Weight gain caused by anti-depressants/epilepsy meds- has anyone managed to diet or maintain weight whilst on these drugs?

[curlycaz]

I have recently been diagnosed with a neurolgical disease and will need to take anti-depressants/epilepsy/bi-polar meds such as amytriptyline and gabapentin indefinitely. Unfortunately I have put on a stone in just one month! I feel like my body has been taken over by aliens and all I want to do is eat carbohydrates and sugar. As well as that the weight has deposited itself like a cushion on my tummy so people are constantly asking me if I am pregnant! (another side effect appartently) I can't come off these meds as they are the only ones that I can tolerate. I've already tried all the other drugs and these are the only ones that don't make me really ill.

Has anyone else experienced this? I have read a lot on the internet and there is something called the serotonin diet that aims to replace the serotonin your brain needs by eating mainly carbohydrate. But this goes against all the other diet advice such as eat more protein or fasting.

Has anyone found a diet that works while being on these kinds of meds? I've tried doing a basic calorie controlled plan but I just felt starving and food obsessed. It is in fact a bit like being pregnant- I am really turned off salads,fish and general healthy food and all I want to eat is loads of toast and jam, cakes and biscuits!

My doctor and friends said that I should focus on the positives and it's better to be without pain and fat than in loads of pain but thin. I am really scared of putting on another stone each month and feel really down about it.

I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts about this.

Gosh. I just saw your post and didn't want to leave it unanswered. I've been on various of these medications in my life (to control epilepsy). And have been various weights. It is most important (I think) that you're medically stable because otherwise you're never in a good place mentally to start losing weight.
I lost 2.5 stones a couple of years ago (and have pretty much kept it off) doing a low GI diet. Plenty of carbs, but wholemeal ones that make you feel full and take longer to digest. Too much protein really doesn't agree with me. It was basically calorie-counting, but didn't feel like it because I felt I had plenty to eat.
I do hope you're able to get somewhere your body feels comfortable - I have every sympathy.

Ps - the sugar craving I found I could kick only by going cold turkey. Ultimately you find the less you have, the less you crave and now I find eg dairy milk is too sweet to eat. It took a week or two of being really self-controlled, then the appeal dropped.
Good luck

Thanks so much for your reply- I have just borrowed a GI diet book from the library. I didn't know anything about it before. I've been looking through it and I think it will be good because I can eat the plenty of stuff that I fancy, whereas I just don't feel like eating the stuff in the high protein diet books. That said, I was also interested in what you said about giving up sugar. At the moment, it rules me! How did you do it? Did you use a book or app?
Also do you mind me asking if you have found any diets that help with the epilepsy etc?
How are you now? Hope you are well.