I'm taking an SSRI anti-depressant and I read in a post here that a low carb diet (I'm doing Atkins) can cause them to not work.
Anyone ever heard of that?
Katherine

Hi Katherine,

Welcome aboard!

Chances are, whoever said "doesn't work" probably meant slows or stalls you weight loss.

This is not always true, and it depends on how your body reacts to certain drugs. Some people gain on certain drugs, while others lose, and yet some others aren't afftected, in terms of weight loss. But to my knowledge, no one reported that certain drugs don't work (for their intended remedy) simply because of low-carbing.

Wa'il

I appreciate hearing that from you. I hadn't heard of that before, but when I read that post, I was worried about the SSRI not working!

BTW this website is incredible! Great job!!
Katherine

Thanks Katherine, glad you like it!

Wa'il

I found the post you were referring to here The suggestion seems to be that the antidepressants will only make you more depressed when lowcarbing, rather than having an effect on the weight loss effort. This is misinformation unfortunately. And antidepressants are definitely not stimulants, as many are taken at bedtime to promote sleep.

Tricyclics such as amitryptilline, imipramine, doxepine ... as well as the earliest SSRI's - prozac, zoloft ... have weight gain as a frequently reported side-effect, most likely due to a disturbance in carbohydrated metabolism over the long term. So in fact ... lowcarbing, avoiding blood sugar and insulin spikes and dips .. will be helpful for this. The newer SSRI's .. Wellbutrin in particular .. actually reports more weight LOSS as a side effect.

Hope this is helpful

Doreen

That was how I understood the post to read as well. Which did cause some alarm as I really really really don't want to trade being fat for being depressed!
Thanks Doreen, your information is very helpful, indeed.