Weight gain on Amitriptyline?

Medication 💊 Antidepressants
22

I reckon celery’s about the best thing. I have it on good authority from a weight and health conscious friend who’s always meticulous in her research about everything that celery is the only food you can consume whereby you expend more calories chewing it than you gain from having eaten it. Helen

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23

Yes both are good fats and keep you satiated for long time. I personally don’t find them to be triggers

24

@Dkkrueger. I read somewhere on here earlier one consultant told the patient to expect to gain 4lb per month on Amitriptyline!

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25

That is a very true story :woman_facepalming:t3:

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26

I cut cucumber into sticks and munch on those throughout the day usually, its more in the evening when the creme eggs start looking at me :woman_facepalming:t3::woman_shrugging:

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27

Holy cow!

Venlafaxine is supposed to be weight neutral. White knuckle control and I still gained 30# in a year. That was after I rejected ami over weight.

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28

Can i ask what do you eat ?

I am in Nori and feeling hungry all the time and did not know what to eat! Cuz i am cutting off chocolate, white sugar, tea, coffee, bread (yeast, wheat), banana, orange, spicy food, gulten

My options is soooo limited. :expressionless:

29

I guess you need a calorie counter app. I imagine it’s a question of mostly ‘rabbit food’, fresh salad ingredients, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, rocket plus of course all the cooked veg like cabbage, broccoli etc, and the available fruits none of which are very filling to a hungry tummy. These drugs change your metabolism so you can put on weight whilst feeding less than normal. That’s the struggle. Personally I have always found a good filling breakfast helps and for me that is porridge made with water, not milk but served with milk on top. I can run all morning on that. The body needs some fibre. Wholemeal bread is another good filler. Far more satisfying than white bread.

30

The only thing that works at all for me is regular exercise (30-60 minutes with an elevated heart rate 3-6 times per week) and a stupidly strict ketogenic diet - fats, moderate meats (including eggs, red meat, poultry and seafood), limited seeds and nuts, and tons of low glycemic index vegetables and fruits (mainly above ground veggies, stone fruit, berries). Limited dairy. No beans or grains. No alcohol. Nothing processed. No sweeteners.

But when I do that for a while (weeks), I feel amazingly better. My head is clear. I have energy. I’m not nauseous or dizzy. I still get break thru symptoms and some weeks are better than others, but the average is much higher. It’s like going from the basement to the second floor.

Also, I stop gaining weight. Sometimes I lose some.

My best run on this diet is 6 months. I’m currently working on matching or beating it but am back in early days.

You also have to give yourself a cheat meal every once in a while. You might feel crappy afterwards but it keeps you from feeling deprived and quitting.

31

Wow, really? I wonder what their dosing was like. Right now, mine’s pretty low at 20 mg and I’ve not gained any weight. I’m pretty neutral. Hmm? I wonder if I get bumped up I’ll start to notice something.

32

I’ve eliminated chocolate and citrus and most caffeine and really lowered my salt intake since those are triggers for symptoms. But a filling food is lentils. You can season them any way you want, full of protein and fiber. Pretty versatile ancient type of food.

33

Hi everyone, I’ve been on Amitrypline for about 8 months with good success! I had a small hiccup last week and it’s been doing away now. Just lots of light sensitivity. However I’ve been gaining lots of weight. I usually never really gain weight, I was originally 160 and now I’m 185!!! It’s really messing with my self esteem but I don’t want to get off because I don’t want my symptoms coming back. I’ve tried it and caused a bit of havoc in my migraine brain. My doctor says it’s water weight but I don’t think so…

Any tips on how to combat this? Is it water weight?

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34

Drugs have side effects. Weight gain is a common one. Ask @Naejohn. She changed to Nortriptyline which isn’t quite so notorious for weight gain. Might be worth asking the medics about. It’s generally a straight swop, not need to come off one then start then other it seems

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35

I’m not afraid of disagreeing with a doctor. There are probably at least two mechanisms for gaining weight on an antidepressant:

  • it may lower brain excitability so might actually reduce the energy the brain consumes

  • it slows the bowel. Maybe you absorb more from your food because of that.

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36

Definitely not water weight. The truth is that they just don’t know why it happens. I have done alot of research on it and that is pretty much the answer… they don’t know.
I also have read that for every 10mg of Ami, expect to gain 5 lbs., so in my case I was at 50mg and gained around 25lbs… which is right on the mark.
My doctor suggested a switch to Nort. He stated that Ami and Nort are both noted for weight gain but the Nort not nearly so much as Ami. I would completely agree with that having been on both. Since switching to Nort, (and adding another 25mg, now at 75mg) I have not gained any more… but I can’t seem to get any of the Ami weight off either. But I am pleased since I am not gaining any longer and the Nort has treated me well with my healing also.

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