Prevalence of Extreme rapid weight gain w/Inderal (aka Prorpanolol)???

[ShawneeGirl]

I was placed on Propranolol for panic attacks, which werent THAT bad to begin with, by my old PCP. I have since then been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, so we thought that's what was causing the fatigue.

THEN came the weight gain.
I gained 30 pounds, in 3 months!!!!
My ankles were (at their worst) twice their normal size, and my stomach was huge!
I was told simply to "Exercise more, and lose weight." (which is rather difficult considering the fatigue and pain)
After several fainting spells, trips to the ER for the swelling, and 7 months of fatigue and swelling, my father, who has had extensive experience w/propranolol, suggested that I "ween myself off", so I followed his advice.
I've been off of it for a month now, and I have energy and have already lost 10 pounds.
My ankles have resumed their regular size and most signs of edema have vanished.

I can't find ANY info on this, so:
Are rapid weight gain, swelling of the stomach and ankles, extreme fatigue, and syncope, symptoms of allergic reaction, or just a bad ?
If so, should my PCP have known about it?
(I told her about the weight and swelling, but she did nothing.)

Thank you for whatever feedback I recieve!
Sheena

Sorry to hear about your problems. Hope you are feeling lots better now!

The same thing happened to me, but I gained 60 lbs in about 6-7 months. No increased caloric intake; if anything, decreased. I even continued exercise, to no avail. I have never gained so much weight so rapidly, until after I started on the Toprol (in the same family as the meds you are/were taking).

All Docs keep saying "Exercise more, eat less". do "Weight Watcher's", etc.... Never a problem until I started the meds, but not ONE Doc will acknowledge it as the cause.

When I do eat, I make a conscious effort to eat a well-balanced, healthy meal. I rarely eat out, and when I do, it's usually something healthy from Subway, which is the only restaurant in our small, very rural area.

I need the Toprol to help with my heart rhythm, and I DO feel much better in that area, but this weight gain is very upsetting.

I also suffer from increased edema, and other problems you mentioned.

I do hope you are weaning/have weaned yourself off slowly, as stopping cold turkey can have some very bad side effects.

Best of luck to you!

I started inderal 6 weeks ago and experienced a 10-15 pound weight gain in the first month, I have since stopped it altogether and see my MD tomorrow. I hope the weight comes back off.

Hi, I am just looking up extreme rapid weight gain in searches. I have fibromyalgia, and have been on meds for 6 years. It is getting worse and worse no matter what I do. The worse part is that I now think something else is going on too, because I keep gaining and gaining and gaining weight in sudden rapid intervals and not just a bit of weight, but alot in a very short spurt. Most recently, in the past 23 days, I have gained 25 lbs !!! I am very short of breath, heavy chested, sore neck, headaches, and MAJOR swelling of feet and legs.
Every symptom I put into the computer keeps coming up with Heart Failure, caused by Hypothydroidism, which Hypothydroidism has different causes.
The fibromy... and meds and other things can lead to the hypothy....which can lead to the heart failure.

Diabetes runs in my family, as does Heart Failure/Attacks.

DID I SAY THAT I WAS only 112 lbs all my life until age 40, at which time I had all my female organs, (uterus, cervix, ovaries) removed. My mother died of Cancer at the same time a month before my surgery, and after my surgery, a few months later I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. (I was also hit by a truck the year before while walking). At the time 2000/2001 I was 39/40 and had always weighed 105 to 115 lbs max except during pregnancy, and returned to my regular weight within 2 mths of baby coming.

NOW, I weigh as of today, 261. Only 23 days ago, I weighed 236.
I have had my weight jump on like this twice before. POOF...30 sudden pounds over less than a month!

All in all, I have gone from January 1 2002 being 115 lbs to now, November 1, 2007 (5 years and 10 mths later) being 261 lbs.
That is a weight gain of 146 lbs in this time, which is approx 2 lbs per month if it averaged out, but like I said 3 times the weight gain was extreme and sudden. (About 90 lbs of it)

I don't know if writing all this will help anyone. I too, am looking for answers. My doctor thinks most my complaints and symptoms are always related to the fibromyalgia, because my condition is very severe pain 24/7 for so long now.

