Posted by Wrain on September 26, 2003, at 11:40:10
Hello Everyone;
I hope this post find you all feeling good today.
I have been around this board for some time now and this whole Topamax Weight Loss Side Effects issue has me a little concerned. I would like to point out a few issues in my life that maybe some of you can relate to and if you can't relate to them, maybe my story can open your eyes to a few things. Here we go......
First and Foremost we are here because we are BiPolar and want to get our meds straight. In being depressed one can become impulsive in either binge shopping or eating which leads to more depression so we get into this neverending cycle which causes us to RAPID cycle. Either A..because we have spent to much money and worry about that..or B because we have eaten to much and frankly we are not comfortable with our weight which causes more troubles because we feel so fat we don't want to go outside so we just stay in and eat more and causes a downhill spiril. I know alot of you know what I am talking about.
I am not a skinny person by makeup but I am not a fat person either, I am medium build, however, during my depression I did let myself go and gained some weight I did not want. I tried all those fad pill....Xenical..Meridan..etc..but guess what..as soon as I stopped them, you got it, the weight came back plus some. A DIET DOES NOT WORK!!! you have to CHANGE THE WAY YOU EAT FOR LIFE! My husband was on a scale of 1-10 for a heart attack a 9! The doctor told us if he did not change the way he ate he was going to die, we were 33 years of age at that time but we had to do something. She told us to follow sugar busters. We gave up all the white bread, white rice, potato chips, french fries, hamburgers, starches in general. Went to wheat bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, diet drinks etc... We changed the way we ate and guess what...We don't miss a thing we still eat the things we enjoy just in a different way. You learn to improvise. Now if I even try to eat a backed potato or white bread I feel like I am eating a mound of sugar...YUCK!!! sure the weight loss is slow but it is forever!!!! and that feels good. I can sit in the house, be depressed and eat like I do and I don't gain a pound, I haven't lost a pound because I have not been excercising but I have not gained either.
I take topamax and yes it does curb my appetite so I have the added benefit.
What I am saying here, don't look for a drug to lose the weight for you, this is something you have to do for yourself, let the drugs help your bipolar, you work on your weight and if the drugs for bipolar help...then that is great for you. If you do not change the way you eat..when you stop the topamax where will you be???? Hummmm
I hope this helps some of you otherwise you are heading down a road that is only a circle and frankly I was tired of going in circles.
I wish all of you the best of luck..Bipolar is a nasty disorder and I wish none of us had it, but we do and all we can do it be here for each other and work through it. If you are here to lose weight maybe we need to start a thread for that.
Best of Luck to us All...God knows we need it.
Love
Wrain
poster:Wrain
thread:263484
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030923/msgs/263484.html