Bitter Pill to Swallow – Antidepressants and Weight Gain
It’s a vicious cycle – you’re depressed for various reasons or for reasons unknown to you; you seek medical help and are prescribed antidepressant pills to enhance your mood and make you feel better; a few months down the line you discover a sudden weight gain that ends up making you depressed all over again. Experts estimate that at least 25 percent of people who take antidepressants suffer from abnormal weight gains as a side effect.
Further research on this subject has showed that some antidepressants are likely to cause more weight to be gained than others. Tricyclic antidepressants and Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors known as MAOIs are more likely to induce weight gains than SSRIs or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors.
While enough studies have been undertaken to know for sure that regular usage of antidepressants is a surefire way to gain weight, between 7 to 10 percent of your body weight, no one knows exactly why the weight gain occurs.
Some attribute it to metabolic reasons because only one in four people are susceptible to adding on the pounds. Also, some patients who are on the drug affirm that they tend to gain weight even without a significant change in their eating habits.
Others think that with the antidepressants doing their part to enhance moods, people are happier and tend to eat more.
Another theory doing the rounds is that people who are prescribed antidepressants are depressed in the first place, and depression has been known to lead to overeating since people who are sad tend to look for comfort in fatty and tasty food.
Some people may be prescribed antidepressants wrongly when they are suffering from hypothyroidism, a syndrome where the thyroid gland is underactive and leads to weight gain. The symptoms of both depression and hypothyroidism are similar.
Whatever the reason for the weight gain, it’s advisable that people taking antidepressants consult their doctor and seek alternative solutions for their illness.
