Are you aware of depression medicines that cause weight loss? This is a sad news for obese people who are suffering from this disorder. However, this problem should not be taken lightly as it could lead to severe complications. Depression is a disease that affects a person's thoughts, feelings, behavior, and overall outlook. The only way to treat this disorder is to understand its causes so as to find effective remedies. Depression is characterized by the changes in the chemical balance in an individual's brain, which results to his/her inability to cope up with daily activities.
In fact, many depression medicines that cause weight loss are synthetic or chemical-based. Taking these medicines for a long period of time may result to unwanted side effects. You have to be careful and conscious about taking these prescriptions because you might also suffer some other serious medical condition that will complicate matters even more.
A depressed person's body functions differently. Your metabolism is altered because your body tries to get rid of the waste products by forcing your body to enter into a survival mode. This is why it is easier for you to gain weight when you are depressed than when you are not. Because your metabolism is speeding up, you tend to eat more without your body burning the calories you consume.
It is also true that there are some depression medicines that cause weight loss by suppressing appetite. This means that your body is not used to receiving nutrients from food and that it experiences complications when it does so. There are also some cases wherein the level of certain vitamins and minerals in your body are depleted because of constant breakdown of carbohydrates and sugar in your blood.
When your body is experiencing these complications, there is a big tendency that you will gain excessive weight. It is thus important that you consult with a doctor at the earliest and get your condition treated. If left untreated, this can lead to serious health problems and even affect your general health and well-being. Hence, it is important that you get your depression under control as soon as possible. Once your doctor has diagnosed your condition, he will be able to prescribe appropriate medicines and counseling.
The most common depression medicines that cause weight loss are anti-depressants. These anti-depressants hinder your body's normal functions. They reduce your mood and change your state of mind, making you feel irritable, anxious, and unpleasant. If your depression is just mild, you may be given anti-depressive drugs such as Tofranil and Paxil. But if you have moderate or severe depression, you will be advised to undergo psychological counseling first before taking any anti-depressant.
You should also exercise to help you achieve and maintain your weight loss. The best type of exercise to do to improve your chances of weight loss is aerobic or cardio exercises. But you should always remember to consult your doctor first especially if you are taking medicines for any other medical condition.
Other depression medicines that cause weight loss include herbal treatments. Herbal remedies include St. John's Wort, which is known to help in decreasing stress levels, increase your energy, reduce anxiety and depression, and increase your mood. However, St. John's Wort is usually recommended to those who are suffering from mild depression. You should also ask your doctor about taking this treatment if you are obese because its effect is not known.
Antidepressants are also used to treat mild to moderate depression. These are prescribed by doctors and are usually used in conjunction with diet and exercise. SSRIs or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors are the most commonly used antidepressants today. These antidepressants work by re-stimulating the brain chemicals that control moods. This enables the person suffering from depression to reduce his/her appetite and increase their energy levels.
However, like St. John's Wort, SSRIs cannot be used by people who are already on a diet and/or are obese. An SSRI is basically an anti-depressant drug. Although the SSRIs have been proven effective in weight loss, some side effects are also associated with the use of SSRIs like hot flashes, sweating and sexual dysfunctions. Also, it can be difficult to keep the weight off once you stop using these SSRIs.
A newer medication called Bupropion is now being used to treat obesity. It is made from a combination of two medicines called naltrexone and bupropion. Naltrexone is primarily used to control the appetite while bupropion is used to reduce certain brain chemicals that cause the urge to consume food. Unlike the SSRIs and the Anafranil, which are usually used to treat depression, Bupropion is not habit forming and has no known side effects.
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