Medications

[tina3869]

I went to my doctor, a few weeks before I found about this diet, complaining of headaches, fatigue, lack of sex drive and serious depression. She put me on some med called Paxil (an anti depressent) and told me to eat lots of sugar and foods containing mega amounts of carbohydrates.

I am also taking Utram (Tramdol---pain killer) for psoriatic arthritis (arthrits caused by a stress related condition known as Psorisis),
and I take a Depo-prevera (birth control shot) every three months.

I'm afraid to ask the doctor to adjust my Paxil (anti-depressent) bc I know she will ask why and I will have to tell her I'm on this diet and I know she will flip out and say "didn't I tell you MORE sugar and MORE carbohydrates...and you go and do just the opposite of what I told you?".

Before I get a toung lashing...hahaha...I was wondering if anyone on a LC diet had depression or was taking anti-depressents and what effect did the diet have on you?

Thanks again
Tina

[Stina]

HI Tina,

First let me say I am not a doctor or a nurse just telling you my personla experience.

Everything you described, I had for over 2 years. Went on prozac for depression but I was always tired/fatigued, no sex drive and had headaches for 2 weeks out of every month. The only thing that made it all go away was going off of depo-provera. I know it is the most fabulous birth control....who can remember to take those darn little pills. But for me, and several other woman I know, depo was the culprit for many symptoms that was diagnosed with depression.

My suggestion is to talk to your doctor and please discuss all of the factors involved with depo. There is a ton of information out there on some of the 'side-effects' of it (on some women). But again, I am not an educated medical person, this is just my personal experience. And go armed with the studies that support low carb!! Doctor's need to start learning what is actually good for our bodies:-D

I hope all works out for you!!!

Stina

PS

(carbs make me sleepy/depressed)

[LCasa90125]

I have been on Elavil and Wellbutrin for about the past 4 years, for depression and ADD treatment. I started this LC diet in January and I also went on a anti candida therapy called Candistroy, a natural yeast killer... I've never felt better in my life, and I've stopped taking the Elavil, but still take the Wellbutrin but I've cut the dosage on that in half. I've also been able to stop taking prilosec that I'd been on for about 8 years for gastric reflux which has gone away.

Sugar and Carbs IMHO are the culprit of all the problems you describe, at least they were for me, and they killed my mom at age 64 from diabetes. Read Atkins book... you'll learn a lot.

Good Luck,
Laurie

[debbiedobson]

i take paxil because i suffer from anxiety attacks while driving. or i should say when stopped at red lights! i've had no attacks since i started paxil almost a year ago. i've been eating lowcarb since 1999. i'm not always as strict as i should be, but my normal way of eating is lowcarb. when i'm good the weight comes off. slowy, but it comes off. i'm just a slow loser even when not on paxil. for me paxil is a miracle drug. i suffered from anxiety attacks for 15 years and i didn't know that there was help available.:D

[tina3869]

Thank you all for sharing. I was very embarassed to say that I was taking anti-depressent (in my family it is a sign of mental weakness....and no one knows I am taking it). I was relieved to know that I am not the only person who needs a little help.

I take Paxil for social anxity (ironic considering how chatty I am here LOL). I have been taking it a month and a half and I wish I could say that I have seen some sign of relieve but I haven't :(

Dr Atkins says this diet is effective in treating depression so I am hoping that the diet in conjunction with the Paxil will bring me some relief.

About the depo, unfortunatly I also have a condition know as BarBar Psorisis (a stress induced illness witch causes severe blistering of the hands and arthritis). I use Acutane to help control it and Acutane causes severe birth defects and so in order to obtain the Acutane I must also agree to take Depo (they don't want to take a chance on you forgetting the pill). So going off Depo is not an option for me.

