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Lamictal and weight loss


Bipolar Medications and Weight Loss

Introduction

Bipolar disorder can be treated with medications from different drug groups. These groups include mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and antidepressants. The drugs in each of these groups affect your body differently, including how they affect your weight. Here’s a look at how some of the more common drugs for bipolar disorder affect your weight, plus their other side effects.

Most bipolar drugs cause weight gain rather than weight loss. For example, several of them increase your blood sugar level, which can lead to weight gain. Others affect your energy level. During manic episodes, you typically may not sleep much and may burn off lots of energy. Taking a bipolar drug can calm your mood and help you sleep. In turn, these effects could decrease the amount of energy your body burns. This can lead to an increase in weight, especially if you don’t adjust your diet. However, the way that these drugs can affect your weight varies.

Mood stabilizers

Low risk of weight gain: Lamotrigine (Lamictal) is most likely to cause weight loss. However, it can also cause weight gain. Other common side effects of this drug include:

  • headache
  • trouble sleeping
  • drowsiness
  • upset stomach
  • aches and pains throughout your body

Risk of weight gain: Valproate is likely to cause weight gain. It may also cause tremors, headaches, dizziness, and nausea.

High risk of weight gain: Lithium is known for causing weight gain. Common side effects of this drug also include:

  • sleepiness
  • fatigue
  • low blood pressure
  • slowed thyroid function
  • mild nausea

Antipsychotics

Low risk of weight gain: Lurasidone has a low risk of weight gain. Other side effects of this drug may include the development of breasts in men, low blood pressure, and fainting.

Risk of weight gain: Quetiapine can cause weight gain. Common side effects may also include:

  • changes in blood pressure
  • nausea
  • cataracts
  • development of breasts in men
  • reduced thyroid function

High risk of weight gain: Olanzapine is very likely to causeweight gain because it increases your appetite. Other common side effects can include:

  • dry mouth
  • thirst
  • frequent urination
  • constipation
  • dizziness
  • sleepiness
  • weakness
  • movement disorders and tremor

There are several different drugs available to treat bipolar disorder. Most of them affect your weight, but many increase your risk of weight gain rather than weight loss. By making healthy choices in your diet and adding routine exercise, you may be able to minimize these effects.

Many people with bipolar disorder often have to try several different drugs before finding one that works. Talk to your doctor and balance your concerns about weight gain with the likelihood of a certain drug working well for you. Tell your doctor about your health history, your family’s health history, and your concerns about how treatment will affect your weight. This information will help your doctor understand which drugs are more likely to work well for you.

Effects of lamotrigine and lithium on body weight during maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder

Randomized Controlled Trial

. 2006 Apr;8(2):175-81.

doi: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2006.00308.x.

Gary Sachs  1 , Charles Bowden, Joseph R Calabrese, Terence Ketter, Thomas Thompson, Robin White, Beth Bentley

Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Psychiatry, Harvard University, Harvard Bipolar Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. [email protected]
  • PMID: 16542188
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2006.00308.x

Randomized Controlled Trial

Gary Sachs et al. Bipolar Disord. 2006 Apr.

. 2006 Apr;8(2):175-81.

doi: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2006.00308.x.

Authors

Gary Sachs  1 , Charles Bowden, Joseph R Calabrese, Terence Ketter, Thomas Thompson, Robin White, Beth Bentley

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Psychiatry, Harvard University, Harvard Bipolar Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. [email protected]
  • PMID: 16542188
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2006.00308.x

Abstract

Objective: The effect of lamotrigine maintenance therapy on body weight was assessed retrospectively in analyses of data from two double-blind, placebo- and lithium-controlled, 18-month studies in patients with bipolar I disorder (n = 227 for lamotrigine, 190 for placebo, 166 for lithium).

Methods: Endpoints included mean change in weight, the percentage of patients with > or = 7% change (increase, decrease, fluctuation) in weight, and the percentage of patients with weight-related adverse events during double-blind treatment.

Results: Mean weight remained stable during maintenance therapy with lamotrigine. In a mixed-model repeated-measures analysis, mean changes in weight (kg) at week 52 were -1.2 with lamotrigine, +0.2 with placebo, and +2.2 with lithium [estimated difference (95% CI) lamotrigine minus placebo = -1.3 (-3.6, 0.9), p = 0.237; lithium minus placebo = +2.0 (-0.3, 4.4), p = 0.094; lithium minus lamotrigine = +3.4 (1.4, 5.4), p < 0.001]. Analyses were truncated at week 52 because of the high incidence of missing data at later time points. The percentages of patients with a >/=7% weight gain, during randomized treatment, were 10.9%, 7.6% and 11.8% for the lamotrigine, placebo, and lithium groups, respectively. The percentages of patients with a > or = 7% weight loss, during randomized treatment, were 12.1%, 11.5%, and 5.1% for the lamotrigine, placebo, and lithium groups, respectively. The percentage of patients with a > or = 7% weight loss did not significantly differ between lamotrigine and placebo but was significantly higher with lamotrigine than lithium. The incidences of > or = 7% weight changes and of weight changes reported as adverse events were comparable between active treatments and placebo.

