To think if doctors are prescribing drugs known to have the side effect of weight gain they should also give out dietary advice with the prescription?

[LunchpackOfNotreDame]

I'm on a lot of medication which has weight gain as a known highly common side effect with it. It would be nice if I could be advised as to how to circumvent the weight gain and given appropriate advice and support with it.

Is that something that is possible or will I forever more be unable to get below a size 18

yes that was what annoyed me, not being told of the likely side effect of weight gain. I took the med for insomnia (offuse anti-depressant at low levels) and it worked well, enough that I could function .. .but it was really upsetting to suddenly balloon like that.

stopping them was a miracle cure though. Was not doing much exercise but the insatiable Hunger stopped and the weight dropped off so quickly. Suppose I was very lucky there.

expatinscotland - if you're diabetic, ask them to put you on forxiga. It's a diabetic drug that causes weight loss, rather than gain. I lost 2 stone in a year on it.

i was put on Quetiapine during an inpatient stay. nobody gave me a leaflet to read and to be honest I would have tried anything at that point. I am also on meds to regulate my heartbeat - I take around 15 pills a day.

my weight gain is an issue because the one thing I never told any doctors about was my ten-year long bulimic history. I can't lose weight so I'm just not eating to see if that works.

oh exWife .... I suspect that will be affecting how the meds work, if you don't eat. If you can, please do tell the doctor. Do you have a sympathetic one?

I was put on quetiapine (600mg) in January. I gained 8st (yes EIGHT stone!!) in about 4 months. I went from a size 12-16 (I was very pear shaped) to now being an apple (barrel) shaped 22-24.

Quetiapine has also caused me to be incontinent, i have the shakes, I get sunburn incredibly quickly (when no one else does), I'm sleepy all the time, blah blah. I filled in a yellow card online and it took ages to cover all the side effects.

Even better, it turns out that I should never have been put on it in the first place. It was prescribed against NICE guidelines & its not recommended for my conditions

I had a Wellbeing check up a few months ago and I had some kind of magic weighing scales tell me how much fat/muscle/bone I had. It also told me what my metabolism was like and it was so low it was at the bottom of the range. So basically quetiapine has changed my metabolic rate. That would explain why I just can't shift the weight no matter what I do.

I'm being weaned of it now so fingers crossed that when I'm off it my metabolic rate goes up and the weight comes off.

Yes, they certainly should be giving you advice on the side effects of the drug and how (if possible) to minimise the side effects.
I'm quite surprised some prescribers still don't do this nowadays. I have a chronic health condition and always receive a lot of information on drugs so that I can choose which drug I want. That should be what they do for every drug or health condition (assuming the patient is mentally competent).

meer not really there is no money at all in my area so I'm left as I am. ah well.

sorry to hear it exWife. The NHS is so shaky ...

If it's any help, an experienced person on the dieting forums here said that actually some of these meds change your hormonal balance so that weight loss is very, very, very difficult. Had this confirmed by someone else too. So at least it's nothing you've done, or not done; the Hunger is irresistible.

Most doctors don't even seem to acknowledge the problems caused by side effects. They also try to dismiss your findings and observations about the side effects and might as well just sit with their fingers in their ears singing "la, la, la"