Please help, I can't stop eating but it is making my depression worse.

[UtterlyButterly]

I have PTSD, depression and severe anxiety. I take 80mg of propanalol and 100mg of Sertraline.

Lately I cannot stop eating. I never get full and I am hungry very soon after eating.

I am putting on so much weight it is making my depression so much worse.

My doctor didn't seem to want to help and the waiting list for counselling is still months for me.

So I'm turning to MN, has anyone overcome this? How?

It's really getting me down now so I would really value your advice.

I have depression and anxiety, have taken propanolol in the past and also am on anti d's. I have issues with overeating as well.

I am not taking your problems lightly, but have you tried slimming world? It is healthy eating and you can eat as much of certain foods as you like. That may help you feel in control in the short term.

Ask to see another GP if you can, and look at the list of side effects with your medication. Propanolol were terrible for me and didn't work, I needed the anti d's which also sorted out the anxiety.

Hopefully someone with more helpful advice will be along soon.

The anti-d's that my partner takes make him very hungry..I'd second a vote to see your GP, this could be a side effect!

Hi Billy thank you for your reply.

I'm pretty sure it's a side effect to the meds as I've never had this 'urge' to binge like this.

I have thought about following SW or WW but when I'm on that frame of mind I just don't care and eat anything.
Then when I'm out of it I feel horribly guilty and physically hate myself

The thing is I can't swap my AD's as these are the only ones that have worked (I have been on a lot)

I just don't know how much more I can take of getting bigger and bigger.

Perhaps you can manage coming of the propanolol - see if that makes a difference? Or the dosage of the anti d?

i am a binge eater, i have a problem - its one which no one thnks is serious tbh. but the shear volume of food, shit food - that i would consume if unregulated is disgusting.

i started low carbing becuase it regulates sugar.

sugar is in everything even bread, and you are addicted to it - it makes your moods go up and down, your blood sugar levels tell your brain 'HIT ME WITH SUGAR' and kthis means - hungry or not - you'll eat

my blog is www.carbfree.wordpress.com

Thank you Custardo I will read your blog.

I also binge on pure rubbish. Actually, it makes sense that I'm addicted to sugar because before I 'binge' I am shaking and it's all I can think about.

Afterwards I feel so horrible. I've made myself sick a couple of times and its on my mind 24/7. Thankfully I'm never alone in order to think about making myself sick now but it scared me that I did it.

i went for long periods of time without eating - i could get up
no breakfast
no lunch
then 3.00 - quick dash from work to shop - big bag of crisps x2 - eat at desk
get home
eat bread, crackers or crisps whilst making tea, then eat it after tea right up until i went to bed.

BUT>>>>> i honestly kept saying ' i dont eat anything all day i dont know how im so fat

I know how it feels to eat and eat rubbish all day long with out caring and hate yourself for it.

I managed to do ww for 3 weeks in January. I was feeling strong and thought that finally I could start a diet and stick to it. I usually give up by day 3.

Pick a sunny day when you are feeling happy and plan your food for the day. And write down everything you eat. Also you could write down what you'd like to eat and how you feel about it. Like a journal.

Sometimes if you can just pause for a minute you can stop your self.

You can do it.

I'm afraid I think it's your antidepressant.
About 12 years ago I was prescribed Sertraline for panic attacks. I was normal weight. Once on it, I felt hungry all the time. Literally hunger pangs an hour after a large meal. Food was all I could think about. The medication also seemed to alter my metabolism so that I put on weight faster than I thought was humanly possible.
By the time I'd been on the medication for a year, I was severly obese. I went from being a keen hillwalker/squash player to my legs buckling when I tried to run, and extreme back pain walking more than a few hundred yards.
A lot of the weight dropped off when I stopped taking the medication, and I lost most of the rest after with quite a lot of effort.
If you google sertraline and weight gain there's a lot of anecdotal stuff out there about weight gain, and I know a number of people who have had major weight gain from SSRIs.
I honestly don't know what to advise if you feel you currently need to be on the medication. Some people just do seem prone to huge weight gains.
I couldn't have lost weight or stopped eating if I'd tried while taking them. Weirdly I didn't put two and two together at the time and only figured out after the fact why I'd put on 80lb in a year.
Possibly with a very structured diet as suggested above, and a lot of exercise, this will be controlable.

I have got to grips with overeating, (not lost all the weight yet, though) by taking a similar approach to custy - but in my case, I've not low-carbed, I've calorie counted and fat gram counted, which tends to avoid most of the rubbish that screws up your blood sugar. I found that eating better food, and more protein reduced the urge to binge. I also find that moderate exercise - walking/rosemary conley dvd reduces my appetite slightly as well.

You may want to look at the GI diet, and I personally found the information about heart healthy diets v useful (british heart foundation etc). I also found the CSIRO books useful (Australian diet books, written by doctors, a bit focussed on meat though).

I think it would be worth seeing a sympathetic GP to discuss your concerns that the overeating is down to the meds, to see if tweaking the combination at all helps For me, I found 100mg of Sertraline just put me to sleep, so I was better off on 50mg.

shaking when hungry is low blood sugar.i ate piles crap from dawn to dusk when depressions very active.pulling back is hard
i found eating very slowly,chewing everything very well,with small sips water in between mouthfuls helped a bit
the secret is sugar balancing diet
no white bread,pasta,rice
lots fruit,veg,wholegrains and beans/lentils
these foods help ease anxiety that unbalanced blood sugar causes as well