Dr. Phelps,

Can you please explain why I always seem to lose extreme amounts of weight after starting an antidepressant?  It's almost as if my body is on a form of speed or stimulant.  It always seems to result in mania, but my depressions become so severe that my doctors have always felt that adding an antidepressant to my mood and antipsychotic regimen has made sense at the time.  I do not agree with the decisions, but nevertheless, I trust that they have more knowledge than I do regarding the matter, but I always end up in a worse situation and then I spend the following months trying to calm my brain down.  I'm so very tired of my mind and body fluctuating in its own right and in direct relation to the push and pull these medications have on my body.  I would love to hear your insight at least about why some people like myself seem to end up anorexic when taking antidepressants.

Thank you for your time,
A


Dear A' --
The experience you describe, a dramatic decrease in appetite on antidepressants, is not very common. To my knowledge, this reaction has not been studied directly.

In the hopes of providing some information that might be useful, may I direct your attention to my webpage describing "nine antidepressants that are not antidepressants". Perhaps there is another way of addressing the problem you describe.

Dr. Phelps



Published April, 2008