Question:
Can anyone verify this for me?

Hi there, okay I recently started taking Paxil for anxiety attacks, and depression. I am just now starting to hear these things about how it has caused some people to gain weight, and how some people are afraid that it would slow down their weight loss after their surgery......but is there anyone out there that can tell me that the Paxil DEFINATELY slowed down their loss " AFTER SURGERY ". Also, everyone says that it made them gain weight,...but they don't say how.....did it make them eat more, or what?? Thanks guys :)    — Jennifer M. (posted on December 18, 2001)

December 18, 2001
I can't tell you how, but I can tell you that I gained a LOT of weight on Paxil. I stopped taking it about a week prior to surgery and take Zoloft now. I don't know how it made me gain weight. Could have been eating more, could have been slower metabolism, could have been water weight. I just don't know. All I know is that I won't take it now.
   — Janet C.

December 18, 2001
I can verify that Paxil makes most people gain weight. I took it for about 5 months and put on 40 pounds. I was eating right and walking almost everyday. But I GAINED instead of lost.I have never been able to get the weight off ever since I took this med.They really don't know the mechanism that causes the weight gain, but Paxil has ruined alot of people's lives including mine.They prescibed it for panic disorder and depression but it really did not do anything for either. Actually it made my symptoms worse. I personally stay away from this class of drugs called SSRI's. For me they are poison and made my panic disorder worse. There is a class action lawsuit going on right now against the makers of this drug for a number of reasons. Mainly we want full disclosure of all aspects of the drug. They did not tell us that it was addictive and hard to withdraw from.Good Luck on your search for the right med for you.I belong to a panic disorder bulletin board that is run by a Doc in California.Paxil is a very poor choice for panic disorder.It makes some people worse.And don't stop it abruptly because there are side effects from it. Good Luck.
   — garyzgurl

December 19, 2001
I went to a support group meeting recently where there was a guest speaker that was a Psychologist. I asked him this exact question as I too had heard from people that taking Paxil made you slow down or stop your weight loss and in some cases even gain the weight. (I also had heard from an equal amount of people that it didn't make them gain anything at all... and they had a tremendous amount of weight loss while being on it.) The Psychologist told me that if you need to take an antidepressant or mood altering drug, to stick with SSRI's like Celexa as they do not (as a general rule) cause you to gain any weight or slow down the weight loss, but to stay away from Tricyclids like Elavil as these ones will cause you to slow down or even gain weight. I went on Paxil for about 3 weeks to get over a bump in the road when I was around 3 months post op and I don't know if it was coincidence or not, but I hit my first plateau at that time. I immediately went off of it and lost around 6 pounds a week or so later and then hit another plateau which lasted another 3 weeks. I had not heard the information from the Psychologist when I went on the Paxil and I wonder if I didn't psyche myself out with all the negative feedback from people and cause my mind to take over and stall my weight loss. I know this doesn't help you as far as a definative answer one way or the other, but I thought you might like to know what a Psychologist thought of taking the meds. Call your doctor and find out if Paxil is an SSRI or a Tricylid and go from there... Good luck!!!
   — Kellie Jo B.

April 30, 2002
Paxil is a SSRI. I lost weight while on Paxil pre-op, probally due to a decreae in emotional eating, but I was not trying to diet. Almost every psychiatric medication lists weight gain as a potential side effect, even if the percentage of people with weight gain is small. Paxil also lists weight loss as a side effect. The older meds like elavil will cause a weight increase in a high percentage of people, despite diet. With the SSRI's, weight gain is mostly due to dietary changes brought on by the anti-deppressent...some people eat less when depressed and therefore an effective medication may bring increased appetite.
   — Melody S.

November 25, 2003
I was on Paxil for depression for 5 months. I gained 30 pounds. I then began to take the Paxil CR and gained another 10 pounds. You definitely gain weight with Paxil, but I'm not sure how exactly it would work after WLS. My mother died one week after my surgery, and I would love to take it again since it worked so well before, but I'm afraid of slowing down my progress. Before my surgery, even after being off of Paxil for quite some time, my metabolism never returned to it's pre-Paxil state.
   — HungryGirl B.