# Zoloft Side Effects: Hunger?



## quietlyfalling (Mar 10, 2010)

I started taking Zoloft a week ago for the first time in 5 years. I don't remember what side effects I had the first time around, but this time I'm really noticing them. The worst is the insomnia, but that's getting better.

Oddly, though, I'm noticing that I feel hungry more often. I hear that some people lose weight on Zoloft, but I'm worried that I won't be able to know when I really need to eat because I don't trust my stomach...it growls even though I shouldn't need t eat. Anyone have this happen to them?


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## rustybob (Nov 19, 2009)

I put on about 35lbs when I was on Zoloft over 2-2.5 months. I'm sure a good chunk of that was from how lazy Zoloft made me. I was sleeping 12-14 hours a day at that time. Some of it was appetite related. My appetite was all over the place. Some days I'd eat like it was my last meal, others I could barely get down a piece of fruit.


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## hensley258 (Apr 24, 2010)

I never gained weight when I was on high dosage Zoloft, but then again I was only 23 way back then. When your so young you burn fat much faster.

Whatever you do don't try Remeron. OMG! I know of not one person that has not exploded in weight when on Remeron. I gained 75Lbs on that drug in 6 months and counted calories everyday. I never ate more than 700 Calories a day on that drug and still gained all that weight. I was pretty thin guy too.

Taking remeron is like wanting to get fat. It's the king daddy of weight gain drugs.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

hensley258 said:


> Whatever you do don't try Remeron. OMG! I know of not one person that has not exploded in weight when on Remeron. I gained 75Lbs on that drug in 6 months and counted calories everyday. I never ate more than 700 Calories a day on that drug and still gained all that weight. I was pretty thin guy too.
> 
> Taking remeron is like wanting to get fat. It's the king daddy of weight gain drugs.


I guess it's different for everyone, Remeron is indeed kown for weight gain due largely to the side effect of appetite stimulation, but when I was taking a fairly high dose for 6 months (45 mg) I gained 8 kg (17 lbs). Largely I think due to the hunger it caused and the groggyness which led to a decreased desire to exercise.


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## hensley258 (Apr 24, 2010)

jim_morrison said:


> I guess it's different for everyone, Remeron is indeed kown for weight gain due largely to the side effect of appetite stimulation, but when I was taking a fairly high dose for 6 months (45 mg) I gained 8 kg (17 lbs). Largely I think due to the hunger it caused and the groggyness which led to a decreased desire to exercise.


I took it at night because it would really make me sleepy. I was in my upper 30's when I was taking it same dosage 45 a day. Approaching my 40's my metabolism was already slowing, then adding Remeron didn't help.

I tried so hard on that drug to lose weight. To the point of eating just one small meal a day. I had to keep shopping for new work pants and belts. Went from a 31 inch waist to a 38. I even managed to run the tread mill an hour 3 times a week and still was gaining. Once my friends started joking and calling me Fat boy, that was it I had to get off the drug.

It worked ok as an AD, but not up to my expectations. I was having no trouble sleeping so perhaps the added sedation was counter productive.

I can't think of any other AD that caused me any detectable weight gain as long as I didn't eat like a pig. Nortriptilyne caused a bit I think, but that's it.

I don't remember if Remeron gave me the munchies or not. I wasn't eating much anyway. Maybe I was just resisting the increase in appitite because the weight gain was so drastic.

I always thought Remeron would have some good off lable uses for some eating dissorders or for people that have medical problems gaining weight.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

hensley258 said:


> I took it at night because it would really make me sleepy. I was in my upper 30's when I was taking it same dosage 45 a day. Approaching my 40's my metabolism was already slowing, then adding Remeron didn't help.


Oh yeah I took it at night before bed too as most people do, it has strong hypnotic properties so taking it during the day would be a very very bad idea, especially if your operating a motor vehicle. But it would give me some residual next day grogginess/hangover like effects which made me sort of just want to sit around and not exercise or do anything, it was like I just couldn't be bothered.


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## rustybob (Nov 19, 2009)

hensley258 said:


> I know of not one person that has not exploded in weight when on Remeron.


I haven't, down over 50lbs since the new year


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## hensley258 (Apr 24, 2010)

rustybob said:


> I haven't, down over 50lbs since the new year


On Remeron? Wow you must have super human powers. If you can loose 50Lb on Remeron then you can loose weight on anything.

Maybe it was just me or some freak reaction with my thyroid, But I often hear people talk of such massive weight gain on Remeron.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

hensley258 said:


> Maybe it was just me or some freak reaction with my thyroid, But I often hear people talk of such massive weight gain on Remeron.


I found in my case that, the first time I ever started remeron and didn't know what to expect, well I am naturally a skinny person so i just ate alot because it made me hungry and thought 'owell I'm skinny so a little bit of extra chocolate etc here and there won't hurt' and then ofcourse it adds up and I gained alot of weight in those first few weeks, so had I have continued on that path then yeah I would have gained alot, so at that point I thought 'ok on this stuff I really need to carefully control my diet', so I adapted my diet. I think that holted my weight gain from that point onwards, and is possibly why some people gain more than others on it, if they can't manage adapt their diet for whatever reason.


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## rustybob (Nov 19, 2009)

hensley258 said:


> On Remeron? Wow you must have super human powers. If you can loose 50Lb on Remeron then you can loose weight on anything.
> 
> Maybe it was just me or some freak reaction with my thyroid, But I often hear people talk of such massive weight gain on Remeron.


Nah, believe me, I very much know that I'm the exception rather than the norm. Even in the early days of treatment, my weight was either neutral or would go down a few pounds over the 30+lbs I put on while on Zoloft for a few months. Now that things are well, I've managed to drop every last pound I put on while on Zoloft and Effexor and then some.


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