I hope the scientists have made some progress finding safe adjunct meds to counter med weight gain.

cln1812 makes an interesting point. Not all patients gain weight on notorious weight unfriendly medications. Though Lithium gave me about 10 undesirable side effects, weight gain/increased appetite was not one of them, like it is for most people. I did have some quick weight gain/appetite increases on some antipsychotics, but not all. I wonder, too, if in some cases the more extreme weight gains were exacerbated by depression and sedation. I've taken about 600 mg Seroquel XR for quite a while now. I've gained a little, but only 10 lbs in over a year. I have to also look at other factors, like family history and my lifestyle. I can honestly say that I only weigh a bit more now than I did once 17 years ago before taking any meds. But I did lose 20 lbs then (while still not on meds). I lost almost 40 lbs from my highest weight ever (after a couple of years on weight unfriendly meds and a year plus of depression) taking meds.

I'm not debating that some antipsychotics weren't weight unfriendly. Zyprexa, Risperdal, Invega, maybe Trilofan, and Seroquel ir (to a degree) surely were. However, Seroquel XR, I'm not sure about. On this med (after losing the Depakote, Invega, and depression weight 8 years ago, has kept me the thinnest person in my immediate family.