Quetiapine and weight gain

[sooty42]

I have been taking 75mg of quetiapine at night for over 4 years now. The drug works well for me but I can't tolerate the weight increase anymore. I have put on a stone and can't shift any of it, I'm so scared of how out of control my weight is. I also take citalopram, lorazepam and buspirone. I have tried numerous times to reduce or come off the quetiapine and within about 5 days all my symptoms of illness come back with a vengeance. I can't seem to function without it but how fat am I going to get? My GP believes that the benefits of the drug outweigh the weight gain and quetiapine is the only anti-psychotic I can tolerate. So I feel completely stuck and increasingly depressed with my appearance. I really would appreciate anyone else's thoughts or experiences. Thanks

[memememe94]

Quetiapine can be really bad for weight gain, but are you absolutely sure it's the Quetiapine? I thought the same when I was on Quetiaoine and citalopram, but discovered when I discontinued the citalopram that it was to blame.

75mg is a very low dose of Quetiapine. Why do you take it? I'm now on 900mg and it doesn't cause weigh gain.

[sooty42]

I've been on citalopram for about 10 years and my weight was pretty steady. Since starting the quetiapine I've had terrible sugar cravings which are so hard to control. I would be reluctant to change the citalopram as it took a long time to find an anti-depressant that worked. I was told that the weight gain with quetiapine isn't dose related, it basically wrecks your metabolism.
I have had a host of mental health probs for nearly 20 years, from severe depression , several suicide attempts, severe anxiety which stops me functioning even on a basic level and OCD.