Fat?

I never claimed to be a role model. Not even a roll model. But I don't think popping or not popping pill makes one a role model, unless you aspire to be a role model for popping or not popping pills.

How would meds help my joints? It's just what I call "weather forecast joints". My knee can tell upcoming rain with quite as well as yr.no server.

I excercise and walk a lot, but I admit I am lazy at times.

And what I am talking about? Carrying extra weight is bad for your joints. Some meds make you pack up on weight. Packing up on weight is bad for your joints... and health problems can descrease the quality of your life... and this makes the cutesy bumper sticker slogans about "sanity versus vanity" or "fat and happy" kinda moot. (anybody who thinks you can express issues of mental health in bumper sticker slogan is sorta idiot, but that is another thing).

But it probably helps your esteem. You seem to have quite a healthy esteem. That was the point of the comment.

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weight itself doesn't matter when it's in the healthy and semihealthy specter. I mean, there's quite a bit of Venus, weightwise.

And one probably feels generally better when they can walk a bit without feeling exhausted and stopping for breath every few meters.

sorry I thought exercise

sorry, but you lost me on the first line, I answered all that the post before your repeating yourself, no more please

Shhhhh, I just answered your quetions and accusations.

my joints are nothing to do with weight , working hard did it , I am waiting for knee replacments , I don't get out of breath my joints s are painfull with arthritis they click every step .

I would ask the same of you, no more please, we were having a mature, civil and non judgemental discussion before you came to stir things along.

People please, can we get this thread back on track?
I was really enjoying the discussion.

So I like the point Venus was making, extra (med caused) weight on already sore joints does not seem like a good idea.

It ties in with what I was saying, I have nothing againts weight or meds, but I don't think I'll ever trade off 1 type of health for another. It just seems like too high of a price (for me) especially since I'd still be dealing with the mental health aspect as meds don't cure Bipolar.

I mean I've been medicated, I know I'm still bipolar on meds, so diabetic, or arthritic plus bipolar (a choice I consciously make FOR myself) does not seem like a choice I'd ever make.

I mean I couldn't even handle being stupid and bipolar, no way I can personally deal with sick and bipolar.

For the most part, joint probs are the result of physical labor, years of overworking your joints. Generally, you have to have worked for many years and be at least middle-aged for those joint problems to appear. Actually, human beings tend to gain weight during our middle years for a good reason: a little extra fat protects our aging joints. Obviously, too much weight gain can be unhealthy, but forcing our bodies to remain as thin as they were in our younger years is also not healthy. Our money-driven society, however, tells us we must be thin to be sexy and sexy means powerful means happy, correct?

From reading this thread I understand that there is a percentage of people (especially women) who refrain from taking possibly-needed psych medication because of the fear of gaining weight. And gaining weight (even if it's only a little bit of weight) decreases our sex-appeal...which decreases our personal power. This appears to be especially true with younger people.

I will go so far as to assert that if a medication became available that treated, for example, depression and anxiety AND caused weight loss people would be lined up for prescriptions.

While sex appeal is vital it isn't all that. Being able to do some if the things people used to do is harder depending on what you did. Like sports. Btw, I have relative who isn't on meds and is late 40's that went from "morbidly obese" to obese (bmi wise). She'll never be much less but she is running in 5k's a few times a year. I am very proud of her. We both have mothers that are overweight. She had to rethink her whole mindset. I really think the meds may make it harder to loose too.

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Probably very true, but what percentage of those people are only overweight because of the psych meds in the first place?

If those are primarily the folks opting for the combo you mention above, then I wouldn't blame them one bit.

I'm actually looking forward to putting on weight, I've got a tiny bit of a start already and can't wait to move away from my still 15 year old body. Also I'm not the only one who feels like this, so its a gross generalization to state people want to look like teenagers forever.

I think those people fall into the hectic fear of aging catagory...

It's really good to get out and move around, you use your body and you get fresh air especially if you have a nice place where you walk.

But taking a short walk does not burn calories. Say I walk for about 20 min I burn about 70 calories. That doesn't even burn the calories in an apple. Or a cup of skim milk.

Don't get me wrong, walking have a lot of benefits, just not weight loss. But if the alternative is sitting down then yea it is a good choice.

Your post talked about needing good self esteem before incorporating excersise. That's what I was responding to.

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The fear of aging and the fear of being fat are entwined more and more as people (esp women) go into midlife. I don't think it's a "gross generalization", but it sure is a mass epidemic.

I don't get the hysteria. I have a friend who is way within normal weight even though she gained a little. It's just age I think, she is closing in on 40. She doesn't take meds or anything but she has some BDD thinking she is fat, that her eyes look weird and some other stuff.

She gained like 5 pounds and her mom exclaimed "HOW FAT YOU HAVE BECOME!!!" Since that she is even more BDD with every part of her body. Why are people so deliberately hurtful?

Is it considering the numbers of obese people in the US? Or is obesity the epidemic and media the problem?

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I personally prefer myself looking bit curvier... I look better in face and I like having boobs.

But I like fitting in normal clothes, being able to fit my body comfortably in sut seat on long distance trips... and possibly not having greenpeace to haul me off to sea when laying on the beach (j/k).

