Yes,

I have experienced a decline. In 2000 in ran a 1:20 half marathon, last week it was 1:39. Started lexapro about 3 years ago. Took up triathlon last year to shake off the 20 lbs I gained. Can't say it's all due to the drug, as I started grad school 2 yrs ago, had two kids, and cannot train like I want. My wife went on them too, but had no trouble with weight gain, even though she gave birth twice.

I have googled discussions on this side effect, and although there are lots of folks who say they gain weight, no one has shown the reason why.

Oh, I definitely gained weight and it's slow to come off because of the drugs (I'm on Lexapro as well). Once I started on it, I gained abotu 6 pounds in 5 weeks without a single change in anything that I was doing. I'm struggling to lose 2 pounds a month now because of the drugs. I'm working out a lot, but the weight isn't dropping as quickly as I want it to and I've noticed that I'm not bouncing back athletically as quickly as I used to.

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http://trainingoferic.blogspot.com/

Can I ask how old you are, I'm in my mid 30's and weight loss is twice as hard as it used to be. Basically, I am weaning off lexapro, and switching to Buspar, which is an anti-anxiolitic. Last tri season, I cycled the lexapro where I would take it mon-thurs, and not take it on weekends, which were my long runs and rides, I was able to keep my weight down, but was still 10 lbs over weight.



I also tried wellbutrin and cymbalta because they are supposed to be weight neutral, they were legalized speed to me and I couldn't tolerate them.



Hoping to get the volume up starting this week so I can stop gaining.



Good luck, hope there are others with this experience.

depends on the type of antidepressant, too ... wellbutrin acts as a stimulant (and I'll bet it's technically a banned substance). effexor made me sleep 12 hours a day for the first couple of weeks.

your body is probably just adjusting, so just keep training at a lower intensity. you're not exactly in the middle of race season. chances are good that by next summer you'll have adjusted and you'll be able to train and race at normal intensity.

I'm 26, which makes me fairly young here. I understand that it is harder to lose weight as you get older, but I should still be able to drop weight fairly easily. My body doesn't like to be that lean, but the antidepressants are making it worse.

Yes, it isn't race season, but I've been injured ever since April so the summer was my off season. Now, I'm gearing up for IMFL and having only completed an Oly and a sprint before, I have a lot of work to do, but I can do it.

My doctor wants me on meds untli May and then I can start weaning off of them. I probably could stop them now, but I don't want to risk a relapse.

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Re: weight gain.

I spoke with my doctor's head nurse about the weight gain. She said that at first, a lot of people just munch away on carbs. It's like they aren't satisfying or something like that, and people just keep eating them. She said that is what is the cause of most of the weight gain. I haven't been able to find a knowledgeable medical reason for it, but I haven't looked that hard either.

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The two theories I have heard are the increased carb cravings, and decreased metabolism. Doubt they would put too much research into why their drug is making people fat.



What diet are you using to drop weight. or are you just using exercise?

I'm on a normal healthy, balanced diet. I don't monitor my calories anymore because my PDA died and I haven't found the money to get a new one yet. I know of this great program at http://keyoe.com that I use to keep track of my calories. Anyways, I can drop weight by monitor my food or increased exercise. With the drugs, the food method has stopped working so I now have to lose weight by increasing my volume of exercise.

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I took them once for six weeks. At the time, I needed them. Rough time. Long story.

Anyway.

First off, they were highly effective in the short term and allowed me to function and comes to grips with a series of losses/disappointments that all hit at once. So they did their job.

My primary concern was being on them for an extended period. The symptoms that lead to me using them didn't indicate extended use- but some circumstances do. So a primary concern of mine was to be able to come to grips with the challenges I was facing once the prescriptions moderated the major symptoms. Those symptoms compromised my ability to perform my daily functions. That's why I took the stuff.

Once off them I found that exercise was a very important technique for helping to keep the symptoms of depression at bay and eventually eliminate them altogether.

As for trying to train while on them (Zoloft, specifically), I didn't even attempt it. It was the farthest thing from my mind. Based on my experience with the side effects I wonder how well it would have gone. I just remeber being kind of "unaffected". That is a powerful drug.

As with all of these kinds of things the best person to talk to is likely the health care professional prescribing the drug. Hopefully they have an understanding of how exercise and anti-depressant therapy interact. That is the best place to go for answers.

In my case though, exercise has always been the most positive and powerful prescription for facing adversity. That said, there are many circumstances where a good workout just isn't enough. Then a person needs help.

Something I learned- the hard way- from that experience was that a lot of people who could benefit from some type of treatment for depression never get it, perhaps because they don't recognize the symptoms or they are concerned about a perceived stigma. If you need it- either long term or short term- you need it. It was likened to me as insulin for a diabetic.

So, too late to make a long story short, but the people to talk to about this are the health care pros.

Good luck with that and stick with it!

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"As with all of these kinds of things the best person to talk to is likely the health care professional prescribing the drug. Hopefully they have an understanding of how exercise and anti-depressant therapy interact. That is the best place to go for answers."

