Posted by Elizabeth on July 9, 2001, at 19:04:01
In reply to Re: Weight gain and SSRIs » Elizabeth, posted by MB on July 9, 2001, at 12:20:00
> Interesting that you mentioned low carb diets.
I used to be skeptical about them (I thought that Atkins was just another fad diet), but I met a bunch of people who've had great success with them -- including one who is very well-versed in biology and was able to explain the mechanism to my satisfaction. (I'm not sure I could replicate his explanation, however.)
> I spoke with a "biological" psychiatrist once who asked me how the SSRIs worked for me. I told him that they worked well for a few weeks then stopped, at which point extreme carbohydrate cravings kicked in. He suggested taking inositol with the SSRI; it was his contention that the inositol would somehow prevent such a poop-out (and the carbo-craving anecdote prompted this conclusion of his).
It could be worth a try. Inositol is one of the more reputable "food supplements" (i.e., natural drugs).
> Anyway, he turned out to be a jerk, but a smart jerk.
Those are the worst. :-)
> I wonder...if he is right, if inositol can curb SSRI induced carbohydrate cravings, could it curb SSRI weight gain?
Some people say they didn't have carb cravings or eat more on SSRIs (or Effexor), but gained weight anyway, presumably due to some sort of metabolic change. I wonder about their activity level, though. (Paxil seems to be the worst of the SSRIs in the weight gain department, although this is just my impression -- I haven't looked at statistics or anything. < g >)
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:59947
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010708/msgs/69515.html