Prozac weight gain

Prozac, a popular anti-depressant drug, is not isolated from certain post medication side effects and drawbacks. These drawbacks have been observed, noticed and documented by a series of clinical trials.

One of the major and the most common side effects with Prozac, during its use are the weight gain issues. In fact, weight gain is a category where the reverse- weight loss, also happens during Prozac Intake.

An overview

Prozac and weight gain are related to each other dual ways. People taking in Prozac for shorter span of time are found to have lower appetite and weight loss for a temporary stage. However, these people also experienced weight gain when Prozac is continued for long. Thus, in the initial stages, Prozac accounts for weight loss but ultimately, it results in considerable weight gain.

This is a matter of more pertinence as weight gain itself gives rise to a host of problems, ranging from blood pressure, cardiovascular strokes, blood flow, sugar level, energy level and so on. Hence, weight gain issue while Prozac intake should be carefully dealt with.

Weight gain

Weight gain itself has become a serious problem today. This is because weight gain results in lethargic attitude and lifestyle. Weight gain increases the chances of heart attacks and even death. If a person is not following the nutritional guidelines, not taking proper and balanced diet and also does not exercise regularly and in addition, is a victim of depression, then the weight gain will be attributed to Prozac intake, regardless of the fact that he has incorporated other reasons too, for weight gain.

Mechanism of weight gain through Prozac

The side effect of weight gain shoots up as an auxiliary symptom of some other side effects. They are:

• One of the major side effects of Prozac medication is feeling full stomach. In this situation, the person feels fully eaten even before the expected level of eating. In order to compensate for lack of calories, the person directs himself to overeating, which ultimately leads to weight gain.
• Apart from the above founding criteria, one of the accelerating features in weight gain here is dizziness. The person overeats to compensate for food and to worsen the situation, sleeps the whole day and feels lazy. This behavior does not allow for complete combustion of calories within the body. Hence, those unburnt calories deposit upon making the person weighty.
• Third among the problem creators is the side effect of dry mouth. Dry mouth encourages for extra drinking, which means greater ingestion of liquid and beverage based diet. All these factors contribute together to make a person taking Prozac, put on extra pounds.

A paradoxical situation with Prozac intake is that it also results in weight loss. Thus, there are some people who turn to Prozac for losing weight if the cause of depression is the extra weight itself.

How to avoid weight gain while using Prozac?

Weight gain is an uncertain yet controllable situation. Here we are presenting some tips to pack up on the pounds put on during Prozac medication.

• The hairline difference lies between awareness and ignorance. If you are aware that almost all anti-depressant drugs cause weight gain, you will be more cautious in the intake and would monitor readily if there are any signs of weight put on.
• Prevention is better than cure. If in the very beginning, you are experiencing a gain in weight and which you consider unable to be controlled on your own, you must consult a doctor at once, before the weight gain turns into a new series of horrible problems.
• Anti-depressant drugs differ by the action. If Prozac specifically is causing weight gain, you can have an expert guidance to see whether a change in the type of the drug or in the dosage can avoid the situation.
• In the worst case, dietary supplements can be taken which work both as a mild anti-depressant and also an anti-weight gainer. These supplements also provide the essential nutrients which are otherwise missed in normal dietary schedule.
• As stated earlier, the Prozac medication results in laziness and aversion to exercise. Hence, Prozac takers are advised to keep low on high calories content and do perform regular exercise. This will help them not only in maintaining weight but also in overcoming the depression.
• Last but not the least, try to keep on as low on dose as possible. This is because greater dose makes you a slave of drug and also accounts for unnecessary weight gain. Unless prescribed by the doctor, do not increase the quantity.

In this part of our site, we have tried to explore the situation that arises due to Prozac intake - weight gain. The probable causes and the steps to overcome the problem are also discussed in detail. The article would benefit those who are experiencing the same difficulty.