Thanks again
Tina

[crystal]

I have been trying different meds for my severe ADHD (this diet helps greatly, but I am very severe and still need extra help in controlling it), and I finally found one that worked - Wellbutrin. I have so much focus and mental clarity it's amazing, plus it
helps me to think rationally and control my compulsive behaviors like compulsive spending and nailbiting - it's great. HOWEVER - in the first two weeks on it I gained 15 POUNDS!!!!! I have been in
maintenance for 3 years, no problems mainting, I didn't change my eating habits at all, so I know it's the Wellbutrin. It makes me mad, because the stats say that it may cause weight loss *or* gain and a higher percentage loose weight on it - why do I have to do the opposite! :(

However, I've gone back to induction for the past two weeks, faced the dreaded "e" word (I hate excercise) and rode my bike and walked more, plus I felt really bloated, so I think it's mostly water retention, and I am drinking way more water, and taking Hawthorn, B6, Vitamin C and an herbal diuretic, and now I feel way less bloated and have dropped 2 pounds. I am winning against this drug induced weight gain and at least not gaining any more - scared me at first becuase my clothes were all skin tight and I had this recurring nightmare I'd gain it all back and be fat again, and I certainly don't want that. After 3 years of enjoying being thin, that would be a cruel fate indeed! (But the benefits from the Wellbutrin are so fantastic, it would be a hard choice to choose between being fat or being productive, alert and on top of things!).

When I went to the doctor a couple of months ago after reading about all the benifits of Wellbutrin and told him I wanted to switch to it, he said he had far more success with Effexor, kept singing it's praises and really wanted me to try that instead (sometimes I wonder if Doctors get kickbacks from some drugs the way they promote some and not others). Well it made me
tired all the time, killed my creativity and flatlined my emotions, so after a month I talked the Doctor into letting me try Wellbutrin, and it's the closest thing to a miracle drug I've ever found.

Other than the weight gain, it has been an awesome month and I
really love this drug. I am getting alot more done in a day and able to keep track of a lot (a good thing because two people at my day job just quit without much notice, and while we are looking for more staff, it may take a while, so in the meantime I am now doing the work of three people (at the busiest time of year in my industry) and I am coping - I am stressed and look forward to having more staff/less work - but coping none the less rather than freaking out and not being able to handle it all.

And with the compulsiveness, I find I am more able to stop and think rationally - if I see something I really like, I am able to question, "do I really need that right now, can it wait, can I get it cheaper elsewhere", etc., and several times in the past few weeks I have walked out of stores without buying something I really thought I wanted (and would have just mindlessly bought in the past) and either found something better or cheaper
elsewhere later or realized after a day or so that I really didn't need it anyways. And I paid alot of our bills - I've had this bad habit of getting paid, putting off (or forgetting) to pay the bills, spend the money and then I'm always behind on the bills or paying them with Visa and going further into debt. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and think I can turn a corner and get on top of my finances and debt - I've never felt
that way before.

I also feel so happy and positive on the Wellbutrin. I never thought I was depressed before - just kind of anxious and upset when things didn't turn out or go the way I planned (which I thought was the hyperness), but besides the focus and alertness on Wellbutrin, I have this sense of peace and happiness, and a feeling that everything will work out eventually, not a sense of panic and dread, especailly with my finances.

As for Tina's Doctor telling her to eat tons of Carbs while on Paxil - nothing could be worse advise!! Sugar and starch cause depression and anxiety - I think this Doctor is just towing the pharmecuedical company's line as they want you to stay depressed and keep buying/needing thier product. The fact that Debbie has had sucess with Paxil and eaten low carb proves that point. I've never felt as positive and healthy as when I switched to low carb, and for that reason, more than the thinness, I would never go back to eating starchy carbs. Never! I'd switch doctors or anything else to keep eating this way!

Has anyone else experienced weight gain on anti-depressants, and how did they deal with it!

Crystal in Saskatoon

[tamarian]

Hi Crystal, nice to hear from you!

May not be directly related, but I have a similar experience with asthma inhalers, I have to be strictly low-carb to not gain-weight. In the winter I don't need them, but it takes a couple of months after I stop using them to start losing! :(

Wa'il

[tina3869]

I know why she prescribed me Paxil....she had just got a box of samples from the Paxil sales rep that was sitting in the waiting room with me. I told her I was talking to the sales rep in the waiting room and she said "oh yea, look at all the stuff he gave me" That is just how business is done now days.

