Zoloft and Weight Gain/Loss?

Question

My doctor recently prescribed .25 mg per day of Zoloft for anxiety disorder, panic disorder and OCD. In reading up on the drug online I saw that a significant amount of people complained of weight gain. When calling his office and inquiring about this, he said that as a side effect it wasn't common (the more common is weight loss) and most of peoples complaints were due to an increased appetite and to watch my portions and exercise and it shouldn't be a problem. In reading further consumer reports, I'm not sure I agree with this. I've tried prozac, wellbutrin, and paxil with no help and some with bad side effects. Priorly my doctor prescribed Lexapro but I didn't have it filled so I'm not sure what it would do. Does anyone know if 1) Zoloft will absolutely make a person gain weight, and 2) If there is something else to try that will help treat the above without weight gain, or 3) how to cope with the weight gain so it's not bad or at all? I'm short and don't want to gain 20+ lbs.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

according to a drug database i have access to as a pharmacy student, > 10% of people on Zoloft experienced anorexia (loss of appetite) as an adverse event, where weight gain and increased appetite were in the 1-10% range. You've probably been seeing weight gain as a side effect all over the internet because who would complain about LOSING weight? not many people! So while more people may be losing weight while on Zoloft, they are not complaining as much as the fewer people who ARE gaining weight. Watching your diet and food intake (as any normal person should do!) will help control your weight, whether it be gaining or losing weight.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thanks for the advise and sharing your database info (having real stats is so so much better than scary testimonials)! What you said about people who *would* complain makes good sense. I guess I'll just weight watch and be careful and see how it goes, but not work into a panic over a could-happen.

Answer 2

I have heard that Zoloft causes weight loss, not weight gain. The best thing to do is watch what you eat and have healthy snacks available instead of chips, candy, etc.

Answer 3

Typical Side Effects: The usual for SSRIs - headache, nausea, dry mouth, sweating, sleepiness or insomnia, and diarrhea or constipation, weight gain, loss of libido. Most everything but the weight gain and loss of libido usually goes away within a couple of weeks, and Zoloft tends to be a little lighter on everything except those two as well. Like Prozac it can just kill your appetite completely instead of making you gain weight.

Every body is different. You may or may not gain weight.

Source(s):

http://crazymeds.org/

Answer 4

for me i gained but everyone is different

Answer 5

zoloft sucks it made me more depressed then anything
i lost alot of weight but then gained some
i hated it so much it made me more irritated mader faster and angry
but everyone is different
wellbutrin is what i take, i took zoloft b4 and changed