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

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.

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.