Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Weight gain is a major concern for most people especially considering that losing weight isn’t an easy task. There are other reasons on top of bad nutrition and insufficient physical activity that could add pounds and kilograms (allow me to be a little more international) to our body weight.
Medications are one of the major contributor to weight gain and a factor that is growing on a continuous basis. Especially, considering that the number of people on prescription drugs is also growing.
I did some research and looked at many medications and classes of drugs that are well known for causing weight gain but there are also some that are not widely known.
In this post, I’d like to provide you with a list of these medications. One thing you should know is that weight gain is an undesirable side effect of all these medications but sometimes taking the medications are necessary and important to maintaining our mental and physical function. It goes back to the old balancing act; risk versus benefits of anything we do.
I know patients who have uncontrollable depression and are totally dysfunctional but at the same time greatly afraid from gaining weight, therefore they resist taking anti-depressive medications.
But sometimes there are other alternatives to medications that cause weight gain and replacing these medications to so-called weight neutral drugs would be an excellent and wise move.
Here is the list of the major classes of medications that could result in weight gain and other alternative medications that may not have the same effect.
Medications causing weight gain and their alternatives
| Class of the drug | Name (causing weight gain) | Weight neutral alternative |
| Anti-psychotics | Thioridazine | |
| Clozapine | ||
| Olanzapine | ||
| Lithium | ||
| Anti-depressants | Amitriptyline | |
| Clomipramine | ||
| Doxepin | ||
| Imipramine | ||
| Sertraline (short-term use) | ||
| Fluoxetine (short-term use) | ||
| Anti-seizure | Valproic acid | |
| carbamazepine | ||
| Gabapentin | ||
| Topiramate (might result in weight loss) | ||
| Zonisamide | ||
| Diabetes | Insulin | |
| Glipizide +Glyburide | ||
| Pioglitazone | ||
| Metformin | ||
| Linagliptin (Tradjenta) | ||
| Sitagliptin (Januvia) | ||
| Steroids | Prednisone |
Are you on one of the above drugs? Do you have issues with maintaining your weight? As I mentioned sometimes taking one specific medication—in the case that there are no weight neutral alternatives—is essential for maintaining a stable and safe physical and mental status. But you might want to discuss the issue with your physician to find out more about possible alternatives to your current treatment.
Go to my Google plus page and let me know what you think. Are you on any of the above medications? How is you weight?
The post Medications that (could) Cause Weight gain appeared first on TheMedCircle- Dr.Daneschvar.