Can AD's cause Metabolic Syndrome?

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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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

Thank you Jerry. I have been med-free for a little more than a year now but have reason to believe (or feel) that I have developed this syndrome over the last few months. And I feel it all started with the meds.

I will be going for a complete set of blood tests in the next week or two. I am already taking Eltroxin which doesn't seem to be helping so I want to have everything checked out again.

I look forward to the results of your research.

It doesn't matter how the weight came into existence, the metabolic syndrome is a direct result of the stored fat.

It has only recently been recognized that adipocytes, the fat storage cells that get so plump, are actually glands. They are dormant glands when they are empty of fat. But they're all plumped up, they start secreting modulatory chemicals.

When people get liposuction, they're actually getting adipocytectomies. All those little fatty glands are being sucked away. And the effect can be dramatic, because the hormones concentrations are almost instantly normalized again.

I am not advocating liposuction. I am simply contextualizing adipocyte biology.

When you start losing weight, adipocytes notice the shift in fat balance. They're secreting more fat than they're taking up. And they fight hard, but only for so long. Then they go back to being dormant glands again.

Back to metabolic syndrome. As I said, it doesn't matter how you got heavier with fat. The chronic effect of all that glandular mass is what leads to disturbances in sugar metabolism. Prediabetic state is nothing more than the wobble that comes before the crash. Your blood chemistry is clinically disturbed.

If you can lose weight at a pound or two per week, you can get those adipocytes back into balance, with the least adverse consequences.

Lar

This is very helpful. Thanks Larry!

You're welcome.

Lar

Oh, and what I neglected to mention is that I am going to have all those blood tests done before assuming or self-diagnosing. (Perhaps I am looking for excuses...) That is ultimately safest!

Excellent Larry! Thanks for the info!!!