Ten Tips to Prevent Weight Gain on Antidepressants~ Article

I found this article on Psychology Today and I think it will help a lot of you.  Anyone that takes, or looks into, antidepressants always worries about this, I know I did.

There have been a lot of postings here asking these very questions, here’s some great answers.  Also, seratonin (your happy chemical), will increase by following some of these steps.  Who knows, maybe with an increased seratonin you won’t need the antidepressants?

Any thoughts? Have you tried any of these steps? Will you try any, or is it too difficult with such a busy life?

I ask you these questions so that we can work together to get your PMDD under control.

by Judith Wurtman, Ph.D.

Ten Tips to Prevent Weight Gain on Antidepressants

Simple tips to help prevent antidepressant weight gain.

Published on August 2, 2010

Weight gain as a side effect of antidepressants is very common and distressing. Patients may even stop their medication because they have gained so much weight. No one has a good explanation for how these drugs increase eating. Nonetheless, people report never feeling satisfied after a meal and continually craving carbohydrates. Sometimes they find themselves binging.

Our research at MIT, and at a Harvard University hospital weight-management center, helped us develop an effective way of preventing or reversing this weight gain. We know that serotonin, the chemical in the brain that regulates mood, also regulates appetite. Antidepressants work only on the mood function of serotonin and may in some way interfere with the appetite function. The solution to this, based on our research, is to increase the ability of serotonin to turn off the need to eat.

Here are simple tips that will work to prevent antidepressant weight gain. Before you take the medication, learn about the drug and how much weight people typically gain on it. If the medication suggested by your doctor is associated with substantial weight gain, ask if you can switch to another one. This seems obvious but your doctor may not be thinking of the weight gain side effect when prescribing the drug.

1. Before starting on the medication, get weighed and report the number to your physician. Most psychiatrists do NOT have scales in their offices. Be sure your weight is recorded so when you return for follow-up visits and claim that you have gained weight, there is no dispute.

2. Learn to tell the difference between being hungry and having an appetite. Hunger is when you must eat immediately and just about any food will satisfy you. Appetite is when you feel like eating but without the urgency of hunger. Your medication will increase your appetite and leave you with the nagging feeling that you want to eat more but won’t really make you hungry. A good test of the difference between hunger and appetite is whether you are willing to eat something you really don’t like that much. If the answer is yes, you are hungry. If the answer is no, then it is your appetite calling to you. My test food is a protein bar. When I am really hungry, I will gobble it down. When I only have an appetite, I won’t even nibble on one.

3. Does the medication cause your stomach to produce too much acid? Some medications will do this and the feeling is similar to being hungry. A simple test is to take Tums, or some other over-the-counter preparation, to reduce stomach acidity. If the hungry feeling goes away, then you will know it is a side effect of the medicine on your stomach. Speak to your physician about long-term treatment of this.

4. Make more serotonin. This will immediately turn off your appetite, vanquish your cravings and leave you feeling satisfied. The feeling is similar to having your thirst vanish after you drink enough water.

5. Serotonin is made after you eat any carbohydrate except the sugar in fruit (fructose). When a starchy or sweet food is digested, the brain receives tryptophan, an amino acid that is used by the brain to make serotonin. Eat about 30 grams of a sweet or starchy food such as breakfast cereal, pretzels, popcorn, rice or soy crackers, graham crackers or Twizzlers.

6. Eat the carbohydrate on an empty stomach or at least two hours after you have eaten protein. Protein foods like turkey, chicken, beef, fish, cheese, yogurt and eggs interfere with the ability of tryptophan to get into the brain. If you combine protein foods with carbohydrate, as in a turkey sandwich, no serotonin will be made.

7. Choose carbohydrates that contain very little fat. Fat slows digestion and adds unnecessary calories. Chocolate, cookies, ice cream, cake, pie crust, French fries, and chips are NOT good serotonin-producing snacks.

8. Avoid eating protein at dinner time if your medications make you snack all evening. By eating only a starchy carbohydrate, like pasta or a large baked potato along with vegetables for dinner, your brain will make enough serotonin to keep you satisfied and full until bedtime.

