Medication that causes weight gain

[CaulkheadUpNorth]

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this, but here goes...

I've been prescribed medication which has "weight gain" listed in the side effects. The doctor prescribing it also said that would happen.

My question is, will it happen regardless of what I eat, or will it cause me to be more hungry, and therefore eat more, and so put on weight?

I've googled but nothing was clear, and I've never been on meds that have this as a side effect!

Depends what it is

It's quetiapine (anti psychotic). Sorry, didn't occur to me it could depend

Things like steroids will make you hungry and eat more
Others like propranolol slow down your metabolism

I don't know about the quetiapine, what does the leaflet say?

It lists the very common side effects (more than 1 in 10) and says weight gain. Nothing about hunger or appetite.

The gabapentin I have to take for my trigeminal neuralgia also has 'weight gain' as a very common side effect.

I did put on weight when I got poorly, but I was in terrible pain and not sleeping/getting out and about as normal/eating normally.

I have found that it's been very difficult to lose the weight I've put on. :(

I also put on weight when I started the gabapentin.. I think it made me hungrier and also the relief from pain meant I could eat again!

However 5 years on it now and I'm actually lighter than I was before it started! I realised that being hungrier didn't mean I HAD to eat as long as I was aware it was the tablets! It gradually came off again :)

Thanks. I've never had something like this before so I wasn't really sure how the weight gain happened. Hunger I can cope with, but not random fat melting into my body, which is what I imagined!

Some meds cause a sort of bloating in certain areas (e.g. steroids which I am on do this) - so you get fatter even if you ignore the increased appetite. Though obviously, if you can control it it is better. I think - but don't quote me on this - with anti-psychotic drugs it's more due to appetite changes.

I think you should ask a pharmacist or your prescribing doctor. Mine have tried to minimise the effect of the drugs I've been given as I was so upset at the weight gain prospect. I'd only just lost weight after years of struggling, and got very fit, when I became ill. They were supportive, to a point - but ultimately I needed the treatment.

I gained weight on Citalopram (SSRI) mainly I think because it made me not worry so much about things so I would think 'oh what the heck, I'll have another cake, it's no big deal'. Other people however have said that even eating the same you seem to gain weight, maybe slowing metabolism.

MioMoo I put on nearly a stone due to a combination of meds including corticosteroids, but managed to loose it again recently by following a low carbohydrate diet. I now eat lowish carb( not too strictly) but I am no longer on the regular oral corticosteroids. I am short so a little weight gain shows on me. I followed the boot camp that BIWI runs from time to time?

I was about to start my own thread about steroids. I seem to be having the opposite effect. In just over a week I've lost 2kg plonking me into the underweight category. My appetite has crashed. I think I lost weight last time too.

I was prescribed something similar OP- olanzapine. It did increase my appetite and I did put on weight. My psych sais to 'eat smart' with it but it's hard. It seems to make me crave carbs.

It's increased my appetite I think, but hasn't taken away my shopping-for-food anxiety so the local chip shop is doing very well from my household