Prozac and Weight Gain: What Users Say (Page 2)

• Mat...
• January 17, 2016

For Panic Disorder "I started a generic brand of Prozac more than 3-4 years ago. I started at 20 mg and am still on that same dose. Before Prozac, I lost almost 50 pounds because I didn't eat. I was depressed and always anxious. I was afraid of weird things, like taking a shower because I thought I would fall and die. I was afraid to win the lottery (never would happen anyway, lol). I never had anything like this in my life! I was newly wed and just had a baby. So I guess it was normal to have those feelings. Prozac has been great. The first few weeks on it, I had increased anxiety. The worst thing is I gained about 75-80 pounds!"

• blu...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• March 22, 2015

For Depression "I have been battling severe depression for most of my life, and at 30 years old, I finally decided to seek help. I was prescribed 10 mg at first, and it has been gradually increased at different increments over the last year and a half. I am currently taking 60 mg Prozac daily. Taking Prozac has definitely helped my moods, but no pill is a fix-all. I recommend counseling also. I have had some issues with weight gain and loss of libido. I've noticed that once I have been on a stable dosage for a while, the libido does come back."

• Anonymous
• April 29, 2011

For Anxiety and Stress "I have been on fluoxetine now for 7 months. The first couple of weeks I was sick feeling, but within 2 months my husband and I could tell a big difference with my anxiety. The downfall is the weight gain, and after about 3 months, I have to take a midday nap. I have gained 18 pounds in the past 7 months, that is the outcome of 3-4 am nightly hunger and cravings. I am now trying to fight the naps to sleep all night without waking up. It is difficult some days, but it is better than having anxiety attacks."

• pig...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• November 25, 2020

For Obsessive Compulsive Disorder "I’ve been on Prozac for like 9 months. I’m actually at 80 mg, the maximum dose, and I’ve felt little to no relief of my OCD. I know that for some people it has worked, but for me it is not the case. I’m going to start taking Luvox tomorrow, and I hope I get better. With Prozac, my hands shake all the time, I gained weight, and I’m really sad about the outcome."

• Tak...
• February 26, 2012

For Depression "Prozac has taken my body aches away. Prevents me from obsessing over what someone else did or said. Helps with anxiety, depression, stress, and crying. A lot of the other medications caused an allergic reaction, or they made me lethargic and gain weight. Problems with short-term memory and retaining new information, but that could be my age of 60."

• Agi...
• August 16, 2016

For Depression "Disclaimer: this is MY personal experience. Started Prozac at age 19 after issues with Effexor, and after a few months, I felt on top of the world-the happiest I had ever been. This was short-lived. After 6 or so months, something inside me snapped. Sex drive = 0. My conscience turned into someone that wasn't me. Never heard voices before, but they became overwhelming/evil, and I couldn't shake the suicidal thoughts. I ended up quitting cold turkey as I noticed myself double dosing, then triple dosing. My sex drive is still 0, I've gained a ton of weight, and have been dealing with severe depression without meds because I'm scared to take them again."

• Kri...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• March 23, 2018

For Anxiety and Stress "In 2014, I suddenly started having terrible panic attacks, and I believe this drug saved my life. My panic attacks were so bad I thought I’d have to check into a mental hospital, and I considered suicide. The doctor put me on 20 mg, and within just 5 days, the extreme anxiety subsided, and the panic attacks were reduced. After 2-3 weeks, panic attacks completely stopped. I am so grateful for this drug during that time period. I stopped taking it after about 2 years because I felt much better. Fast forward to now, I started to have bad anxiety again due to a lot of stress in my life. Back on 10 mg, and it helped within about 2 weeks. I was more calm, slept better, didn’t worry as much. However, I gained 15 pounds in 2 months, and it made me lethargic, tired, and foggy. I’m weaning off now. I can’t stand being overweight and tired all the time. This drug definitely helped my anxiety, but the weight gain and fatigue have been really bad this time around."

• gui...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• December 10, 2012

For Depression "I started Prozac a year ago for severe anxiety and depression. I now feel like a whole different person. The only thing I'm wondering is if I gained weight from it. I am now 40 lbs heavier than last year, but I started a different birth control at the same time, so that could be it as well."

