Weight loss and mental health

[PIK NIK 3]

I weight 145 lb 10 years ago I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia bipolar 1 with extreme Mania I was given Seroquel 400 mg and right away after 3 months I was 318 lb I got my surgery and May 23rd of 2019 to help fix a large hernia they're going to have to have my weight down to 200 pounds as fast as possible. now they can't drop my medicines because I will be hospitalized immediately for my mental illness. they are trying to figure out all kinds of ideas. they have put me on 200 mg of Topamax to help lose weight and to help with my bipolar and change my medication from Seroquel to Latuda. I begin my change tomorrow . I will let people know how it goes in 2 weeks . I don't know what's going to happen.

I'm down to 271 and I'm holding for 6 weeks now and then last week I've gained 5 lb and I'm still at 750 calories. I haven't changed anything in my diet except when they tell me to every three days my dietitian to try to figure out what to do . they are trying to figure out what's going on obviously I I think it has to do with my medications . I haven't eaten over 1,200 calories in 3 years. But again I may be wrong that's why I need your help.

I do not eat carbs I do not eat sugars in the last 7 years. I do have pictures of before I was on Seroquel you would not believe the difference. I can post them if you'd like. But this is not a congratulation post this is for people like me or people who might have answers in this field. I don't want to have have people coming into gratulate me or anything like that because, I'm looking for people that are have done this and actually completed and one or I'm looking for those who are doing this and we can work together as a team to figure this out.

now they're giving me Iron supplements on top of iron supplements and Vitamin D supplements on top of Vitamin D supplements even though I'm outside active and on top of that. Because before I didn't have these deficiencies and now my doctors and I don't know what's going on because before surgery I've never had this and now after surgery I was giving all these supplements and my blood work comes back that I got all the great Vitamins and me but it's showing extreme low iron and extreme low vitamin D so now they're giving me more iron to take and more vitamin D and it's still losing iron we're still losing vitamin D . What's the cause?

it I'm drinking tons and tons of Water 64 Oz a before noon on exercising I'm walking jogging 2 to 3 miles a day on play with the dogs I built the fence last week. I haven't done that in 10 years put a mailbox I'm also doing everything I possibly can to do to counter this problem my way I was always a health nut I always believe calories in calories out I was always extended extreme bodybuilding and weight and extreme sports and I go from being 145 lb to 318 pounds in 3/4 months and I know I'm not going to lose this weight super super fast but but I should at least be losing half a pound of one pound a week and I should be showing large vitamin D all that low iron and low Calcium is starting to show up so even my PCP so I can do blood work and starting to send them to the lab something my else might be happening.

My family only has a history of thyroid cancer and lung cancer cuz they smoke we lived to be 85 and 90 but we all get a little bit of dementia and Alzheimer's . But that is we usually end up dying from. that's part of the mental illness part. but all my family members are skinny I mean I'm the only large person in my family because of the the Seroquel.

I do not have high blood pressure I do not have any type of Diabetes I do not have an insulin problem my ACl one is at like 4 even at my weight . so I don't have problems. but we are trying to figure this out that they took my blood and all the vitamins I'm perfectly good on vitamins I do not need any extra types of foods are vegetables anything I add to my diet. So my dietitian has tried to add vegetables to my diet over the last six weeks and I gained weight he tried to remove meat from my diet go back to the shakes and do less calories that's when I lose weight so basically it comes down to 750 calories. If I eat 750 calories I maintain 271 lb if I eat less than 750 calories bye 200 calories I begin to lose 1 pound a week if I eat anything over 200 calories IV in the game 2 pounds a week again. so I'm hoping with you Latuda and dropping the Seroquel and they replace of the Seroquel using the Latuda that this will change I will keep you updated. And I'm hoping that I meet more people that have mental illness and doing the surgery can give me other ideas or is there any psychiatrist out there that know of any other mental illness bipolar mood stabilizers that are weight neutral please informing or inform us. Thank you sincerely yours The Crazies

[KishaG 61]

Did they ever try a standard mood stabilizer like lamictal? I take seroquel to help me sleep and for anxiety, but lamictal is what we use to stabilize my mood. Likewise, I have tried latuda only as an in addition to my anti-depressant not for my mood. Seroquel never made me gain any weight I take 200-300mg at night. Occasionally I'll take 4 but not often. Latuda was horrible for me I had one of the rare side effects. But 300mg of lamictal keeps me pretty much stabilized.

I hope they find the right combo for you.

[PIK NIK 3]

I originally was put on Lamictal hospitalize me and put me on Seroquel so it didn't work apparently I'm a paranoid schizophrenic bipolar one extreme Mania so I didn't work for me on that front but I'm glad you commented thank you another one that you tried for me was lithium he did not want to try Abilify yet that someone I haven't tried it. They are also giving me a sleeping pill so I can sleep because obviously taking me out the Seroquel is helping me sleep so they're putting me on a love some kind of sleeping pill starts in the house and that way I can have an agent for sleep with cuz they also have me on Xanax and I'm trying to get off of Xanax I don't like having to take a barbiturate to sleep

[KarenLR75 515]

One of my loved ones is BP II and they are now trying to decided if she also has BPD. She gained a TON of weight from Abilify..which was billed inititally as 'Weight-Neutral". Weight-Neutral my AS*! She also takes Seroquel and now I'm wondering how much a role this might have played in her carb binging (although this is also typical of Bipolar disorder as well - i.e. not in relation to a med alone). She was on Lamictal as her first line mood stabilizer for a long time and just recently had to be switched to Lithium.

