[xRavenx]

Does anyone notice any weight loss when experiencing an episode?

My thoughts have been racing a lot lately, leading to agitation and anxiety. I can never turn my mind off, and as soon as one problem is solved, a new one is there. For instance, I will get thoughts of being investigated and also overanalyze things I've said and done and worry that the people who supposedly care about me think bad things about me. 'I will get fleeting feelings of elation, but they do not last, because paranoia tends to follow. But it feels very real.

Maybe I'm in a fight or flight state too much and that could be why I'm losing weight? You would think from all these psych meds that this would not be something I would experience. I am also getting migraines and ended up hospitalized.

I'm afraid of losing more and more weight. I was a thin person to begin with, so this is really unhealthy for me. The numbers just seem to keep dropping on the scale, and it makes me feel powerless.

I lose weight when i'm hypo-manic because i'm so active all of a sudden. Doctors tend to take losing weight very seriously (if you're thin to begin with). My psychiatrist who wouldn't support me in taking private disability benefits was eager to write me a medical certificate when i had trouble eating for a month because of a new oppressive manager i got assigned to. I had such anxiety i didn't take him up on it because i was too afraid of the manager. But it's a serious business to lose weight when you're already thin so i hope you will seek some serious medical help. Not sleeping and not eating are the two questions every psychiatrist seem to regard as signs of crisis. Up here in Canada, as long as you're eating and sleeping they just call out, "Next!"

[xRavenx]

Originally Posted by whatever2013

I lose weight when i'm hypo-manic because i'm so active all of a sudden. Doctors tend to take losing weight very seriously (if you're thin to begin with). My psychiatrist who wouldn't support me in taking private disability benefits was eager to write me a medical certificate when i had trouble eating for a month because of a new oppressive manager i got assigned to. I had such anxiety i didn't take him up on it because i was too afraid of the manager. But it's a serious business to lose weight when you're already thin so i hope you will seek some serious medical help. Not sleeping and not eating are the two questions every psychiatrist seem to regard as signs of crisis. Up here in Canada, as long as you're eating and sleeping they just call out, "Next!"

Thank you. I try to eat, but I just can't eat the same portions that I used to. I think my body is burning it off quickly due to anxiety. I pace around a lot. I have an appointment with my primary care doctor in a few weeks, but I am considering taking time off of work to go in sooner.

[*Beth*]

If I'm in a severe anxiety I cannot eat. I will force myself to swallow some rice cakes or crackers and water. If the anxiety and agitation continues then yes, I will lose weight.

It's good that you're at least eating some food, even if it's small portions.

[Scooter9]

I would go for a physical exam to make sure nothing is wrong. Unexplained weight loss is usually an indication that something is not right.

I had unexplained weight loss for 2 years and it ended up that Lamictal was damaging my liver. The weight loss stopped after I stopped Lamictal and so did my other symptoms.

I'm not trying to scare you but I would explain everything to a doctor since there could be some underling physical cause.

[bizi]

Originally Posted by Scooter9

I would go for a physical exam to make sure nothing is wrong. Unexplained weight loss is usually an indication that something is not right.


I'm not trying to scare you but I would explain everything to a doctor since there could be some underling physical cause.

good advice.!@

[sarahsweets]

If you dont mind sharing, what meds do you take?

Originally Posted by xRavenx

Does anyone notice any weight loss when experiencing an episode?

My thoughts have been racing a lot lately, leading to agitation and anxiety. I can never turn my mind off, and as soon as one problem is solved, a new one is there. For instance, I will get thoughts of being investigated and also overanalyze things I've said and done and worry that the people who supposedly care about me think bad things about me. 'I will get fleeting feelings of elation, but they do not last, because paranoia tends to follow. But it feels very real.

Maybe I'm in a fight or flight state too much and that could be why I'm losing weight? You would think from all these psych meds that this would not be something I would experience. I am also getting migraines and ended up hospitalized.

I'm afraid of losing more and more weight. I was a thin person to begin with, so this is really unhealthy for me. The numbers just seem to keep dropping on the scale, and it makes me feel powerless.

[xRavenx]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

If you dont mind sharing, what meds do you take?

Lamictal 400 mg daily
Latuda 40 mg
Klonopin 0.5 mg PRN
Seroquel 200 mg
yasmin birth control as well

[Mountaindewed]

I’ve been losing weight since Thanksgiving. It’s been on purpose but these last couple weeks I just haven’t had an appetite. I’m not sure why.

But with my own experiences with weight in the last 14 years, when your overweight they don’t care. But when you are on the thinner/healthy looking side and are losing weight everyone loses their ****.

[bizi]

Originally Posted by xRavenx

Lamictal 400 mg daily
Latuda 40 mg
Klonopin 0.5 mg PRN
Seroquel 200 mg
yasmin birth control as well

The lamictal can be stimulating. ask about a lower dose???
bizi

[xRavenx]

Originally Posted by bizi

The lamictal can be stimulating. ask about a lower dose???
bizi

I was thinking about doing this. I am afraid that it would be de-stabilizing (although I'm currently not stable to begin with). I've been on this dose of Lamictal for a long time though and did not have the weight loss problem until fairly recently. i do think my severe anxiety and mood swings have a lot to do with the weight loss though. I have a visit with my PCP doctor tomorrow via telemedicine. It's a vicious cycle, because now that I am worried about more weight loss, that is adding to the anxiety and not helping the problem.

[Soupe du jour]

Generally most during hypomanic or full blown manic episodes, though even during them I have also been known to gain some weight. Weight gain is more common during my depressive episodes, though I have even had weight loss during a couple of those. It has really depended on the characteristics of the episode and where I am or what is happening.

In my senior year at college, I lost a chunk of weight due to hypomania/mania and a respiratory infection. I went from maybe 134 to 118 lbs, the latter being EXTREMELY skinny, for me. I moved to California with my then boyfriend, and over a two year period not only regained the weight, but during a bit of mixed depression, went as high as 152 or 154 lbs. When we broke up, I moved to Taiwan. I became hypomanic then pure depressed. During both I barely ate and was walking about 10 miles or more, each day. Between that, and a then manic adventure in Hong Kong and Thailand, I got back down to maybe 134 lbs. All of this was before my diagnosis of bipolar disorder. I had only been on medications, briefly (days or a couple weeks), a couple times, and they had been only antidepressants (Prozac, later an unidentified antidepressant prescribed in Taiwan), which pushed me into the manias.

Since my bipolar diagnosis, like many, I was on some pretty weight unfriendly medications. I did have some very severe manias since then. Most of which I was hospitalized for. Despite them, I still gained weight. I remember extreme hunger due to the medications and mental extremes. When I finally crashed, between the medications and a severe depression, for which I had ECT, I went up to 192 lbs while on a combo of Depakote ER and Invega. Then my depression was mostly relieved, and I found myself in a long-term low grade hypomania (with blips of full blown mania). I lost about 40 lbs in six months, most of which I kept off for a good six years when STILL in a low grade hypomanic state. That 40 lbs weight loss was while I took 900 mg Lithium ER, 1,400 mg Tegretol XR, 100 mg Lamictal, 160 mg Geodon, and 10 mg Navane (Thiothixene), simultaneously. My weight only started to slowly inch up when Seroquel XR took over for the Navane, though I have been mostly stable since then. I have not reached my all time high again. I'm now 50 years old, so I assume some of the weight is age, lifestyle, and genetics related.