I don't think that most health care providers "get" the amount of training that the average triathlete does. The typical family practice doc is seeing overweight, sedentary people with hypertension, diabetes, high lipids, depression etc and is trying to talk these "average Americans" into adopting a healthier lifestyle by walking 30 minutes, 3-5x's a week. They have no idea how to deal with us, the triathlete American, Canadian, whatever. How many of us have gone to the dr. to say "blah, blah, hurts when I run," and their response is "stop running." Most, not all docs have no idea just how much we do.

This is kind of like the diabetes thread from a few weeks ago, the best resource seems to be other athletes that are dealing with the same issues and treatments.

You're right QRgirl. And that is a problem. I had a psychiatrist who was (lucky for me) pretty up to speed with the endurance sports lifestyle. I was fortunate in that regard. He understood the mindset, the physiology and neurology surrounding it.

You're right though- most don't.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I know what you are saying about exercise and depression. Some people on this forum know the full story, but I don't want to go into all the details because it's really personal and private and I don't want everyone to know. Anyways, I used exercise to keep depression at bay and once exercise stopped working, I had to resort to drugs. I'm dealing with things much, much, much better now so I'm glad I started the drugs. I've talked to healthcare pros and I know what to do in the future in case anything like this happens again.

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just an anecdote: Alberto Salazar claimed that going on Prozac in 1993 allowed him to make his amazing comeback in 1994 when he won Comrades. I don't know if there is anything that substantiates his claim.

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kangaroo -- please do not read or respond to any of my posts

tigerchik had a thread similar to this one yesterday in which I responded in some length about my experience with Lexapro. In short, I had low issues with side effects.

A quick thought about why it might affect you in athletic endeavors. Perhaps, like you said, your training was stabilizing you chemically in your brain well enough that for awhile you could get by. Now that you are on the medication, and it is providing those chemicals (or helping your body to create them), your drive to exercise is lower.

Overcoming a chronic injury, and being able to run regularly again, is really what has enabled me to stop taking the Lexapro. Also, I had some therapy that helped me create some coping mechanisms.

Good luck,

Bernie

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"Slowbern has always made astute observations."-Casey 03/10/2009
2013-2014 Detroit Lions---13-3 until proved otherwise.

[reply]tigerchik had a thread similar to this one yesterday in which I responded in some length about my experience with Lexapro. In short, I had low issues with side effects. [/reply]

Damnit, I *completely* missed that thread. Thanks for the info about her thread, though.

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when i first saw a dr about depression he prescribed exercise first thing in the morning!

I wish they could tell why it makes people gain weight. My doctor told me I'm likely to gain 5 - 10 lbs from the Paxil I started taking... yeah, that makes me thrilled. AAAAAA.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Check this out:

http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com/Depression/lexapro_weight_gain.htm

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thanks.... sigh. The whole metabolism slowing down, yikes. If you stop taking them does it return to normal?

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I'm sure it does eventually, but I wouldn't stop without talking to your doctor first. See if they can switch you to something else instead of Paxil before you stop drugs though.

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no, I definitely won't just stop taking them, I guess it can have some nasty side effects if you don't wean yourself off it.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I was prescribed anti-depressants in 2004 as a serotonin booster after a season of poor racing/training and following couple of years in a chronically over-trained state during which time I had some excellent race results over all distances of tri and many running races as well but seemed to be constantly sick.

The doctor mentioned a little weight gain (I put on 12 kilos) but did say that it would be minor and easy to move once I returned to training.

I weaned myself off the medication early this year and returned to training in April this year...I have pounded base into myself and have only dropped a couple of kilos. My aerobic fitness has gone and my ability to push my body in races and training sessions has also diminished......I really wish that I'd not started on them, I think thay have messed up my body beyond all ability to recover.

I am 35 and been a triathlete for 14 years.......my strength in racing/training was always my ability to dig deep and hurt myself. Physically I'm not that strong but when things got tough I dug in and kept going. Now I'm soft physically and mentally and blame the medication for this. My motivation for the sport and my need to compete and test myself has not diminshed but the medication seems to have impaired my bodies ability to absorb the work.

i was on aropax, the generic equivalent to paxil here in nz, for close to 3 years and i NEVER gained weight on it at all. in fact i lost weight ;)

From what I have gathered, Paxil is one of the worst offenders for weight gain. But, this all depends on your unique situation, your biochemistry may be well suited to that drug. As far as metabolism returning to normal after going off the drugs, I've quit cold turkey a couple of times, only for a max of a month before I had to fall back onto the wagon. So, I don't really know if it speeds back up after quiting. All I can say is prior to taking them, I was 20# lighter, but there are other situations in my life that could have led to this weight gain.



I haven't read the thread from yesterday, but my advice is to keep close tabs on the weight, you may not gain an ounce. It would be a shame to dismiss something that could add value to your life if you don't need to.



Good luck!