Conclusion: Lamotrigine was associated with stable body weight during 1 year of treatment and was comparable to placebo in mean weight change, incidence of clinically significant weight change, and incidence of weight changes reported as adverse events in patients with bipolar disorder. Lithium was associated with weight gain, but the magnitude of lithium-associated weight gain was lower in the current analysis than in previous studies.

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Thinks great

from 1 967  ₽

Advantages: Selling Sizar 200mg available 8926-186-76'65

Thinks the product is bad

from 1  132  ₽

was taken as a mood regulator. was depressed with great anxiety. The drug itself is nothing at all. there was agitation in the first week of admission, then left. The drug didn't help at all. additional prepprats were prescribed. helps other drugs work, but from the very point of zero.

Thinks the product is excellent

from 1 967  ₽

I can give positive feedback to this drug. Lamictal anticonvulsant tablets with blackcurrant flavor, which are prescribed for epilepsy or bipolar disorders. Since it is rarely used in monotherapy, I have it with Cipralex. Got better. I read the instructions and reviews and was very afraid that I would have allergies, swelling or worse, but in fact there was nothing. I drank and was afraid, but everything went extremely well. I didn’t even have the smallest rash, I didn’t feel sick, I didn’t notice irritability or breakdowns either. The maximum that was - a cramp cramped my fingers on my right leg, but I had this before, it just became more frequent with pills. In short, I am satisfied with the tablets. Ask your doctor about them (prescribed), he will tell you and make a decision - it is necessary / not necessary.

Thinks the product is terrible

from 1 967  ₽

Good day! This is a very allergic drug. One that had to be canceled in one go. The whole back was covered not just with hives, a small red rash, but with huge itchy spots. My ears itched so much that I thought I would tear them off. And when all this got on my face, and the anti-allergic drugs did not work, I quickly went under a dropper with Prednisolone to relieve this attack. and so it turned out that Lamictal is anticonvulsant, but leading to such allergic reactions. Honestly, it was very scary. So, maybe he helps someone, but it's definitely not me. We will talk with the epileptologist about another treatment, but I will not touch Lamictal again.

Thinks the product is excellent

from 1 132  ₽

My daughter suffers from convulsions, we have a very difficult EEG and a lot of problems. But we are moving in small steps towards a healthy life. I want to praise these anticonvulsant pills, they are prescribed to us in combination with Epix and Sabril. At first, my daughter felt nauseous and vomited, but then, when the body got used to it, everything went away. The tablets are small, but the most important plus is that they can be dissolved in water (easy, no need to crush) and get some water with a currant smell, the daughter drinks without whims. I just divide them into two halves. It is cheaper to buy 50 mg and divide by the required 25 mg. Their price is generally acceptable, especially for such efficiency. We were afraid that there would be a side effect from the central nervous system, but in general we did without it. It is better to take the drug after a prescription and under the supervision of a doctor to avoid side effects. Health to you and your children!

Thinks the product is excellent

from 1 132  ₽

Hello everyone. I take Lamictal in a maintenance dose of 50 mg, as I have been suffering from epilepsy for a long time. Therapeutic treatment was chosen for a long time, but it was worth it. There were no seizures for 6 years. The active ingredient in the drug lamotrigine. It must be carefully and under the supervision of a doctor combined with other drugs that you may be prescribed. Because with some of them you will quickly catch cramps and other troubles. So first you need to visit a doctor (the medicine, by the way, is a prescription). I was a little afraid to take Lamictal, as the instructions stated a lot of side effects. But all I had was nausea and a headache. So I can say that these pills came up to me, but only after a long and very detailed consultation with a doctor.

Thinks the product is excellent

from 1 132  ₽

These pills help stop epileptic attacks. But they have a number of disadvantages: the price, it is impossible for people with lactose intolerance, it is allergic and not very effective in monotherapy. We tolerate lactose, the price is not so terrible (a certain category of citizens receives the medicine for free), plus complex therapy with Depakine Chrono. Started with a small dose and increased it every 2 weeks under the supervision of a physician. It turned out without consequences and side effects. What we most feared - allergies, was. But it's just a little hives on the back. But we took it off with antihistamines. After the first iteration, all the rash has already disappeared and has not returned. So for the pills I can say that they are good. But first you need to go to the doctor and clarify everything, paint. Stay safe and take care of yourself and your children!

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Name: Natalia Ezhkova
Review: My friend had an epileptic attack. She was prescribed the drug Lamolep as part of complex therapy. What is this drug? Does it help stop seizures? How long does she need to take Lamolep?

Name: Elena
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