I hear and see a lot of mention of weight gain as a side effect of some medications. I believe it happens but I’ve never understood how it works. For example, could an athlete who eats perfectly still be struck by weight gain as a side effect? What’s the biological mechanism that would make weight gain happen in a person with a healthy balanced diet?
I’ve taken a medication for years that a doctor just told me they’d rather never raise the dose on because it can cause metabolic syndrome. My A1C, cholesterol, and virtually the rest of my labs were in the healthy range, but I have noticed some weight on me that seemed oddly persistent. My diet ranges from average to healthy nowadays and I’m moderately active. Yet I can think back to a time before the medication when I was eating horribly, never exercised, smoked and drank nonstop, and my labs were looking nasty – yet my extremely consistent max weight was a solid 20lbs under what it is today which a noticeably better lifestyle all around. I’m by no means the athlete in the perfect diet example, I’m more fascinated by how something like that is even possible. Definitely interesting.
In: Biology
One medication I took made me gain 20 pounds in about 3 months. I was pissed off because I had worked really hard to lose that weight and was going a great job with eating less and exercising. My doctor prescribed this new drug and I just could not stop eating. I was constantly hungry and thinking about food and craving food and just wanting to snack all the time. It was maddening. I couldn’t stop. I finally got off the medicine and all those constant cravings and urges to eat stopped as well. Unfortunately, it took me over two years to drop about 10 of those pounds and I haven’t lost the rest of it due to other illnesses.
My mom was put on the same medication and had no weight gain or negative side effects at all.
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