Weight gain on Seroquel?

[howlongto18]

You guys are always my go to place when we start having problems. Some of you may remember me and my difficult child Juan Carlos. Since starting seroquel last year, Carlos has been awesome. He has had zero violent outbursts and is learning how to deal with his emotions. I am still homeschooling him.

Seroquel has made him gain about 20 pounds - 13 of which were in the last 3 months when he only gained a quarter inch in height. We are trying som things to stop the weight gain, and dropping his dose a bit, which I am afraid of doing. The doctor wants me to research Geodon in case we need to switch him next time. Have any of you used this? How does it compare in side effects? Cost?

I would appreciate input from anyone who has dealt with weight gain on seroquel, or who may have input on Geodon.

Thanks!
Chelsea

 

[howlongto18]

Oh yeah, I should also add, Carlos is 6 in case that makes a difference. He is unofficially diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

 

[Jena]

hi,

my daughter did very well on seroquel, she was even, sleep was routined, anxiety was down her days were so much better, yet weight gain was so severe she went up two sizes so i had to pull her.

so then we tried abilify which was a nightmare, severe anxiety and she has anxiety disorder. not good.

 

[Nomad]

Similar story here.
Seroquel basically stopped rages, but caused much weight gain.
We reduced the seroquel and added Abilify.
She takes a small amount of seroquel at night for sleep.
This reduced the constant weight gain.
Still not ideal in terms of weight...but better.
AND (knock on wood), she is not raging and is able to sleep well.

 

[gcvmom]

Yup, difficult child 2 has gained about 20 pounds on Seroquel. We're trying to watch how much he eats, the quality of what he's eating, as well as how much physical activity he's getting. It's hard! But so far, this has kept him the most stable in two years. We're not TOTALLY where he needs to be, but getting closer.

 

[smallworld]

All the atypical antipsychotics are notorious for causing weight gain, although some are worse than others. My son has not gained weight on Seroquel, but he is also taking the mood stabilizer Zonegran, which supresses appetite. I think it's the only way his eating wouldn't have spun out of control.

Sometimes -- although I don't know how common this is -- an AP will cause a lot of weight gain in the first year and then taper off in the second year. That's what happened with my daughter M, who gained a ton of weight in her first year of taking Zyprexa and then in her second year grew in height without putting a pound on. She now looks totally proportional.

 

[timer lady]

My difficult child kt gained a great deal of weight while on seroquel - however at the same time she was taking zyprexia which is worse than seroquel.

Saying that, kt has since dropped 25 pounds after losing the zyprexia & her dose of seroquel was dropped to 300 mgs. Additionally, instead of switching kt's most helpful medication (the seroquel) psychiatrist added a small dose of topamax which tends to supprese appetite.

In the long run, I never considered weight gain to be a big issue - I was more concerned about my difficult children ability to function, maintain their emotions, behaviors & abilitites to make good decisions.

 

[GoingNorth]

Speaking as an adult; I put on a good 45lbs the first year I took Zyprexa. I'm "medication resistant" and require high doses of medications to get proper blood levels.

I also take Depakote in a high dose (again, to get proper effect).

I recently started Seroquel as an add on for sleep difficulties since I was not sleeping and the usual sleep medications just weren't helping me.

I had already noticed that after the first year on Zyprexa my weight seemed to have stabilized and did not notice an increase in appetite or weight with the addition of the Seroquel.

With what it took to get me stable on medications; I am in agreement with my psychiatrist--"better a bit fat and sane"

 

[howlongto18]

I would agree that it's better to be a bit fat and sane... but what if the weight doesn't stop? He's right now in the 60th percentile in height and 100th in weight. He's a very athletic kid and the weight is affecting how he moves. He gets lots of exercise in soccer, karate, plus he's just very hyper and always playing outside and sweating. He would eat all day if I let him since starting the seroquel. There are a few things I think we can do, like putting away things he might be tempted to snack on, and eliminating juice drinks, but it's a fight all the time to keep him from eating too much. I'm positive he would have gained more than 13 in the last 3 months if I wasn't around all day to put limits on him.

Another thing, he did have weight gain early on with the Seroquel, but he's been on it a little over nine months, so why would the largest gain start 6 months in?

 

[butterflydreams]

difficult child gained weight and had a uncontrollable appetite when on Seroquel. The psychiatrist took him off Seroquel about a month or so ago and has put him on Geodon. No weight problems with Geodon and difficult child no longer has the huge appetite and has lost weight.

 

[howlongto18]

Has the Geodon worked as well for controlling moods? Carlos went from extremely violent rages which would last hours to zero violence on seroquel, so needless to say I will not switch unless I absolutely have to. Also, I'm not sure whether he was having hallucinations for a while or just fantasies, but he would attack me and say he liked hurting me and "the trasformer boss" told him to do it and told him not to take medicine or go to the doctor. Talked about killing himself, etc. It was very scary for a while. Now, I actually have a life back and I'm terrified to relive those times.

 

[howlongto18]

Oh yeah, and wish us luck, our whole family is starting a diet and exercise plan. Well, except my almost 3 year old who never eats.