I am not BP but I have been on Seroquel for a few years for sleep and anxiety. I have a fairly vicious shift work disorder situation going on and regular sleep meds like Temazepam just don't cut it. I'm on 150 mgs. I haven't noticed weight gain on it but I know meds like this along with the front line mood stabilizers...can bring with them much good, but also sometimes very undesired side effects.

I've normally seen the ppl in my life gain the most from the atypical anti-psychotics. I DO know seroquel can impact your cholesterol for sure.

The one thing I know for sure is that all of these very important meds bring a host of side effects and many are known impacters on several things that could negatively impact your weight along with simply having bipolar. Would be nice to see more conversations about trying to do this while dealing with some fairly difficult...emotional/mental/spiritual challenges.

I know how hard a road it is to walk...with significant challenges like this, while I do not have BP myself, someone who is EXTREMELY close to me...I watch her suffer so much...it breaks my heart over and over...and then add on top of it that she has gained over 100 lbs in a year...on top of already being MO. I just love her so much..and am tired of seeing how life...just continues to throw so many unfair and awful situations her way. I KNOW life is NOT fair, but when you have something like bipolar as a diagnosis..unless you've been there/been beside someone going thru it, it is hard to explain how much it impacts every single aspect of your life sometimes...

[PIK NIK 3]

now I know Abilify is another way to go to and the bullfight is the new medication that I take I've been on Seroquel for a long time and they always say weight neutral when they first come out and then I later on the end up becoming a lawsuit and I understand that they always get the car and all that stuff comes involved but my doctor thinks that what happens is if you don't even have the carbs I was only on 1200 calories but he thinks that what it does is slow down your insulin. but here goes the crazy part I've been doing the same diet since the May 23rd to Mill Replacements a day 64 ounces is 296 oz of Water and 3 oz of meat for the first 45 days after the surgery I lost from 318 lb to 271 lb but in the last 6 weeks I haven't lost anything I gained 5 lb nothing is changed and it's got my PCP and my doctor who do the surgery and even my dietitian scratch their heads and they did all my blood work and they're not seeing anything any signs except for some weird sign that my Iron is extremely low and my Vitamin D and my Calcium is completely out of whack prior to the surgery they wasn't so they're all trying to figure out what the change is only person is even trying to do anything different at this point is my psychiatrist who's taking me off of my volume is an axes and changing my Seroquel to Latuda and seeing if this is going to do any difference and raising my Topamax which is only thing that actually is there a weight-loss medication to see if that will help anything I haven't eaten a piece of fruit or piece of vegetable and literally since the three days before May 23rd I haven't drinking anything but water and or Protein water since the surgery my literally my calorie intake is from the meats that I eat at night about 5 p.m. and the shakes come to a total of between 680 calories to round 810 calories a day I walked between 10 to 15000 steps a day up to sometimes 20 and I also played the drums for about an hour and everybody says that I'm very active I look very healthy I never see you if it's good I'm always running around now I feel great but I went to my primary care physician 5 weeks ago I was 268 then I went to then I went to my psychiatrist I was 271 I went to my primary care physician I was 274 now 2 weeks ago and today I'm 277 I haven't changed anything so I called my dietitian yes I'm a dietitian don't call him cuz he's really worried about my situation and I call it a day so maybe we're going to go ahead and put you on a 1200 calorie diet and maybe that will restart your metabolism and that's going to worry me but I'm going to try it and maybe that'll give me a jump start again a lot of towels and start losing weight he said maybe you're just exercising too much and you just need to have more cuz your body's going to self starvation mode it makes sense and somewhere but I'm just afraid if I start eating more Ill gain more but I'm not eating carbs so I haven't had a potato chip in 3 years

[KarenLR75 515]

Sounds like you have a lot of metabolic challenges going on. There are veterans on here that know WAY more than I do about how bodies that for whatever reason, throw up intense metabolic..let's say 'resistance'...they have a wealth of knowledge and experience with losing weight, even if it is slower, with most of these conditions.

I actually am a fan of low carb..like VERY low carb, put you in 'ketosis' low carb as I am a slow loser. My dr's plan though..dang @Fluffychix knew exactly the name for it...I'll look up her reply to my post and put it here...he had me increasing..now that I was, at the time they gave me my 'macros' for moving forward into the 'real food arena)...he had me UP the carbs but carbs isolated to the low glycemic/better for you carbs...kept Protein high of course, and put fat as the lowest % which I understood (the fat part of it).

the calories were the EXACT same that I had been doing since eating SOME real food....and I was losing like..2 lbs a week...then down to 1 lb...then down to nothing for over 10 days...my 2nd or 3rd 'stall'...

