Weight gain and Lithium

Lithium is the only med that my pdoc had found that keeps me from becoming severely manic. The only problem is that I gain and gain weight from it. Any suggestions on how to stop the weight gain.

So you have not changed any of your diet or activity levels while on Lithium I take it? But all of a sudden your gaining massive amounts of weight? How much are we talking here?

I'm a new patient on Lithium myself, and next week I move to a higher dosage. In preperation for this I went ahead and changed my lifestyle in the past month. For one thing I'm already over weight and I wanted to lose weight so I combined a variety of diets into my own custom style that works, and so far have lost 20lbs and 3 inches off my waist. I also drink around 80-100 ounces of water a day and stopped all soda or sugar laced beverages. (I drink tons of green tea too)

Anyhow the only advice I can give from talking with many informative members here is you have to watch your diet and change some things up. Also take in much more water then you probley are use too. Light excercise can also help obviously. But yes one of the effects of Lithium is weight gain so you have to go to war and make a healthier life style for yourself.

If anyone wants to know what I did to lose weight and some tips let me know, I have finally after 5 years of trying found something that works. And as for Twirls, you gotta be careful of your diet and drink tons of water while on this drug.

Good Luck to you, we are all with you!

Mark

Besides the typical,that is so hard to do sometimes,is diet and exercise,which has a 2-fold benefit for our health,physically and mentally,along with our treatment plan.
It also may be a good idea to have some thyroid function bloodwork.
When the tests finally showed I was hypothyroid, which I knew over the past 10yrs by the symptoms,but docs said tests were always normal,bah,for who?
Well anyway,once put on thyroid meds.the med related weight gain stopped,even lost a few pounds,and my depressive end was less.
Hypothyroid can contribute to or be mistaken for mental a disorder(s) so it can't hurt to check it out.
Approaching menopause or in menopause also adds onto our ability to gain weight quickly, ugh, damn age and hormones,grrrrrrr!
Some people get the opposite side effects of meds too, like weight loss, heck I have never been that fortunate, but prefer being stabilized vs not, soooooooooo I weigh it on the scale (no pun intended) what's more important?
And if exercising,dieting needs to be added, that's beneficial too. When I did experience weight gain with some meds, I was not overweight but considered healthy weight by my docs, and I wasn't chubby,etc. but my perception was, "I'm fat", I was so off at that time that it was almost like having body dysmorphic disorder.
Once stabilized, I saw things clearer,the way things really were.
Okay, now I have become overweight, but not from my meds, I've been on for years, but lack of exercise,poor eating habits,developed thyroid nodules,hypthyroidism has worsened,haven't smoked for a little over a year.
Okay, I must confess this, we have started to go to dinner/clubs on the weekends, Light beers aren't always that light in calories. LOL!!
But hubby and I started to cut that out, we are both obese.
Weight,weight,weight, isn't a bummer?
I do not disagree some mood stabilizers can cause weight,some increase your appetite,some tire you so much or do both,who feels like exercising when they bearly can keep their eyes open? Heck when pdocs were trying me on Depakote, I gained 13 lbs in one month,it made me so tired I couldn't function,not even think of exercise. So I got off of that and pdoc switched me to others.
People respond differently, so they need to do what helps them get stabilized and yet able to function in their daily life.

I am hypothroid also. I take synthroid to treat it. I think it has been a year since my thyroid has been checked so I think I will have it checked. Thanks for the advice.

I gained about 30Lbs total. I do want to change my lifestyle and try dieting but I usually take diets too far and end up on the anorexic side of things. I don't want to go there again. Maybe I will see a diatician if my insurance covers it. Thanks

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
twirls01 said:
Lithium is the only med that my pdoc had found that keeps me from becoming severely manic. The only problem is that I gain and gain weight from it. Any suggestions on how to stop the weight gain.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

Hi,
Do you find yourself eating a lot or drinking a lot of water? When my old p doc thought I was bipolar they also gave me Lithium and I had weight gain from it as well but I was also taking another med called Seraquel for sleeping. But the lithium weight can be from water retention since it's an salt. I noticed in pictures my face was very puffy and since I am no longer on lithium the retention look went away.
When they gave me Seraquel for sleeping I gained 20lbs real quick so I stopped taking it because of fear gainning weight and I lost 14lbs in 3-4 days. Some people at the gym thought I was juiceing of the gain and loss. I think Depacote caused weight gain for me as well which I then stopped taking.