Best antipsychotics for weight gain

[LovelyBath]

I have put on several stone on mirtazapine and olanzapine. Change to fluoxetine and olanzapine and still struggling with the weight gain. It's not easy as need to be on a low fibre diet for another health condition which is not a good combination. I noticed that there was a mention in one of the psychiatrists letters about possibly changing to another, quetiapine, but that didn't happen. Is that one meant to be better? Any other advice on this? Thanks

Olanzapine has the worst weight gain of all of the antipsychotics. It's renowned for it. Changing to quetiapine will help. It won't fix all of the problems as it still has weight gain as a side effect, but it's nowhere near as bad as olanzapine.

Aripiprizole is probably the most weight neutral anti-psychotic there is.

I'm on aripiprazole and have gained some weight. I think they're all bad for weight gain but this one does seem to be better for me. It could also be due to poor diet when I'm unwell.

My dd is on Respiridone and she has put on so much weight, very rapidly. I'm confused as to what causes the weight gain. Will you gain weight even if your eating habits stay the same?

Dd is 16 and has got terrible stretch marks and cellulite and is like a different person physically in the space of 9 months.

I'm on Olanzapine and have gone from a size 10 to a 14. Thankfully the weight gain seems to have stopped now. Quetiapine didn't work for me sadly and Olanzapine seems to help.

@thorn--there seems to be a number of factors; increase in appetite, craving for carbs/sweets, and messing around with your metabolism/blood sugar levels. For some, they make people sleepy/lethargic so people move around less. But, yes, it seems possible to gain weight without any change in habits. That's certainly what I've been told by my CPN.

That's interesting thanks. I'm trying not to make a big deal of it for dd's sake.

I didn't gain any weight on quetapine or aripiprazole. I am on Olanzapine at the moment and gained some weight. Not excessively though.

I gained 5 stone on quetiapine.

It's a tricky one isn't it. I'm similar in going from size ten to size 12 to 14 but then the weight gain has kinda stayed steady. I'm only on a low dose of 5mg a day olanzapine long term with fluoxetine which is better than mirtazapine in terms of weight.

I might try and do intermittant fasting to see if I can lose some weight, wonder if that would help. The psych said to 'eat smart' on olanzapine which isn't simple....

I was on risperdone and gained but I'm on aripipizle now and the weight is coming off...

I ballooned on quetiapine, BUT, I got well on it.

Once I was mentally strong enough, the weight gain was easy enough to deal with.

My psych basically allows me to vary my dose according to need, and any time I increase it, my weight goes up because the sugar cravings are unreal!

It's hard the cravings isn't it. I have to be on a low fibre diet for another condition and the combination isn't good. Trying intermittent fasting at the moment but it's a bit of a challenge. I am usually around 8.5 to 9 stone and short, 5ft2 and have gone up to 11 stone! Have lost about 8 lb in the last two weeks by only having 500 cals every second day. It's quite tough though.

quetiapine made me fat but well.