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Why do antipsychotic meds cause weight gain?

I have been on just about every antipsychotic medication there is for schizoaffective disorder, and I have experienced severe rapid weight gain from the following meds: zyprexa, risperdal, and seroquel. These medications did not cause me to overeat but, I believe that these drugs caused my metabolism to slow down and that is what caused the weight gain. I have found that when I stopped taking these meds that it took 8 to 10 months before I was able to see significant weight loss (and for my metabolism to readjust itself. I have always had a very healthy diet and get plenty of exercise even while on those antipsychotic drugs. Can someone please tell me why these drugs cause the metabolism to slow down. It makes sense that antipsychotic drugs would have an effect on the metabolism causing it to slow down because it slows the mind down so they must have an effect on how one metabolises their food.
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Avatar universal
I was put on depekote as well as Seroquel and within one month I went from 185 to 228 pounds my doctor confirmed it was a metabolism thing and not anything to do with eating as I had not changed my eating habits nor did I feel the obsessive need to eat on these medications and also told me that sometimes in certain cases even if the medication is stopped people will still struggle to lose weight if at all. I've been off this meds for 2 months all together because I could not physically withstand gaining more weight I'm currently 240 lb right now and it's been 2 months of exercising and trying to restrict even more food than normal and have gotten sick from restricting myself from eating. It doesn't matter what I've tried it's just the medicine has slow down my metabolism and I am struggling to find ways if possible to it heal my metabolism to his previous state. Before being put on bipolar medication I was losing 5 lb every two weeks healthfully with eating right and plenty of exercise after giving birth to my son which I had gestational diabetes with.
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3248163 tn?1354847640
Thats why i'll be crazy forever. Most antipsychotics knock me off my *** at the lowest dose, so bad I cant work. Plus. If I gain anymore weight im going to scream. 110 is big enough for me.
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Avatar universal
I disagree about self control. I am a petit gal, on Ziprexa I gained 40lbs easy in 8 months. That wasn't self control - that was meds. On Zeldox (Geodone) I lost all of it and then some to the point it was dangerous. On Abilify it seems about right. These meds have been studied and proven to do things to metabolism, especially Ziprexa.

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3248163 tn?1354847640
Its all a matter of self control. Just don't eat as much. I Never gained any weight. Makes you sedentary too, go exercise. Feel better.
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4411691 tn?1354166093
i know risperidone and seroquel do cause "rapid" weight gain, as my brother takes both for schizophrenia. he is actually up 80-90 lbs now. i was on seroquel for about a month and did see a noticeable difference in my weight going up. i stopped taking it for other reason other then the weight part but i am now on latuda which seem to be helping me loose weight without really trying. everything i've read about the weight gain though is that there is really no official reason for it. meaning they have not pin pointed the cause. iladvocate is a reasonable theory. but there is quite a few theory's. i had the "munchies" pretty bad well taking the seroquel. was eating a lot. all day and would wake up starving in the middle of the night so i am pretty sure that is what contributed to mine. if it is a problem for you though they have came out with quite a few newer anti psych drugs ex latuda abilify which are recognized a having a weight gain side effect but from what i noticed about latuda is the opposite as for abilify i have never taken it. cheers
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585414 tn?1288941302
  From what I could read they appear to slow down the regulation of glucose and lipids (fats) but your psychiatrist would understand the clinical specifics of it. The antipsychotics from Abilify onwards have less of this potential but it stilll can occur. There are antipsychotic agents in clinical study that so far appear not to cause this at all. In the meantime it would be worthwhile to ask your psychiatrist about currently avaialable antipsychotics that have less of this potential side effect. The potential of cognitive side effects is seperate and not related to the decrease in metabolism but also is less likely in antipsychotics compounds still in clinical study.
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