• Nor...
• January 21, 2015

For Obsessive Compulsive Disorder "I have been off Prozac for about 4 weeks now...after starting 2 years ago for a terrible depression/sadness/menopause. Wanted to take a holiday to see what would happen. When on Prozac, side effects like decreased sexual drive and slight weight gain, otherwise, it put my menopause symptoms in control. Decreased my hot flashes, helped my sadness, and gave relief for some mild OCD that I have had for years. Now when I am off the medicine, I notice an increase in my OCD behaviors. Not concentrating as well at work. Sexual appetite is still not that great despite a wonderful patient husband (could still just be the menopause). Hot flashes have not really returned, and I do not feel overwhelmingly sad. I will start Prozac tomorrow and see if it helps with OCD."

• KAD...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• May 23, 2018

For Depression "I was on 10 mg starting, and it didn't help, so I went to 20 mg, and my life felt so on track. I gained 30 lbs, but with exercise daily, I lost 15 and don't mind the way I look. I have bipolar II, and it made my mania worse, but with the right mood stabilizer, I believe this antidepressant is great. I switched to Wellbutrin, and I hate it, I am going back to Prozac today."

• Var...
• July 13, 2021

For Postpartum Depression "After labor, I suffered from a rare condition of postpartum psychosis, cured with Abilify. Then it was followed by horrible insomnia and anxiety. I tried every sleeping pill and benzo, and tricyclics, didn’t work. So my doctors decided to prescribe Prozac 20 mg per day (morning) for 6 months. The first weeks, I had little cramps in my ankles and not much change in my mood, but immediately less anxious, and by week 3-4 it finally kicked in, didn’t feel so sad anymore. Gradually, my sleep came back, from 4-5 hours with early awakenings to a solid 8-9. I had a rare side effect-pigmentation around my eyes became slightly orange, but it was gone after I started to wean off. When I started Prozac, my depression was 60 out of 63 according to Beck’s depression inventory (“severely depressed”). Now, after treatment, it’s only 9! (“not depressed”). The worst side effect is that despite dieting, I gained 30 lbs!"

• Ell...
• February 19, 2021

For Anxiety and Stress "First few weeks were tough, but after the third week, it gets so much better. My anxiety decreased dramatically, however, I did notice right away that my breasts were sore and swollen, like with PMS, but all the time. Then weight started going up pretty quickly (I initially lost weight in the first few weeks). I'm a trainer, so I work out daily and watch what I eat, so it was very weird. I thought maybe it was hormonal, so I saw my doctor, and it turns out Prozac can really increase your prolactin levels. Because of that, I can’t stay on it, which is a shame because it completely got rid of my anxiety:("

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 29, 2018

For Anxiety and Stress "This drug has done wonders for me. It changed my life. No more fear or negative thoughts. The only major problem: weight gain and decrease of sexual desires. I don’t know what to do. I love this drug but can’t take the weight gain. I go to the gym and try to eat less, and still my weight doesn’t go down. I really don’t know what to do. Any advice? I am a new person on this medication."

• Ale...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• September 3, 2021

For Anxiety and Stress "I was on 20 mg Prozac for a while. To me, it worked very well. Day-to-day I felt very calm and at peace. However, my sex drive plummeted. I mean, it was almost non-existent. I've been on Lexapro as well and although that one didn't affect my libido quite as much, I gained weight on Lexapro. Prozac didn't have any weight gain effects."

• rat...
• June 15, 2011

For Depression "I have bipolar disorder. I just started 10 mg of Prozac 3 weeks ago, and I love it. I needed an antidepressant to work with the lithium I was taking. And I feel terrific. So far, I haven't gained any weight. I gained 30 lbs because my thyroid stopped working, and 20 of it has come off, and I've lowered the lithium, and I attribute this to the Prozac. I have Wellbutrin as a standby if the weight starts coming on, but I really don't want to change. I am in control, and for someone with bipolar, that's a hard place to get to."

