Citalopram and Weight Gain - when does it stop?
Posted , 2 users are following.
I was put on Citalopram by my doctor in March for anxiety (spoiler: it didn't help and actually made things worse). I began putting on weight quickly even though I am active (running, walking and cycling a lot in daily life), which at first I put down to holiday weight, even though I was still active there.
After realising that this weight gain (five kilos over six weeks!) was caused by the SSRI I stopped in early June, so it's now been almost two months, but the weight still isn't budging and I think is actually continuing- I now have a very jiggly belly where I had never had one before, in spite of my active lifestyle.
Does anyone have an idea when this will stop and when it might come off? I'm honestly more depressed and distressed about this than I had been before starting the medication and wish I never had.
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ian90586 lara34607
Posted
Hi Lara,when you take any antidepressant medication it can take many months for your whole bodily system to become accustomed to the changes. By raising chemicals in your brain they don't just affect your mental state,but every system in your body,hence the weight gain. Citalopram has antihistamine properties to it,so this could be the reason it causes weight gain. When you stop taking these medications, the same process occurs in reverse,meaning it can take many months again for your system to revert back to a normal state. Seeing as you didn't take it for long,everything should return to normal over time. With some people who take these medications for many many years,it seems that some affects of the drug become irreversible,like sexual dysfunction and others,as the brain becomes dependent on the drug,so try to manage your condition with non pharma techniques like mindfulness,meditation and a healthy lifestyle which you do already,and not go back down the drug route if you possibly can.