TW: Still not losing weight?

definitely get blood tests and in the mean time if you end up purging again make sure you have some gatorade or pedialyte so you can replenish electrolytes and rehydrate yourself. ED mindset is dangerous I know but depending on your calorie intake I would consider high restriction (to avoid binges) along with light exercise

I got diabetes because of the weight gain and got metformin for it, lost most of the weight in the next six months. I've learned since that metformin is actually used for this purpose with atypical antipsychotics. Now I learned about another one too in a different thread, called topamax. So there's options and I recommend them as a better solution.

I gained 40lbs when I went on Latuda. I still haven’t managed to lose it. I wish I had advice but it’s interesting they told you the opposite of what I was told/experienced.

I was on Latuda for over a year. I started at 120lbs when I began taking the medication, and my psychiatrist played with the dosages every couple of months. I started on 40mg, then he dropped me to 20mg after three months. Two months later, I was on 60mg and two months after that, I was on 80mg.

Now. I saw my psychiatrist every month to report in, and every time I went to my appointment, the nurse checked my vitals (weight, blood pressure, temperature, etc.). Every time I showed up, I had gained more and more weight. I gained 70+lbs in about four months on this medication. It forced me to change my healthy eating habits (though I won't blame that all on the medication; it was also my weakened will powered self).

With the lower doses of Latuda, I was told I needed to eat meals of at least 350 calories when I took it each night. With the higher doses, I had to eat even more to avoid getting violently ill when I took my pill. I wound up turning to tons of junk food/empty carbs to try to keep the nausea down.

I've been off Latuda for over a year now, and I am still trying to shed all the weight I gained while on it. I don't know if this is typical for most people on this pill, but my doctor told me that I may see a small increase in weight. And when I told him I thought I was gaining far too much and had concerns about the eating habits changing to avoid being ill, I was told this was normal.

So I don't know. But this has been my experience with this drug. I quit it because it wasn't helping me, it gave me nasty tremors, had my jaw locking up, and I was afraid of the possibility of developing diabetes that comes with long term usage of Latuda.

That sounds horrible. You must be going through a lot with eating disorders on top of bipolar.

Last year I went on the Low Carb Healthy Fat diet (like keto but allows for more carbs). I put on a bunch of weight on lithium and in the past year on this diet I’ve lost 11kg (over 20lbs). Also, keto was created for epilepsy treatment. Apparently epilepsy and bipolar have some similar characteristics (high sodium on the brain and some other stuff?), so it.’s worry trying. I think there’s been some studies about keto / low carb and bipolar - but not 100% sure.

Keto and Lchf are quite restrictive - so I make up my own rules and don’t follow it for every single meal. For example, I don’t eat grains or refined sugar unless I’m counting it as a ‘cheat’ meal, but I make exceptions for dates. Dates are soooo sugary, but they’re natural and small so I make an exception. In ‘what the fat’, the authors recommend sticking to the diet for all but 3 meals a week. I think this is pretty fair.