weight gain

[jeffhans]

I am gaining alot of weight from serquel,and depakote. 45+ in 2 month's. has anybody had same problem's. What did you do help the situation??? New Med's,diet,exercise?

[high maintenence]

yes...I've gained 75 lbs. in 8 months and if your like me the Seroquel makes me way to damn tired to exercise and how in the hell can you diet when it pulls you toward the refrigerator like a magnet. I even dream about food and am starving the minute I wake up. I don't have an answer about what to do, I've just accepted it and decided it's better to sleep and be fat than to stay awake and be destructively manic. Actually though, I've been trying other sleep meds, but nothing else is working, so I'm sure I'll be back on it in a few days.

[Phyllis]

I have gained a lot of weight being on seroquel. I have lost 7 pounds recently and keep losing and gaining back again 2 pounds. If I work out on the treadmill my weight drops. I also have to watch what I eat. I'm trying to be more vigilant about that since swimsuit season is coming up  :'( I also have a bad problem with snacking in bed. I take my seroquel at night and after it has been in my system I just want to eat. Of course, you already knew that is how it works.

So, try some excercise, even if it is just walking - it works. And also, keep an eye on what you eat. Try to stay away from carbs and sweets as much as you can. It is difficult, I know.

[high maintenence]

swimsuits mean you have to go outside of your home, right?

[Lurker]

I have recently tried to diet no luck so far but will stay vigilant.
                            Lurker

[Phyllis]

swimsuits mean you have to go outside of your home, right?

Yeah... we go every year to my in-laws beach home for a weeks vacation.

[kaz]

there is no way I am ever going back on seroquel!
Does it actually do anything for you, apart from make you eat and sleep?
People post about taking 3 or 4 different medications and they still feel like crap even after they have been on them for a while and I wonder why they still continue to take them?
is it because you don't feel quite as bad as you did before the meds?
                                                                                                 kaz

[Phyllis]

the seroquel actually does help me from going into rage. i can tell when i "forget" to take it. i get really bitchy.
as far as taking 3 or 4 different meds and still feeling like crap, it is just the nature of the beast i think. i know i often think "how would i feel if i wasn't on my meds - if i feel like crap now, what about then?"

[high maintenence]

Actually Kaz, I have no answer for your question. I feel like I am poisoning my body. Do you take any meds? I've tried coming off of them, but I am scared that I will be what I was before. I was amazingly healthy and was an exercise nut, weighed 120 lbs. compared to my now 200lbs. It was after that energy had forced me into 3 months of absolutely no sleep, which caused me to be incapable of controlling myself out of harms way that I began these meds. I of course felt better without them, but I do not want to end up at the place I was at when I started taking them...If you have any other answers for me than just taking these meds, I would love to hear them.

[KATE336]

yea. i lost it. try calorie-count.com. that helped me lose it.you type in your weight and your desired wieght. it tells you how many calories to eat a day and calculates how long it will take you. plus excercise. make sure to eat your "deficit". it will all be explained on the site.

[Phyllis]

sweet! I'll have to check that out!

[k]

i used and stayed on seroquel for 8 years. i continued to exercise and kept as fit as i could but i still put on 50 lbs.  BUT, because of the dramatic help in my life at that time the payoff was worth the the side effect. i slept for the first time in years and i was stable for the first time EVER. i took it through a very difficult time in my life and don't see how i could have survived without it. obviously for me it ws worth it and it helped my life and i chose the weight gain for the benefit.  things have changed and i am no longer willing to accept it for much other reasons and am losing the weight but i am also floating and twirling at a very high drop off. i also know these risks and am choosing to take them. i think you have to always look at the cost/benefit ratio when it comes to drugs = they all have them. but at least trying them doesn't mean forever and if it's not worth it there are others to try. k

[high maintenence]

All of this info has been shit for me...Don't take that personally. I hope what ya'll have said will maybe help someone else. I can't seem to get my ass up to exercise and with the Seroquel, the refrigerator keeps following me around so counting calories is not really an option. I've tried, I really have and I haven't given up but it isn't looking good.

[Phyllis]

i know how difficult it is to not wat while you are on seroquel, believe me. This coming from a person who HAS to have a snack in bed after I have taken that evil evil pill. I have tried to purchase healthier "snack" type items. lo-cal packages of snacks, you know those 100 calorie packs of cookies or whatever? I have purchased dried fruit and stuff like that and take that to bed with me. Now, of course it is not helathy to eat while in bed, but my hopes are to limit what I am allowing into my body at this time of the night. I'm still working on it, it is going to be a rough ride, but I am determied that I am not going to get any fatter from this damn pill - or rather the affects that the pill has on me.

[k]

i know how difficult it is to not wat while you are on seroquel, believe me. This coming from a person who HAS to have a snack in bed after I have taken that evil evil pill. I have tried to purchase healthier "snack" type items. lo-cal packages of snacks, you know those 100 calorie packs of cookies or whatever? I have purchased dried fruit and stuff like that and take that to bed with me. Now, of course it is not helathy to eat while in bed, but my hopes are to limit what I am allowing into my body at this time of the night. I'm still working on it, it is going to be a rough ride, but I am determied that I am not going to get any fatter from this damn pill - or rather the affects that the pill has on me.

phyllis i don't know if this has happenned to you but i have awoke with food in my mouth and crumbs and stuff all over my bed. not even knowingly putting it there. i don't know how i never choked having uneaten food in my mouth.  now for that side effect i needed to be in 4pt restraints or have my mouth wired shut...  seroquel is just so much like an ALMOST miracle pill - for me. i'm not sure i'm even hungry it just seems to be a reflex between pill frig hand and mouth.