of water fluid and then after you lose abit and then the next month you gain and then you lose abit more ...well thats how im seeing it changing with me.I was first 65 kilo then the next mensturation i lost 2 kilo 2 weeks after i put it back on then again mensturation was over i lost 3 kilo then 2 weeks on i put 2 kilo back and now i lost 3 kilo ...if you know what i mean it sort of works in a patorn......i realy think it will take along time but atleast i see movement evey month even though its little bits and very frustrating.
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I am so sick of people saying that these medications do not cause weight gain and that they are meant to help lose weight in some cases!!!!!!!!! they can all kiss my you know what. i am walking proof that this crap does cause weight. this is my second time going through this and it is my last!! i can't take it anymore!! everyday, all day, all i think about is my weight and i am constantly comparing myself to other women that i come across.i never did that. before i was saying to myself how much better i looked compared to women i came across. i am miserable because of the weight. i find myself staying home on the weekends because first i have no darn clothes that fit and second because i feel like a cow! i am thinking about taking that relacore stuff that is supposed to help with belly fat. i am so scared to put anything in my body though. what do you guys think? i have always been a really confident person and never had self-esteem issues and here i am struggling with my appearence. i don't know what to do anymore. i live in south florida and right now is my favorite time of year, spring and the begining of summer and i am not going to beable to enjoy it this year!!! i would not be caught dead in a bathingsuit, to think of it i would not be caught dead in anything else but t-shirt at this point!!! this sux!!!!
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Alybooboo I agree. this does suck, and i am really scared it has ruined my metabolism for good! i have been drinking TONS of green tea, it is supposed to rev up your metabolism, hopefully it will work.Also, i am going out this afternoon to look for this relacore stuff,i don't want to be looking like this when summer gets here....all my lo rise jeans look ridiculous with my belly hanging over 'em and i hate to feel like this...hope that relacore stuff works!
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hey nivram when you get a chance look at this website, the second paragraph it says something about the insuline and appareently it is supposed to help
http://consumerhealthdigest.com/relacore88.htm