Could Medication Be Causing Your Weight Gain?
Eating too much and not exercising enough are the main reasons people put on extra pounds. Some prescription and over-the-counter medications also can cause weight gain, though. You might gain as much as a pound a week.
“Increased weight gain is a potential side effect of a number of different classes of medications,” says Sophia De Monte. R.Ph., a spokeswoman for the American Pharmacists Association. “So, it’s a subject worth discussing with your doctor or pharmacist if you’ve gained some extra pounds without any changes to your diet or the amount of exercise you get.”
The most common prescription medications to cause weight gain include drugs that treat depression, heartburn, bipolar disorder, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Birth control pills and high doses of or long-term therapy with corticosteroids also can cause weight gain.
Some OTC drugs, including some antihistamines, anti-inflammatories, sleeping pills, and drugs to prevent motion sickness, can lead to weight gain if taken regularly.
Risks and benefits
In some cases, it takes months for extra pounds to emerge as a side effect. Some drugs, though, can trigger weight gain within a week.
“Weight gain from whatever cause is dangerous because it puts people at risk for a variety of health problems, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease,” says De Monte.
In addition, unexpected weight gain also ranks among the main reasons people stop taking some medicines.
“However, the possibility of weight gain must be measured against the benefit of taking the drug to control your health problem,” she says.
Proactive steps
Drugs that cause weight gain usually do so by either increasing appetite, slowing down resting metabolism, or causing fluid retention.
Whatever the reason, any weight that’s gained can be lost—or not gained in the first place—by eating less and exercising more.
To deal effectively with medication-related weight gain, call your doctor if you suspect you’re adding extra pounds because of a medication you’re taking.
“Don’t stop taking the drug,” De Monte says. “But ask if there’s another medication you could try that doesn’t have weight gain as a side effect.”