Quote:
Originally Posted by costello
I think the problem is the meds mess with your metabolism. Diabetes is a huge risk with some of these meds. People talk like you get the diabetes because you're fat, but that's not so. Obesity and diabetes are both caused by the same underlying disorder. That's not politically correct to say, though. We have to say obesity is a behavior which causes other illnesses. 
I've seen lots of people on mental illness forums talking about restricting calories and exercises in order to lose the medication-induced weight gain. Then they blame themselves when it doesn't work. It makes me sad, but I never say anything, because I don't want to get into the debate. |
The meds mess with everything, no doubt about it. Taking my first anti-psychotic was like triggering my "I need pasta now" gene. I was never much of a carb lover before; always preferred fruit and veg.
It was amazing/disgusting how much I peed and sweated when I was detoxing off the drugs. At first I just thought it was normal withdrawal symptoms -- but after six months, I saw an endocrinologist who said he had seen that in quite a few people who had stopped antipsychotics. I was losing about 2 stone (28lbs) per month
for seven months without doing anything in particular! Madness.
Yet on the drugs, the psychiatrists kept telling me that the meds don't cause much weight gain - "Maybe a stone (14 lbs) at most, for long-term use" and the rest must just be my fault. Bollocks to that. I weighed 355lbs at my heaviest, well more than twice my normal weight.
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Psychiatric Survivor
"And just when I've lost my way, and I've got too many choices . . . . I hear voices!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLCfb54e_kM