Crystal, I was originaly on Wellbutrin. Your right it was a miracle drug for that first month I thought I could do anything...and I lost 20LBS in that first month!! Unfortunatly, I began having strange side effects like muscle twitching in my face, blurred vision and dizzyness. However, I was not on the new SRI (sustain release version) I was on the old version because it is the only one my insurance would pay for and that version is known to cause convulsions....so I had to be taken off of them. That's when the Paxil sales rep came in.

I am so happy that you stood up for yourself against your doctor and got him to prescribe Wellbutrin. Good for you! :D You sound very happy and very upbeat!!

My doctor is only 20 something years old and fresh out of med school. I know more about my illnesses than she does (BarBar Psorisis, Psoriatic arthritis, social anxity and OCD). So if we go in the wrong direction I realy can't hold her totaly responsible....my health is my responsibilty, too. As for the high carb and high sugar diet it made since at the time (carb+sugar=energy) it was not until I stumbled upon you guys that I realized she and I were both wrong.

Anyway I just wanted to say how happy I am that Welbutrin and the LC diet has turned your life around. I hope I have such great results

Tina

[crystal]

I am on the SR versions, so I hope I don't get those side effects! (Gaining weight is bad enough!)

Yes, statistics show that most people loose weight while taking Wellbutrin, only a very rare few actually gain weight like I did, I just have to be the exception to every rule!!! LOL :rolleyes:

The SR is is not covered on my plan either becuase it is a non-formulary drug and my plan only covers formulary drugs. I could get my Doctor to write the health dept. and get it listed as formulary for me, I already did that with my other prescription which is also non-formulary, Celebrex, which I take for severe joint problems (it's also been a miracle drug for me), but my drug plan also has a yearly maximum which I just exceeded (I was on two forms of Dexadrine for a year before trying the Effexor and then the Wellbutrin), so there's no point in doing that until the end of the year. So I'm now paying for my meds, it's tough, but the meds help me live a productive life and do well at my job, which causes my pay to increase (and allows me to pay my bills and do alot of things I enjoy), so I will just have to bear that burden financially for the rest of the year. As far as I'm concerned it's worth it - I'd probably spend that money on other useless stuff or fleeting pursuits anyways, so I'll pay for the drugs myself. Actually the Wellbutrin is already saving me tons of money by helping me to think rationally and control my compulsive spending, so it's paying for itself!

I would seriously mistrust a Doctor who prescribed eating sugar, to me that is the same as prescribing smoking - they are both poisons and and complete destructors of human health! I would find a Doctor who specializes in the problems you have, or at least whichever one is the most major. I am fortunate to have found an MD who specializes in treating ADHD, but I searched and high and low until I found one. It's made all the difference!

Keep on keeping on,

Crystal

[Tony90266]

A very common side effect of Paxil is weight gain. The rates of gain are in the package labeling you should have with your prescription. As I recall the weight gain was an average of 7 pounds in about 25% of the people who took Paxil in clinical trials.
Paxil has also been associated with "carbohydrate craving"

The others Zoloft (causes severe diarreah), and Prozac (Jitters, lost sleep) aren't much better.

Wellbutrin is not chemically similar to the others, works by a better mechanism, and a better choice.

Also be wary of Celebrex. It can decrease kidney function and slow clearance of water--and make you hold on to weight. Some patients on Celebrex suffer swollen hands and feet, and other problems related to fluid retention. Finally for women, Celebrex has been shown to slow bone growth--of concern to women especially. Vioxx is the same. Worst of all is neither of these two "super aspirins" have proven better than generic naprosyn or even aspirin in the long term studies. Not worth going off your prescription plan and paying out of pocket!!

[Carol CA]

I find it amazing that a doctor would be prescribing antidepressants AND recommending a high carb and sugar diet. Carbs are known to cause hyperactivity in children... and depression and anxiety in adults. I'd find a new doctor! In addition, Tony's right... weight gain is often a side-effect of antidepressant drugs. I was diagnosed with panic disorder in the early 90's. I was so terrified at the very thought of gaining more weight. Talk about adding to an already anxious situation! I had to ASK PERMISSION of my doctor to go to group sessions to learn about breathing techniques and other methods for controlling anxiety that don't include prescription drugs. Amazing to me that the medical community is so quick to prescribe drugs for something that can often be remedied through diet, exercise and BREATHING.