I gained weight on wellbutrin why??? Has this happened to anyone else?!
Question: Ok so i took wellbutrin xl and it didnt really work for me i have depression and very bad anxiety and i felt like my anxiety was getting worse on it...and that made me more depressed. On top of that i gained 12 pounds on it :( in a short amount of time too....My new doctor said that wellbutrin is good for depression but not anxiety, so he's now putting me on lexapro and xanax...but what i'm confused about is...why did i gain weight...? I mean i heard wellbutrin causes weight loss...has anyone had weight gain on wellbutrin...??
Answers: Ok so i took wellbutrin xl and it didnt really work for me i have depression and very bad anxiety and i felt like my anxiety was getting worse on it...and that made me more depressed. On top of that i gained 12 pounds on it :( in a short amount of time too....My new doctor said that wellbutrin is good for depression but not anxiety, so he's now putting me on lexapro and xanax...but what i'm confused about is...why did i gain weight...? I mean i heard wellbutrin causes weight loss...has anyone had weight gain on wellbutrin...??
It's true that Wellbutrin more commonly causes weight loss or no change in weight, since it is a stimulating medication and may cause appetite loss (for me it did, but only for a very short time...after that, no side effects at all). It's also true that it can exacerbate anxiety and I think most people that go off of it do so because of that.
Out of the antidepressants..it is the least likely to cause weight gain. However, meds can have opposite effects for some people. For instance, the medication Seroquel generally causes marked drowsiness, but for some people, it causes insomnia.
Depression tends to cause changes in appetite. For some, they eat less, others overeat (which is considered an "atypical" symptom). If you are someone that tends to eat more when in a depressive episode (or eat a lot of empty calories found in non-whole grain breads, pasta, and sugar) and your depression got worse on Wellbutrin, then weight gain would make sense. A lot of people w/ depression crave carbs.
Good luck with the Lexapro. A lot of people do very well with it. It's an SSRI and they are often helpful for anxiety too. Xanax is an antianxiety med called a benzodiazapine....very effective but also addictive...so it's better to use occasionally rather than every day over a long period of time. It does work faster than antidepressants, so it may be really helpful as you wait for the Lexapro to kick in.
yup, i was on a combo of wellbutrin and lexapro and gained a lot of weight. probably close to 20 pounds, but i don't weigh myself regularly so i'm not sure. i was on them for over 4 years, and finally went off a couple months ago and the weight is starting to come off, there was a noticeable different within a couple weeks, people asking me if lost weight, etc. it's different with everyone though, and sometimes the extra pounds are worth it so you can get your head together.