9. Do not, under any circumstance, go on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. This is a diet for disaster as it prevents serotonin from being made and will only increase your urge to eat and maybe binge.

10. Exercise. The increase in serotonin brought about by eating serotonin-producing carbohydrates will increase your energy. Take advantage of this and increase your physical activity, even by a few minutes each day. The combination of no longer feeling an urge to eat and the exercise will allow you to lose weight easily or prevent you from gaining it at all.

© 2010 Judith J. Wurtman, PhD, co-author of The Serotonin Power Diet: Eat Carbs — Nature’s Own Appetite Suppressant — to Stop Emotional Overeating and Halt Antidepressant-Associated Weight Gain

Holiday Plans

We will be heading to Dallas for Thanksgiving!  The kids are super excited to see all our family, and their newest cousin that was just born on Saturday.

Anybody else have some exciting Thanksgiving plans?

 

www.mythirtyone.com/stefanieprose
www.facebook.com/stefs31gifts

Are you in control?

It’s an easy question too if you look at it like this… Do you feel like you are in a peaceful, stable place at this moment?

Whether you found the perfect meds, a great exercise plan, new eating habits, or a more natural approach, has it worked?
Are you in control, or does your illness still control you?

Are you too anxious or depressed to leave your home, enjoy new projects, visit with friends, play with your pet, love your spouse/partner, garden?

If you are, you have come to the right place.  If you are at a peaceful time of your life, you have come to the right place.

Offer some insight to what works for you, what doesn’t work and feel free to ask questions.

I really want for this to be a community for all women.

If you have gone through it chances are another woman has too.  Let’s work together to create Healthy Women all over!

8 months post-op

It is hard to believe it’s already been 8 months since I had my hysterectomy.  With 4 kids, sports, school & life’s regular chaos, the days & months have just flown by.  Scary how fast time flies when you aren’t dealing with pain.  I don’t have to look at the calendar before I make plans & I actually put the heating pad up in the closet.  (It used to be under my bed so that I could just reach under at any given time.)

I have been volunteering at my kids schools again, enjoying their soccer & football games, love cooking again, and am exercising more regular (and harder) since I’m not in pain.

I am crying during commercials and sappy shows, laughing until I cry at my kids being goofy, now that I am off the meds.  No they didn’t make me feel like I was in a coma, but I knew that they kept me from crying and feeling completely ‘normal’ and fun.

I have taken on a new business and am enjoying talking to other people about it, rather than hiding under the covers afraid I might ‘freak out’ if I get annoyed.

Even though I swore I would never forget what it was like 8 months ago, before surgery, day-by-day it does become more difficult.  Of course I don’t want to hold onto that pain I felt inside (& physically), but I want to be able to continue helping other Women, be an advocate for them, now that I feel well enough.

It reminds me of how it used to be when the days were like light switches, moods snap on and off so quickly.  It’s like once you finally start you almost can’t remember how bad you were in those days leading up to starting.  Well, that’s what it’s like for me.

I know my husband can remember a more detailed version of our life before surgery, but for me I know I had PMDD, I know 2 wks of every month life was hell and I was in major pain, but other than that, not much.  I can feel for other Women because I remember it was hard raising a family during those weeks, but details aren’t there.

Who knows? Maybe the foggy brain from being in that first year post-op has my brain boggled still, but that’s how it is right now.

I hope this makes sense, it is so hard to explain.  PMDD was so hard to explain, so is this.

For anyone still dealing with PMDD, I hope and pray that you will find the sort of relief I have.  A pain-free life with happiness, where sadness is from something worth being sad about- not just madness, a LIFE period.

For those of you that are managing your PMDD, keep it up.  Diet, Medicine, exercise- whatever it is that works for you, keep it up!

Enough of my rambling, I felt like I needed to post.

Anyone needing to chat, find us on FB or email me.

2010 Top 10 PMS Awards! Great Job everyone!

Medical Billing

Sponsorship, Ning Forum, etc…

Hi everyone!

I am finally back, again :)  All of my kiddos started school this year so it will be an awesome opportunity for me to push this site to the next level.

