[Jellyfish18]

Out of interest, if you use antipsychotics for a long time, how hard is it then (once you quit) to lose the weight you gained on them? Is it possible at all? Or is the weight gain somehow diet-resistant and almost impossible to shed, the longer you have taken antipsychotics? Would appreciate responses from someone who knows about the subject.

On the other hand, is it possible to get rid of side effects a year or so after stopping use of antipsychotics, or do the side effects always come back once one has started using them and then stopped (this includes hallucinations in its own right, for example)?
How often do the side effects come back after one has stopped taking them?

[Blue_Bird]

I was on Invega Sustenna and gained 100 lbs. I lost all of it after getting off it and eating super healthy/exercising. Now I take abilify and Thorazine and haven't had any weight gain luckily.

[Sometimes psychotic]

It won’t magically fall off you have to diet, probably more stringently than ever. I do best with vegetarian eating but ymmv. The thing is some APs have been shown to change the microflora of the gut which can make you fatter even when eating the same calories as someone thin.

[still_crazy]

there are a lot of antipsychotics on the market. almost all of them are associated with at least a bit of weight gain. the higher potency older ones (haldol, prolixin, stelazine) are associated with less weight gain, while some of the newer, 'atypical' drugs, such as zyprexa and clozapine, are associated with -lots- of weight gain. dosage matters, too...there's a big difference between taking 3mgs/haldol daily and taking 20mgs/haldol daily, in all respects...including weight gain.

some doctors use metformin with antipsychotics, to reduce or prevent weight gain. often helps. a switch from, say, zyprexa to abilify or geodon or latuda might help, too. that's assuming an antipsychotic is necessary, long term, for someone. most people who end up with a label of 'schizophrenia' seem to need at least a low dose of antipsychotic, long-term, but something like 20% have a one time episode and can taper off.

one problem is that stimulants are ill advised in schizophrenia, so treatment options for the weight gain are kind of...limited. i've known of -1- person with schizophrenia who was also treated with old school diet pills to combat the weight gain, with OK results. maybe its more common now?