Any one bipolar and battling meds and weight gain?

wondering if anyone else has experienced weight gain after taking meds for bipolar disorder?

My son has put on 100lbs in 3 years on Abilify.   He has had to go on Metformin to try and halt the gain.

Bipolar medications was my nail in the coffin in regards to me hitting my heaviest weight.

I had always been about 220 at 5'7", so obviously overweight, but for many years comfortable with my weight, I managed to work and do things with my kids, etc ect

About 5 years ago I had a mental breakdown, I went to see my family doctor who put me on a "3 medication ****tail" until I was able to get an appointment with a psychiatrist. I faithfully took the pills for 3 months and finally got to meet with the shrink, she then added 2 other medications and after about 6 months diagnosed me with bipolar, panic attack disorder and high anxiety. After taking all this medication for 9 months I'd noticed I'd put on weight but was still under the influence of many bipolar prescriptions that it didn't really phase me, eventually I did over a year of therapy and was able to work through many of my issues that seemed to bring out the bipolar episodes and I started to work through my high anxiety, eventually, we end myself off all but one of my medications (with the doctors consent of course), at that point, after being on medication for nearly 2 years, my weight went from 220lbs all the way up to 389lbs, so now I was no longer having bipolar episodes but was dealing with severe depression from being so overweight. I didn't leave my house for over a year, missed out on a years of doing things with my kids, etc etc, they tried metformin on with me as well and it didn't work, eventually I was diagnosed with diabetes type 2and had to use metformin 3x a day to control my sugars.

Im thankful for medications that can control mental disorders but feel when taking them everyone should be under the care of more then just a psychiatrist, they should be seeing a dietician or family doctor to be education on the potential weight gain as a result of taking these medications.

My son is only 13 but is 6ft 3 and 260lbs at this point.  Obviously, we're very conscious of weight in our house and it has been so sad to see him gain this weight.

Thankfully he's under a neuropsych unit at Children's and so they monitor his overall health as well as his mental health.

Age is currently on his side and his labs are all good, but we are going to be very vigilant about his overall health.

Thank you for sharing your story, I'm sure many people will recognise themselves.  I wish you the best general health and congratulate you for being proactive in your mental health!

I too was just put on metformin last week. I hope it works. For your son too 

Hes lost 13 lbs in two weeks, so it's looking good

Me! MANY many rounds of new med, gain lots of weight, over and over again. It was actually my psychiatrist *****commended I consider WLS after putting on 40lb on seroquel.

Since WLS, I've discovered that the meds weren't 100% to blame for the gain, I still ate like crap and used food as an emotional crutch, which is doubly difficult when your moods are crap. But the great news is that I've been on another serious med adjustment in the past six months and I haven't gained more than a few pounds, which is reassuring.

Hi Sparklekitty, 

Your story sounds very familiar, as with most cases of mental illness there is never a magic medication and it takes several rounds of new meds to find the one that will work with you, Seroquel was one of the many I was on that caused an increase of weight, I would go to bed and not even remember getting up in the night to basically binge eat, the counters and sink would have dishes and food items that I had no recollection of making and consuming during the night. I don't blame the meds for 100% of my weight gain but it was definitley a huge contributer. 

Lim glad to hear the new medication you're on has only caused a few pounds of weight gain in half a year, definitley reassuring!

Thank you for sharing your story. 

My doctor said he heard of lots of people eating in their sleep without realizing it on that one! I love my meds, but knowing that they can do that sort of thing to your brain is a little bit spooky.