I have been answering emails privately, just not posting alot due to everyone at home for the summer and staying active with kiddos.

I am currently trying to get our Ning forum sponsored for an entire year which means that they would cover the cost for one whole year! It will be an awesome thing and I will let everyone know as soon as I find out.

Don’t forget we also have a FB page, join us there too!

You will see some changes to the blog over the next couple of weeks.  I am going to put into action what I have been wanting to do over the past year or so and add more health info.  There will be easier navigation for different vitamins, etc… too.

Please continue posting any questions/comments on how you are doing with your PMDD.

What does Redefining Life mean?

A while back I added Redefining Life to the title.

Why did I do this?  Simple.  I want to help Women change the way they look at living with PMDD.  Really, to change the way Women look at living with any invisible disorder.  What I mean by invisible is that friends, family and coworkers can’t ‘see’ PMDD.  It’s not like a broken bone, or a scratch on your face, it’s much worse because there isn’t anything physical to show outsiders to help them understand.

One thing is for sure, it is debilitating, painful, and downright horrible unless it’s managed.

Unfortunately, managing PMDD isn’t simple, you can’t pop a magic pill, you can’t sleep it off, and you sure as heck can’t just ignore it.

To redefine your life with PMDD, or any other disorder/syndrome, you must look at what triggers make you worse.  It can be foods, certain exercises, stress, lack of sleep, too much junk food or caffeine, you get the picture.

SO, hold on to your socks!  This site is no longer going to just talk about PMDD, though obviously that will still be a major part.  I am now going to be adding new info to this site now to help you redefine your life.

Foods and recipes that can help you relieve some of your pain (physically& emotionally).

Recipes! Yummy, my favorite.  I really do enjoy cooking, for my family and friends, but I see what certain foods do to me.  Yes, I had my hysterectomy in Feb. which relieved my PMDD symptoms, however, I  also have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and I am lactose intolerant.  So, food still plays an important role in my life, or I pay the price.

In addition to recipes, I will display pics of the final meal and post which cookbooks I use and why.  All of my recipes will not be lactose-free, no one else in my family deals with this so a lot of times I will cook them something scrumptious that includes cheese or dairy products.

Exercises that won’t make you feel worse.  Keep an eye out for more videos by me and awesome one’s I find online that I have tried.

More parenting tips and tricks when dealing with PMDD

and so much more!

What are you doing right now to redefine your life?

Vitamin/Supplement Info

Check out this link to get more info on vitamins and supplements, explains why they are important, what they do for your body. It will help you figure out which one’s you need.

http://www.holisticonline.com/remedies/cfs/fib_nutrition.htm

Mom's Voice Soothes stress, even by phone (article)

I think articles like this are incredible. Of course, because I’m a Mom, I love knowing that if my child calls stressed out from anything, a listening ear and a simple, “it will be okay” can help relax them.

Also, I think the more we learn about these sort of techniques, the less often pills will be passed out. As you all know, I took meds for my PMDD, I’m not against meds, I just don’t think they need to be used on children. Stress is a natural occurrence that every person is going to go through at some point in their lives. The more we learn to relax ourselves naturally, the better we will all be, and that does not have to include pills.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think…

Mom’s Voice Soothes Stress, Even by Phone
Study Shows a Mother’s Voice Can Reduce Stress Levels in Young Girls
By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

May 13, 2010 — A kind word from mom by phone may be as good as a hug in calming the frayed nerves of frazzled daughters, a new study indicates.

In the study, which involved 61 girls aged 7 to 12, researchers say a mere phone call from their moms helped reduce the stress levels of the youngsters.

Led by biological anthropologist Leslie Seltzer, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the research team set out to measure fluctuations of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as of the “comfort” or “cuddle” hormone oxytocin.

The girls, all volunteers, were suddenly placed in stressful situations. They were asked without warning to deliver a speech in front of a group of strangers, an exercise that can create stress in people of any age.

Then they were drilled with difficult math questions — also in front of an audience. As expected, cortisol levels, known to increase with stress, skyrocketed when measured in saliva soon after the stressful situation.

