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Does Quitting Anti-depressents Help In Weight Loss?

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Posted on Mon, 20 Jan 2014
Question: Hi. I am currently taking 40mg fluoxetine every morning and 75mg of dothiepin hydrochloride at night for depression. Do these medication work against my weight loss efforts. I have be trialing Garcinia Cambogia capsules and Cleanse Catalyst after seeing them on Dr Oz but am having no success. If I stop antidepressant medication, will I have more success?
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Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (1 hour later)
Brief answer...anti depressants are notorious to cause wright gain. Detailed answer.... Hello, Thanks for the query. I know it is a problem faced by many patients who are taking anti depressants. Although not all the anti depressants and not all the individuals using them face weight gain problem,but experts say that 25% of people using anti depressants experience weight gain. Now the question is what to do? The problem of quitting anti depressants is big in itself.In quest of loosing weight,one may deteriorate his depression and moreover it is not advisable to use any herbal preparation or any drug while you are on antidepressants.Please consult your doctor for this. There are few anti depressants which don't result in weight gain like ZOLOFT ( sertraline ) You can also add low dose of stimulant medicines like WELLBUTRIN OR NALTREXONE to your current regime of anti depressant drugs. Along with these measures start taking care of your diet and start doing regular aerobic exercises for 45 minutes. Please discuss with your doctor for either a switch to some other drug or addition of some stimulant drugs. At the last I would like to mention that if you think that you can wean away from your current anti depressants gradually and can manage without the anti depressants,then nothing like it. Make sure that you don't stop these anti depressants abruptly as it may lead to severe withdrawl symptoms. Obviously you would be benefitted if you could first come out of antidepressants and then start taking your weight loss drugs. I hope it helps,however you may revert to me for any further query. Best of luck Thanks
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :1978

Answered : 6704 Questions

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Does Quitting Anti-depressents Help In Weight Loss?

Brief answer...anti depressants are notorious to cause wright gain. Detailed answer.... Hello, Thanks for the query. I know it is a problem faced by many patients who are taking anti depressants. Although not all the anti depressants and not all the individuals using them face weight gain problem,but experts say that 25% of people using anti depressants experience weight gain. Now the question is what to do? The problem of quitting anti depressants is big in itself.In quest of loosing weight,one may deteriorate his depression and moreover it is not advisable to use any herbal preparation or any drug while you are on antidepressants.Please consult your doctor for this. There are few anti depressants which don't result in weight gain like ZOLOFT ( sertraline ) You can also add low dose of stimulant medicines like WELLBUTRIN OR NALTREXONE to your current regime of anti depressant drugs. Along with these measures start taking care of your diet and start doing regular aerobic exercises for 45 minutes. Please discuss with your doctor for either a switch to some other drug or addition of some stimulant drugs. At the last I would like to mention that if you think that you can wean away from your current anti depressants gradually and can manage without the anti depressants,then nothing like it. Make sure that you don't stop these anti depressants abruptly as it may lead to severe withdrawl symptoms. Obviously you would be benefitted if you could first come out of antidepressants and then start taking your weight loss drugs. I hope it helps,however you may revert to me for any further query. Best of luck Thanks