And I am sure not gonna rebel against the evil society by making myself look fat

When I think of it my other friend got about the same treatment from her mom. That friend fought off an illness that can be fatal but she had to take high dosages of steroids. The doctor said it will take a long time losing the predisone weight even after the treatment was finished because she had to be on a very large dosage for a long time. She said my friend might not even be able to lose all the med weight.

My friend's mom knows how sick she was. Still she also had some fit and started yelling like "What HAPPENED to you, what did you DO to yourself? You used to be so thin and pretty!"

I'm glad I wasn't there because I would have yelled "NEAR DEATH is what happened, glad you care about if your daughter lives or dies."

While my friend was doing the treatment her mom wanted her off it because it was making her fat. The mom seemed to think death was a better option than gaining weight.

It's like some people don't live in reality.

Obesity 30 and above. Can't find a scale for like morbid obesity.

I am 32.4

I think I will slap my sister in law. I will at least point out the error of her opinion. she would have us all eating roots and bark and exercising and it would fix anything. she is a pharmacist too, and an organic farmer. they sold their pharmacy and bought an organic farm.

I am 40 over in my view and wish I could lose it.

So I went to the primary care doc today. needed refill renewed of yet another med lisopril for hypertension. he wanted to give me the refill and shuffle me out the door. i said wait a minute. i want to talk about a few things.

I have a lot of pain in the left shoulder joint. Repetitive use. 30 years of being a plumber. Nothing to do about it really. i knew this.

I have Ulnar Nerve Entrapment at the Elbow (Cubital Tunnel Syndrome) both arms. same thing repetitive use. nothing can be done. live with it. surgery not worth it. i knew this.

Also having a very low percentage body fat is not good for the joints. You need it to lubricate and make em work right.

Blood work- cholesterol high, triglycerides high, been that way along time. No amount of exercise has caused me to lose weight or lower those numbers. I mentioned the psyche nurse had mentioned I take a statin. He said lets do your blood work again and if it is high I will call in a statin. no mention of diet or exercise, didn't ask me about family history of heart disease. I told him I have direct parental history of arterial disease mom and dad and thought genetically I should probably be on one. ok he says. the psyche nurse told me that in many cases you can change your diet all you want and exercise all you want and those numbers don't come down. Primary PA said same thing. His dad bikes 200 miles a week and it don't touch his cholesterol levels.

So another new med or not? Should I try to get the levels down with diet and exercise and no statin? Also keep in mind I have been in a severe depression 15 out of the last 20 months so hard to get exercise. I don't leave the house and have no energy to exercise, not enough to lose weight or lower cholesterol anyway. Appetite varies a lot when I am depressed. I am 40 pounds over and if I continue to feel good I am going to try hard to lose it for health and vanity.

I know I am off topic. I didn't realize psyche meds caused so much weight gain. How big a problem is it overall?

So statin or no statin? yet another med.......potential side effects.....miracle drug.....teflon for the arteries. I believe big pharma came up with them btw.

I've put some weight on from my meds, but would never stop taking them. I've learned to watch what I eat and exercise on a daily basis. So far I've been doing well, I would like to lose a little more weight and I'm working on it.

Hi zinco...my bad cholesterol is borderline high, good cholesterol low. I do have a family history of cardiac disease (both parents, although my mother sustained heart damage from having had rheumatic fever as a kid). A few months ago my GP suggested I take a statin. I was really nervous about it, mostly fearing that it might worsen my psych symptoms. Well, I spoke with a number of people around our age and was surprised that so many take statins. Since both parents had heart attacks in their early 50's (my dad, btw, was 6'3" and athletically lean) I opted to take a 20mg statin (Simvistatin). I haven't noticed any side effects. I know that doesn't mean there are no side effects - but hey...maybe the statin will be a good med for me and for others. I know, big pharma...but that doesn't necessarily mean that the medication isn't helpful. Even big pharma want their meds to help, not hurt, or pharma loses out.

So sorry to hear that

Firstly though, its not body fat that oil your joints, its synovial fluid, and over time our bodies make less and less of the stuff. Thats why being overweight won't alleviate joint pain...

My thoughts on the subject are this, and I'm not a complete numb skull, my dad had a cholesterol problem and my niece now has one...

If you are dead sure the meds didn't cause the weight gain and cholesterol, then that's good, it means that continuing them will not prevent you from improving your health.

Knowing its been basically impossible for you to lose weight, isn't it still a viable option to follow a specified diet to lower the cholesterol level itself?

Sorry, this is assuming you don't already have an eating plan in place

If those numbers haven't come down in the past either, maybe using the Statin to assist the specialized eating plan will work better as opposed to using one or the other...
Who knows, maybe if you do it that way the Statin is then temporary?

Well a Dr would know but yours doesn't seem very doctory at all.

Its after midnight and I've been up since 5am. not tooo sure how articulate this is, and really sorry if its not much help

I was always skinny (underweight), always trying to gain weight in my teens and 20's. P-meds have caused me to put on a lot of weight. It scares me, but I know that without the help of p-meds I would not be able to make it through more than a few hours without having to check myself into the hospital. I also believe that p-meds actually might protect us from certain illnesses. The terrible, relentless stress of dealing with mental illness is very, very rough on the body. STRESS does kill!! Living in California, USA today is SO stressful - even if I wasn't mentally ill I believe I would need meds just to cope with surviving here.

Trippin2.0 there is no way to know whether genetics, meds, or something else cause cholesterol issues.