Seltzer and Seth Pollak, PhD, a psychology professor at University of Wisconsin, Madison, then divided the girls into three groups.

The mothers of one group were on hand to hug and offer physical comfort to their daughters. Other girls were handed a telephone, with mom on the line. A third group watched an emotionally neutral film called March of the Penguins.

Researchers say the calming effect on the girls who were comforted by a hug or physical touch was more immediate, but that the stress hormone levels also quickly dropped in those who received soothing words from their mothers by phone.

For the girls who watched the film, cortisol levels were still considerably above normal an hour after their stressful experiences. Similarly, levels of the “cuddle hormone” oxytocin went up in girls who were hugged as well as those who received comforting phone calls, though not quite as fast in those whose mothers were not physically present.

Oxytocin levels were flat or low in the girls who watched the movie. The hormone levels were tested in samples of urine collected at various times during the course of the experiment.

“It was [previously] understood that oxytocin release in the context of social bonding usually required physical contact,” Seltzer says in a news release. “But it’s clear from these results that a mother’s voice can have the same effect as a hug, even if she’s not standing there.”

The relief from anxiety lasts, Pollak says. “By the time the children go home, they’re still enjoying the benefits of this relief and their cortisol levels are still low,” he says in the news release.
Gender Differences in Reacting to Stress

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and they square with a “tend and befriend” theory, explaining how stress regulation may differ between females and males.

Gender Differences in Reacting to Stress continued…

Males, when confronted with a threat, may be more likely to choose between fight or flight. But females with offspring in tow, or slowed by pregnancy, may have evolved to make different choices.

“You might not be able to run with a child or defend yourself without endangering both of you,” Seltzer says. She adds that it might make more sense for a female to create or use a social bond to deal with a stressor, either through touch or soothing communication.

“Apparently, this hormone oxytocin reduces stress in females after both types of contact, and in doing so may strengthen bonds between individuals,” Seltzer says.

Seltzer tells WebMD in an email that stress effects on boys were not addressed in this study, but experiments on young guys are under way. “The results aren’t all in, but yes, boys do look different. So do girls who interact with dad instead of mom.”

So would a hug from a dad, or a soothing phone call, do any good for children of either gender? “We just don’t know,” Pollak tells WebMD in an email. “But hormone systems between males and females may also be different. This was the very first study of its kind using the voice.”

Seltzer says her team “chose to focus on girls for this particular study because the hormone oxytocin, which we think helps regulate social behavior, is typically studied in females because of its role in maternal-infant attachment.”

She adds that “male children are equally interesting in their own right and will be the subjects of future work.”

In addition to reducing stress, oxytocin also may strengthen bonds between people, Seltzer says.

“For years,” Pollak says, “I’ve seen students leaving exams and the first thing they do is pull out their cell phone and make a call. I used to think, ‘How could those over-attentive, helicopter parents encourage that?’ But now? Maybe it’s a quick and dirty way to feel better.”

The fact that “a simple telephone call” could raise oxytocin levels “is really exciting,” he adds.

Seltzer is testing whether other methods of communication, such as text messaging, could have the same calming effect as a phone call or hug.

“On the one hand, we’re curious to see if this effect is unique to humans,” she says in the news release. “On the other, we’re hoping researchers who study vocal communication will consider looking at oxytocin release in other animals and applying it to broader questions of social behavior and evolutionary biology.”

Saying Goodbye

This has been something I have gone back and forth with for a while, but now Ning is going to start charging, so the decision was made easier.

The Ning Women’s Only forum will be dissolved. I mentioned before that they are going to start charging for me to keep it and I didn’t have enough responses from Women wanting to pay $2.95/mth to keep it.

If, and I hope you will, would like to stay involved with all of us in a discussion setting, you can go to our PMDD FB Forum and join for free.

This page currently has 381 fans so it is current and has a lot of activity.

If you already started the paypal payment plan for the ning forum, I will be sending you your $2.95 back (there were 2 of you).

I apologize for the inconvenience, but currently paying $19.95/month just isn’t feasible.