everyone reacts differently so it depends on how you react to it

I'm self medicating on Olanzapine at the moment. Been on a manic high for about 3 weeks. It's not ideal, but it seems to work for me. Being a male and very old, I tend not to worry about my weight, although my GP does! Whatever you do, never stop taking prescribed medication. That's all I can say.

@A MyDepressionTeam Member, if you have a good reaction to the medication in the way of your mental health, please make as much of an effort to find means to deal with the weight issue as you can before you switch to a medication that may not work as well for your overall well being. I can tell you first hand that it can really be a terrible thing to be on a medication that does not help your mental state or makes it worse. I have found that most mental health medications are going to at least do 2 things: make you weigh more and make you sleepy... when you find one that actually does help you mentally stick with it, even if those other things are going on, your state of mind is worth much more than a larger waist line.

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A MyDepre...

I use Olanzapine as back up drug to control my highs. I've never taken it regularly, but I've been told it can cause weight gain. I don't think people using antipsychotic medication get enough support and information about side effects. I never had weight problems until I was in my 50's when I was placed on very large amounts of medication and turned into a zombie. If I'd had good advice and support from medical professionals back then about weight gain, I don't think I'd have the health problems I have today. Too often people with mental health problems are dosed with medication just to keep them stable without any thought as to side effects.

When i was on olanzapine i did gain a lot of weight but the doctors have a scheme where you can get access to gyms for half the price normally. Also if you have a bit of a sweet tooth which i had when i was on it if you bake you can get a sugar alternative called xylitol its a naturally occuring sugar in the body so if you use this to bake with you will notice the difference. I also started to cook from scratch as jars have so much sugar in them especially dolmio there sauces are terrible. Hope this helps a bit.