Some of the atypical antipsychotics are known for weight gain and frankly I get annoyed at how often they are handed out. Dont get me wrong, they are life savers for some people. Some people cant sleep w/o seroquel or risperdone but I cant say that I am on board with those being the first choices. In many cases the idea of mood stabilizers and antipsychotics are treated as one and the same. Yes Anti's help with mood but there are other specific mood stabilizers out there like lamicatal or lithium. I am BPII. I take cymbalta (an SNRI) buspar(anxiety) Lamictal (mood stabilizer) Latuda and geodon (anti's that help with my mood). I resisted geodon due to my bad experience with seroquel but after learning about it and talking with my doc I gave it a try. I was actually put on it while inpatient and it saved my life. I have found it to be weight neutral give or take the 10lbs I go up and down with. I know there are lawsuits out there for boys that have taken risperdol who had grown breasts- and for awhile they were putting kids on Anti's a lot. Most times a lower dose is more sedating and a higher dose can help with the mood issues. I know with Remeron a lower dose is better for sleep and higher better for depression. Same with seroquel. At 50mg-150mg doses its better for sleep at 250+ is better for mood. I dont know if that is true across the board. I think we as patients should not be afraid to discuss issues like diabetes, metabolic syndrome or weight gain with these drugs because they are not the only options.