Gaining weight sucks and it does tend to happen when taking medication to treat bipolar disorder.
Although gaining weight sucks, it is not as bad as being suicidal, destroying things, acting out sexually, spending irrationally, or any of the other things that we might do if we did not take medication.
It seems to me that Seroquel deprives a person of the desire to be physically active. I believe it also changes metabolism so that even a physically active person will not lose weight. I say this based on a period of time When I swim as much as four hours per day everyday while taking Seroquel and I did not lose weight. I also was abstaining from sugar, have not had alcohol in 32 years.
At present, I weigh approximately 204 lb with a 5-foot 5-inch frame, and so I am probably obese.
Over the last 5 years, I have gone from size 36 men's pants 2 size 40 and then back down to size 38. I believe that gaining and losing weight is a symptom of some sort of mental illness even when people are not taking any medicine at all.
Certainly starting to take medication coincides for many people with alarming weight gain.
I would just ask people, would you rather laze in your own bed at home, not feeling particularly bad but not wanting to do much of anything at all? Or would you rather stop taking medicine, lose those extra pounds, and walk about in the yard of a mental institution with other patients who did not take their medication?
For many of us, these are basically the choices.
I'd rather have a frontal lobotomy than a bottle in front of me.
Joined: 03-16-2018