Posted by wearybuthopeful on April 6, 2005, at 20:21:51
In reply to lithium and weight gain, posted by Deb200 on April 4, 2005, at 16:05:35
Hello.
My experience is mixed. After years of minimal benefit from a medley of antidepressants, I was diagnosed with "soft" bipolar - bipolar depression.
I gained a lot of weight - about 25 pounds over 14 months. However, I recently was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease, hypothyroid. So that weight gain may very well be attributed more to the metabolic slowdown than the lithium.
I felt somewhat better on lithium, but I also had simultaneous improvement in life circumstances, so to speak, so not certain if it was the lithium or not.
So I'm a mixed bag! I do know of several women who have been on lithium long term and were very careful to watch their food intake and they exercised - from the get go. Weight gain was minimal for them.
Hope others can give you a clearer picture.
And best of luck.
WBH
Hi
> Is anyone out there on lithium who has not experienced weight gain? ALso,in terms of its effectiveness in treating bipolar (especially depression),how long did it take before you felt an effect from the lithium, positive or negative?
> Thank you
>
poster:wearybuthopeful
thread:479722
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050404/msgs/480889.html