Which SSRI Is Best For Weight Loss?
If obesity is a health concern of yours, do you know which SSRI is best for weight loss? Some doctors have been prescribing SSRIs to their patients as a treatment method for obesity. If you struggle with your weight, you are probably aware that obesity drastically increases the likelihood of a score of chronic and fatal diseases. These include diabetes, heart disease and many more.
So if you and your medical practitioner have decided to address your weight issue, it’s with good reason. While your doctor will encourage you to look carefully at your diet and exercise habits, he or she might also prescribe a medication to assist you. Before we examine this practice in more detail, please note that the companies manufacturing the SSRIs don't create them for this purpose.
Obesity Is A Chronic Disease
The causes of obesity are complicated. Certainly, lack of exercise and poor eating habits contribute to the problem. Other factors that may be at play include being sleep deprived, genetics, and depression.
If you are sleep deprived (which many people in North America are on a regular basis), it's harder to make good lifestyle choices. You may choose to drink coffee or other beverages containing caffeine to give yourself a jolt to stay awake. Likewise, going for a food with lots of sugar will give you a boost of energy, if only for a short time. Then you crash from the sugar rush and you look for something else to keep you going. It turns into a vicious cycle.
Unfortunately, you can't do much about your genes. If both your parents are obese, then you are likely to have a problem with your weight as well. That’s not to say that you don’t have some control over this situation. You certainly do; and you best bet for weight loss is to look to those areas in your life where you can exert that control.
Feeling depressed may make you turn away from food or increase your appetite. If you had been eating excessively before being diagnosed with depression, using an SSRI as part of your treatment may lead to weight loss. In that situation, the SSRI isn't being prescribed specifically as a weight loss tool; the weight loss is a positive effect from taking the medication.
Prescribing SSRIs For Weight Loss
If your doctor is going to treat obesity like a chronic disease, you need to understand that you may have to take these medications for the rest of your life. Any medication that you are considering taking needs to be weighed in terms of whether the benefits outweigh the risks.
Certainly, there are people who have seen good results from taking SSRIs as part of their treatment for obesity. Studies have shown that a small percentage of people have experienced weight loss while taking Prozac for depression. It seems to work by making the person taking it feel full sooner, so they are satisfied with smaller portions at meal times.
When Prozac is used to treat people who are obese, higher doses are needed to achieve the same types of results. The medication helps them to lose weight and keep it off. It’s incredibly important to work closely with a health care professional to determine the proper dosage of these medications, and to monitor your side effects.
Other SSRIs can cause weight gain or loss in people being treated for depression. This is a common side effect from these types of medications. Clinical studies have shown that losing weight is a side effect from taking Wellbutrin. That being said, it would be foolish to rush out and obtain these medications out of desperation to lose weight. However, working with a doctor to address the serious medical issues of obesity and depression may involve the use of these drugs in appropriate doses and with close medical supervision and follow-up.
If your doctor is treating you for obesity, they should be able to prescribe whatever medications will provide the most benefits with the fewest risks. The evidence seems to point to Prozac as being the best SSRI for weight loss; however each case is different. Just be sure to take it as prescribed, and as part of a larger treatment plan which incorporates diet and exercise. | |||||
