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Sabrina0805 said:
I have been reading up on Metabolic Syndrome and other than the stated, I am still not fully clear on what actually causes it. I was wondering if anti-depressants have a role in this, or any other metabolic disorder for that matter.

Any thoughts?

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HI Sabrina-

5-10 years ago, weight gain was just thought of as a side effect due to increased appetite from SSRIs and/or anti-psychotic medications. Later they said that SSRIs caused carbohydrate cravings which caused people to eat more and gain weight. Now they're saying these meds - anti-psychotics more so - cause a "metabolic syndrome" which by my understanding basically means that the medications somehow act directly or indirectly upon your metabolism slowing it down causing you to gain weight even without an increase in daily caloric intake. It's also been shown that anti-psychotics like Zyprexa, Seroquel, etc., can cause dramatic increases in blood sugar levels leading to full-blown diabetes.

I actually had a personal experience with just that. I was on Seroquel for insomnia and gained 100lbs in under a year. It got to the point where my family doctor became very concerned and wanted to put me on diabetic medication saying that I was "pre-diabetic." Of course I was greatly distressed by this and eventually tapered off of the Seroquel and am now losing the weight slowly.

I do not know the exact mechanism that causes this "syndrome" but give me a couple days and I'll do some research. I do know for sure that it happens much more so with anti-psychotic meds than SSRIs and that it is reversible either by discontinuing the med or lowering the dosage.

Also -remember the Golden Rule when it comes to meds: Not everyone responds the same. So this syndrome doesn't happen to everyone. If you or someone else who is reading this is currently taking an anti-psychotic and is experiencing weight gain, I would advise him/her to talk to his/her doctor about it. There are simple blood tests that can be done to measure blood glucose levels and determine if one is diabetic.

I hope this helps!

Jerry