Finally I bit the bullet and went into my fitnesspal and changed my macros around....I ate protein oatmeal...feeling guilty the whole time. I also ran into a 'picky pouch' issue and suddenly things i had been able to eat like 1 slice of turkey deli meat...was repulsing me. My calories ended up actually starting to tank into under 400 on some days which threw my body off too. Ironically, the oatmeal stayed down and some days was the only thing i could get in..as well as half a Protein Drink.

Flash forward to past 4 days...got self back to 800 calories but on my dr's version, not mine...and I went to an oktoberfest dinner 2 nights ago with a group of ladies I know. I had baby bites of almost everything. I ate tiny bites of a dumpling, of the meat (NOT sausage, more like a roast)...cucumbers....and as there is another woman there who had WLS who is 1.5 years out, we were talking about what things would be safer for me to try than others..and the whole table started talking about the fact that several German dishes, especially the salads, involved lemon juice, vinegar, etc. - things known to help with digestion.

As we had several courses, the "meal" was eaten over 2 to 2.5 hrs. I made sure to stop WAY before what I know my pouch could handle. I skipped a few things that I knew might be 'dicey'..but honestly..over the course of that meal, I ate MORE calories than I had in days when I added it to the rest of the day. I never hit my restriction..truly took BABY teeny tiny bites of things......this morning, i got on the scale and I'm suddenly down 4 lbs! This is with still seeing my ankles slightly swollen from yesterday's jaunting around town.

I think sometimes we get so 'set' in what our macros are...that our bodies need to be shaken up. This could mean you need to change your macros and so many other variables. I was going to look into IF (intermittent fasting) before agreeing with members here that I actually should try what my dr and his nutritionist were suggesting which was actually increasing good carbs. I mean..I was stuck...so really...all that could happen is potentially a 'gain and if I did...I'd wait it out to see if it was my body just 'reacting' again.

I really thought I'd see a small gain this morning or stay the same. It goes to show how wrong some of my old thinking can be sometimes....and there are MANY MANY ppl on here who can share from their experience...also being ppl who are 'slower losers' than some (i.e fight having metabolism challenges)...I would need to re-read what you posted but I think there are other options that remain unexplored that are available to you to try.

And I say this being a person that is ON Seroquel. My loved one is on Seroquel AND topomax. She had a very bad reaction to Latuda which was disappointing. She is making MINOR changes in her meals..and is hiking with me..both of us are SEVERELY out of shape but we do mini-hikes.....I know if she can lose weight with her tiny changes....there are definitely ANSWERS/HELP out there for you..many things still to try DESPITE the meds.

I wish you nothing but the best!!

[CoramDeo 39]

I was on Trileptal as a mood stabilizer for a while and it worked wonders for me, and didn't add any weight. I will definitely say, that being on Keto did almost as much for me as my mood meds though.

[New&Improved 1,780]

I take 100mg at night seroquel to relax me and help me sleep and 50g zoloft in morning for anxiety.. 6 weeks later down 46lbs..

[mcfluffington 179]

I gained on Topamax but I was in the hospital for psychosis and all there was to do was eat.

I got back on bupropion when I got out of the hospital but I don't think that would be recommended for someone with extreme mania. My diagnosis is Depression with Psychotic features.

Ant-psychotics can definitely cause metabolic issues.

Luckily I haven't had any issues.

Do they think you have metabolic syndrome?

I"m with Karen you should definitely ask the people who have had difficulty losing after weightloss.

Maybe start a new thread with a headline that would attract them. Like "Weightloss stall -- Still eating low cal after surgery" and include how long after surgery it is.

It may not be your meds.

Good Luck!

[KarenLR75 515]

2 hours ago, mcfluffington said:

Maybe start a new thread with a headline that would attract them. Like "Weightloss stall -- Still eating low cal after surgery" and include how long after surgery it is.

Good idea to start a topic that would help bring other people dealing with the challenges of severe metabolic challenges. What I'd like for you is to see if some of the recommendations of those who have lived through it, whether they had any med situations that might also contribute to the issue, is actually just to see if how they have found ways to eat that best deal with metabolic resistance could benefit you...period.

So that it is a bit more specific to severe metabolic issues..perhaps a slight adjustment to the wording "Severe metabolic challenges almost no weight loss - please help"..something specific about the metabolic issues.

I, in NO way, want to discount the role that one or more of your meds might be playing, but in a way I wonder if you set that to the side for now...as I don't think it will hurt...because we have several ppl also on Seroquel plus my loved one who is in her 20's and has severe metabolic issues..has managed to lose 17 lbs in 9 months and has NOT had WLS.

Please understand, I KNOW all too well that this realm of meds we are talking about can definitely impact you exactly the way you have mentioned...I don't want you thinking that I'm saying "well, no one else is having this issue with Seroquel"...I just know how much heartache the side effects of these meds and others can cause so emotionally/mentally I just thought for myself...to set that issue aside and see if maybe input of ppl who have tried and true results that have overcome severe metabolic challenges - which is the root problem you want help with..might be easier for ppl to give input on and for you to be able to isolate maybe a new nutritional approach REGARDLESS of the meds....

Does that make any sense at all? lol....