Hi Moms.
I have been on Lexapro for about 2 years now. I started it about 6 months after my first child was born for anxiety. It was a very difficult first 9 months espcially with her not sleeping through the night, working FT and just adjusting to the whole motherhood thing. Since being on it, I have gained a TON of weight. I am about 90 lbs heavier than I was pre pregnancy. A friend of mine who was on it told me she gained weight and her doctor told her it was from the medication.
After going on line and seeing posts about people being on it and seeing it is one of the top 3 medications (SSRI's) that make you gain weight, I am going to try to come off of it. People complained about weight gains on the message boards and not just 5-10 lbs. Im not blaming ALL the weight gain on this medication but I am blaming some of it. Just wondering if anyone else has experiened this awful side affect from this medication and if you did, did you go off the medication and did you see some of the weight come off? Thanks!
K.
I gained about 30 pounds on it. I took myself off of it because my doctor would not believe me. I have never been overweight and was not eating any differently. I KNOW that it is because of the lexapro. I have lost a little over the past year... i am sure if i tried harder i could lose more. I wish you luck. Please be careful though, i made me very sick to quit cold turkey :(
K.,
Did you try talking to your doctor? There are other antidepessants without the weight gain side effects. Don't try to manage this yourself.
K.,
there are other anti-depressants that are less likely to cause weight gain. your doctor should be versed in the options.
please DO NOT stop the lexapro cold-turkey. whatever dose you are at now you should begin to taper down 5mg at a time for 3 weeks or so (each 5mg). stopping altogether you might end up in the emergency department with all sorts of symptoms. meanwhile you can begin another SSRI or SNRI and slowly taper it up.
offhand, wellbutrin (buproprione)is also used for smoking cessation, and is especially helpful in curbing the weight gain that occurs then. it is non-habit forming, but also takes about 4-6 weeks to become effective. you can certainly taper it up while you taper the lexapro down, but please discuss with your doctor before doing anything!
best of luck to you.
K. -
I've been on Lexapro for about four months now, but a low dose of 10 mg per day. Not sure if dosage may have something to do with it? Perhaps you could go down to a lower dosage and see how you do? Fortunately, I have not experienced any weight gain on it, but I'm an extremely healthy eater (I follow the Eat clean plan), and I exercise five days per week. So it's possible that those two factors counteract any potential weight gain.
I wish you the best of luck!!!
-J.
Dear K.,
I was on Celexa for about 8 years for anxiety & depression and gained about 40 lbs. I went to the doctor because I really did not feel like it was doing anything for me anymore. They did some routine bloodtests and found that my I had hypothyroid issues. Once they put me on synthroid, I was able to lose 30 of the lbs and I have been off of the celexa for 3 years now. :) I do have an Rx for Xanax for when I get an anxiety attack but I haven't had any depression issues like before. Your thyroid can also cause depression so you may want to have it checked out. Even if you have had your thyroid checked in the past and it was normal make sure that they check it at least yearly. Godd luck to you.
G.
