Posted by LOKIsDREAM on January 24, 2004, at 21:40:29
In reply to Re: neurontin weight » ramsea, posted by ramsea on January 22, 2004, at 18:13:52
> In the past few years I have had an amazing array of med trials. I guess it is most telling to look at my experience of Neurontin-only trials. When at my normal weight, which is as a middleaged adult 145 lbs at approx. 5'7, I immediately had about ten lbs water retention by the end of a week. My jeans wouldn't zip up where seven days previously they fit. That was taking 300 mgs. 3x daily. Over a period of three months on up to 2800 mgs daily I gained just over thirty pounds. This scared me and I dropped the Neurontin.
>
> It didn't cause severe carbo cravings for me, as did Celexa and Lexapro---which for me was way OTT. But it did increase appetite. And I believe it also changed something in my normal weight regulating system. Insulin? Weight regulator changing its cue for normal? Who knows?
>
> I can't blame unusual gluttony. I need fewer calories than most people do to survive. They say the average woman needs 2000 cals a day. Lucky average woman! More than 1700 cals and I gain. To lose, we are talking very low calorie, starvation level. Even when I was bulimic as a teenager I didn't binge--I just ate the normal meal and threw that up. So I am not even sure it counts as bulimia. I have a body which my husband describes as very efficient--what it takes in, it uses or keeps. He is very thin and eats a lot, and I figure some of that calorie intake just whooshes out of him. With me, it stays on loyally.
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> I said all of that to give you a picture of my individual body-type. What type are you? Were you a chubby baby/child? Have you gone on starvation diets and dieted a lot?
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> Without psychotropic meds, I eat and drink and exercise in such a way to keep my weight normal at around 140-150 lbs. I appear hearty and hale!! But really, the shape is healthy and womanly and though I might long for my bulimic teenage 115 lbs I really was rather ill with all that fashionable thinness. Nature designed me to be "voluptuous." But as soon as the antidepressants, et al, come into me, almost immediately I change. It becomes an arduous task to keep weight off.
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> The last time I used gabapentin I was on lithium too. I exercised three hours daily (yes, true), and kept calories to about 1500. I didn't lose or gain.
>
> I know some people don't gain on gabapentin. You may be one of them. Without a doubt, keep a well-primed diet/exercise program going and that may be enough for you to keep off the bloat. Watch out for edema, which is common enough. hope I helped a little.
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> Anybody have a clue what my body's up to? I've been doing 2400mg/day Neurontin in conjunctio with 500mg/day Dilantin for several years and it has been keeping my epilepsy under control quite nicely with my weight holding steady around 125(I'm 5'10",age 36,Male,if it makes a difference). Due to recent events(ex#2), I have been put on Effexor 300mg/day and Remeron 60mg/at night(damn, I luv being able to sleep!), but while almost everyone on any of these meds gains weight, I lost about 30 pounds in the last 3 months! I have also, recently stopped taking the Effexor due to the unpleasant side effects and started having seizures again. Would be most appreciative of any answers. Thanx
poster:LOKIsDREAM
thread:301797
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040122/msgs/305175.html