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Q: Any Other Meds that
Would Not Make Me Gain Weight or Feel Sleepy?
Dr.Plyer,
I take Abilify 5mg and Cymbalta 60mg qd. My mood swings stabilized but I have
gained 55 lbs over the last few years and I often feel tired---so I sleep a
lot. Lithium,topamax,depakote are meds that I cannot tolerate for various
reasons. Can you suggest anything else that I could take that would not make me
gain weight or feel sleepy?
Daina,
First you need to determine which medication is causing
the fatigue and weight gain. Neither the Cymbalta or Abilify typically cause
these side effects, but I would suspect the Abilify. You would need to
transition to another mood stabilizer, and I would start with Trileptal since
you cannot take Lithum or Depakote. Next you could consider Geodon as it
seems to have the least weight gain problems (besides Abilify) of the atypical
antipsychotics. If the culprit is the Cymbalta, I would think about Effexor
since it is also a SNRI similar to Cymbalta. You would need to be careful
though because Effexor has been shown to cause the greatest mood instability
when used in bipolar illness.
Dr. Plyler
Published October, 2011
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