• Ove...
• November 4, 2011

For Anxiety and Stress "Prozac was the first medicine I tried for anxiety. I tend to worry a lot and obsess over things. I felt a decrease in my anxiety, but it made me too lazy. I didn't want to do anything except sit on the couch and watch TV. I was even too lazy to eat, which caused me to lose weight. I then tried Lexapro, which I gained weight on, but felt a significant decrease in anxiety, and now I am on Cymbalta and do not feel a significant decrease in my anxiety and am thinking about talking to my doctor about trying something new again."

• jcb...
• April 19, 2018

For Obsessive Compulsive Disorder "I was on Paxil over 10 years ago, but ended up gaining a lot of weight on it, even with working out like a madman and watching what I eat very meticulously. After being on several meds in the next 10 years, which did not appear to work (although I wasn't on them for a long period of time), I decided to try Prozac from the advice of my psychiatrist, who is a very good doctor. I took a gene test to see what medicine would be best for me, and the tests revealed that Prozac would be best. I started off on 20mg, increased to 40mg, and eventually went up to 60mg (due to my OCD). At first, I kept the weight off and, in fact, was losing a bit of weight. However, after being on 60mg for a long period of time, I decided to weigh myself and was totally dismayed and went into a deep depression over how much weight I gained. I always thought weight gain was one thing under my control, as I work out and watch what I eat. To say it mildly, it was like a punch in the stomach."

• Anonymous
• March 7, 2012

For Depression "I am 19 years old, and I was on liquid Prozac for about 3 months. During the 3 months of Prozac, I found that I was more tired and unable to concentrate. I found that I was even more anxious when on this medicine, more depressed, and I gained a considerable amount of weight. Before Prozac, I was 130 lbs, then I was around 155 lbs by the end of the 3 months. While on this, I had no energy, no motivation to move on with my life, or no desire to engage in social interaction. My sex drive had gone way down, and I was not very interested in having sex. Now, I have been off the Prozac for about 6-7 months, and I am slightly more motivated, my sex drive has gone way up, but my weight is still the same."

• Sar...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• November 19, 2021

For Panic Disorder "I've been on Prozac for about a year now for anxiety/panic disorder. Switching from 30 mg to 40 mg. Currently on 30 mg, it's been working great for me. Only side effects are weight gain, but then again I don't know if it's from that. I do sometimes have a little anxiety here and there, but nothing like before, which was every day. I'd recommend it for someone dealing with anxiety, etc."

• Ran...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• June 16, 2020

For Depression "At first, I feel okay, but after 6 months, I gained 20 kgs!!! And I quit Prozac after 6 months, and it was the best decision, but I cannot get rid of the weight I had gained. It affects my metabolic rate so badly!!! Now I have depression from being fat! Don’t use it."

• Mca...
• September 24, 2020

For Depression "Absolute rubbish. Caused uncontrollable massive weight gain just like the atypical antipsychotics do (129 to 185 in 3 months!!! Eating same diet. Robot emotions. Hair loss. And suddenly... good old diabetes 2. I want to sue. Dr. said I would not gain and probably lose weight. This was in 1995. All those rapidly created fat cells created to stuff this poison in are still hanging on in 2020 to this toxic drug. Think twice."

• Rab...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 11, 2023

For Anxiety and Stress "An absolute poison. No help at all and gave me severe panic attacks and fear. I was on it for a few weeks and could not tolerate how it made me feel. Taking this poison will bring you closer to death. Stay away from this nonsense medication. You are not serotonin deficient. Your brain just works differently, and accepting it is the way to recovery. The internet wrongly advertises these medications. If you ever go down the road of medication, you will never be able to come back from it. The bitter truth that the internet won’t tell you. Side effects like sexual dysfunction are permanent. What is life without sex? Weight gain is permanent. You will become an elephant from a stallion. Do not Google your problems because it is a slave of the drug companies, including this poison that made my life miserable."

• Qtk...
• March 31, 2009

For Depression "I have been on Prozac for about one month. I feel like I am able to function again. The only issue I have is that I have no interest in sex and I have gained quite a bit of weight."

• jes...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 12, 2020

For Depression "Terrible medication. I felt worse. Do not recommend. Rubbish. Also put a stone on in 12 weeks."

• Sui...
• May 20, 2016

For Anxiety and Stress "Been on this for a few weeks now, and I feel no better than I did before I started taking this. Gained weight and getting severe migraines."