Zoloft and diet pills

[Ssooff]

Hi, since I started on Zoloft one year ago, I’ve gained 20 pounds which I find extremely difficult to lose again. I was wondering if there’s some diet pill that I could try to prevent me from gaining more weight. I’ve read that phentermine is dangerous with Zoloft, does anybody knows about this? Thank u!

[IndigoBlue61]

Hello and welcome Ssooff

I’m afraid I have no knowledge of of the drug you mention and it’s side effects, the best person to ask is your GP or pharmacist. What we can help with is support and advice with diet, lifestyle and weight loss 😊

To help you find your way around, and enjoy all the things we have on offer, please read the Welcome Newbies Post here healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Take your time to read it carefully as it has lots of useful information.

I highly recomend coming onto the forum regularly, daily if you can, reading posts and replying to others. Being part of a community is proven to help weight loss.

Best wishes

Indigo 😊

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer]

You should not be taking an SSRI for any length of time unless you are under the care of a psychiatrist who has a very good reason for doing so. Even for the (very limited) range of conditions where they've been shown to be of use, they are, at best, a temporary band-aid, and not a very good one at that.

The best solution to your problem, then, is to get your doctor to re-assess your medication and ask him about more effective treatments for the condition that first prompted that prescription.

However the major cause of your weight gain is likely to be diet; if it is essential that you keep taking the SSRI, you can still lose weight by this route.

EDIT: I checked your post history and in my professional opinion SSRIs are unlikely to help you if they haven't had some positive effect by now, and may even exacerbate your symptoms. Antidepressants have their place - I'm not saying they should not be used - but depression, in broad terms, is quite often NOT a matter of "chemical imbalances" but is a reflection of genuine, real-life problems, and you will need to work through these with your medical team. Good luck...

[Ssooff in reply to IvanTheHorrible]

Well, it’s interesting how different the answers are between this group and a mental health group. I appreciate your help and time writing back but it is amazing how people misunderstand psychiatric medication/conditions. I need my medication, I’ve been to psychiatrists since I was a teenager and I’m 31. I’m just worried to gain so much weight so soon even tho I go to the gym and eat healthier than ever. I know people here are not doctors but when I tell my doctor I wanna lose weight he tells me I’m ok and I don’t look fat so that’s why I come to these forums. Anyway I guess I’ll just go to the nutritionist. Thank you all.

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to Ssooff]

I’m sorry you feel that way Ssooff . . . All I advised was speaking to your Doctor or pharmacist about your medication. I hope you’ve had chance to read all the information I suggested, this forum is second to none for support with weight loss.

Best wishes

Indigo

,

[Ssooff in reply to IndigoBlue61]

Thank u

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer in reply to Ssooff]

I have a pretty good understanding of depression and the medication used for it (my knowledge may now be somewhat out-of-date, but the drugs haven't changed much in 30 years). However, we can only give very general advice based on a very general description of the problem. That's the nature of online forums.

Antidepressants are often a good first recourse; they're the psychological equivalent of a tourniquet. Nevertheless, their usual therapeutic purpose is to get the client to a place where the underlying issue can be addressed.

I don't know your case history, so I may indeed be well off the mark here; even if I did, it would be unethical (and pointless) to attempt to give you detailed advice online. I was just making a general observation: if any medical problem has persisted for 10+ years and no real progress has been made, then the treatment is clearly not effective. If you are "eating healthier" but gaining weight, then whoever has described "healthy" to you is clearly incorrect.

Results are the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong; the patient either gets better, or he doesn't, and if he doesn't, then a good physician will re-assess his approach.

>> when I tell my doctor I wanna lose weight he tells me I’m ok and I don’t look fat

This is what I mean. If your doctor is not paying attention to actual situations in your life that your find troubling, then your treatment is going to be suboptimal. Effective treatment for depression normally involves radical lifestyle modifications, and maintaining a healthy body image is a critical aspect for most clients. If one is not happy with one's physical appearance, then one will have trouble forming and maintaining intimate relationships, which in turn is likely to make recovery from depression much harder. Depression is a very odd condition with many causes, and often it's a case of throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Your doctors should be exploring every possibility - especially modest, do-able goals like weight loss.

As I said, even if there is a valid reason for your SSRI prescription, dietary intervention will still work. If you want to lose weight then we can help you with that - there are a lot of success stories here. But none of us, I think, would advise you to take slimming pills, and for the same reason I advised you not to rely on too heavily on SSRIs: in the long term, pills don't fix the problem.