I’ve had an exciting few weeks when it comes to both my mental health and my weight-loss. The reason it’s so exciting is because it’s related. A few weeks ago, I went to my psychiatrist and we decided to lower my level of the atypical antipsychotic Seroqual. Now, Seroqual has been my life saver. Three years ago, when I was last hospitalized for bipolar issues, we started me on the medication. Over the last three years, I have had my level raised until I was on the maximum dose available. My current psychiatrist took a look at that and the side effects I’ve experienced (130 lb weight gain, high cholesterol and triglycerides, and pre-diabetes), and told me when the time was right, we would back me off. And so it has started.
Last week, I started backing off my dose. I had some withdrawal symptoms (upset stomach, trouble sleeping, feeling “out of it”), but I tried to balance this out by sticking to my diet, adding extra exercise, and keeping to my sleep schedule. This week, I feel great. I’m more alert, have more energy and the scale has started going down again. In fact, this past weekend, I had to go clothes shopping. I bought a size 22 pair of jeans, smaller band bra, and a size 18/20 shirt. That’s a drop of 5 sizes on the bottom and 6 sizes on top, and a 4 inch drop in band size for my bra since March 22! Not too shabby!
For the next several months, I will be dropping off my Seroqual 100 mgs at a time, giving myself a little more than a month to get “level”, before we move me down the next step. So far so good! Altogether, this may take about 45 weeks, but it is totally worth it!
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