I think there is more going on in my body now. Before I had the pain, but no sickness., and I wish I could get it sorted out. I had pneumonia last year in January/February, and then again last year in the Fall (double pneumonia) for four long, hard months.


Now I feel sick and headachey and dizzy all the time too.

???? Any answers or help?

Loretta
November 1, 2007

Have you made any progress in your diagnosis. You sound like me only a little more extreme.

[cdt996]

i have been on atenolol (tenormin) for about 1 year now for hypertension (atenolol is a beta blocker like propanolol/inderal) and i, too, have noticed mild weight gain and fatigue. my weight gain has not been quite as significant as any other person here, however side effects of beta blockers, especially nonselective and beta 1 selective blockers (such as propanolol (inderal) and metoprolol (toprol) ) do include significant weight gain because they interfere with the metabolism of fat and sugars in your body. if you were to try a different beta blocker for your anxiety i would try atenolol, as it is a beta 2 selective blocker which would allow your body to burn fat while having the same desired effects. fatigue and low blood pressure are also common side effects. i have noticed while on the medication that sometimes i will sleep over twelve hours a day and still be tired. i don't think that edema and syncope are common side effects, as they aren't listed in the prescribing information, but i find it plausible and it should be evaluated regardless. in regards to your question, no i doubt that this is an allergic reaction and yes i would have told your pcp as these side effects could have probably been avoided by taking SSRI's or SNRI's both of which would be unlikely to cause syncope, edema, and fatigue (both actually slightly raise blood pressure and depending on the medication can be sedating or stimulating). if you were to try a different beta blocker for your anxiety i would try atenolol or butoxamine, as it is a beta 2 selective blocker which would allow your body to burn fat while having the same desired effects. hope this helps


Chris

Wow! It's nice to hear that I'm not alone in this. I too have started taking Propranolol and have had significant weight gain. I have about 27 pounds in 30 days. I feel tired alot and I've never been one who required much sleep. I've always been around 135 lbs-not anymore though. I see my dr tomorrow and am going to be weaning myself off the med.

[HeatherShow]

Originally Posted by Loretta

NOW, I weigh as of today, 261. Only 23 days ago, I weighed 236.
I have had my weight jump on like this twice before. POOF...30 sudden pounds over less than a month!

All in all, I have gone from January 1 2002 being 115 lbs to now, November 1, 2007 (5 years and 10 mths later) being 261 lbs.
That is a weight gain of 146 lbs in this time, which is approx 2 lbs per month if it averaged out, but like I said 3 times the weight gain was extreme and sudden. (About 90 lbs of it)

[...]

???? Any answers or help?

Loretta
November 1, 2007

Hey, Loretta! I was hoping I could send this to you in a private message, but that doesn't look possible. Anyway, I don't know if this will help, but your condition sounds like something I was diagnosed with a few years ago. It's a disease that presents in much the same manner as Fibromyalgia and is often misdiagnosed as such. It's called Dercum's Disease - it's a genetic condition that, for some unknown reason, can remain dormant for most of a person's life before taking off and running rampant.
No one knows exactly how it does what it does, but we do know that it causes fat cells to mutate, enlarge, and replicate too quickly, regardless of diet or exercise. The weight gain you described sounds a LOT like what I went through with Dercum's Disease. I can't tell you how many times doctors told me to just exercise and it'd get better, but it never did. And the bigger I got, the more pain I was in.
And that's precisely the problem - it's like that age old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg? With Fibromyalgia, you tend to experience a lot of pain, which limits your mobility, and thus you can gain a lot of weight. But with Dercum's it's the other way around - you gain weight, the pain gets worse, and your mobility is limited. The problem is, by the time you're overweight and in a lot of pain, it's so easy for Doctors to get confused about which came first and, therefore, what the proper diagnosis is.

Adding to that problem is the fact that Dercum's Disease just isn't very widely known, either in the medical community or amongst average people. Which is unfortunate, because if left untreated, the disease is both debilitating and potentially fatal. It's confused with fibromyalgia more than any other disease. So whenever I hear cases of people with fibromyalgia who don't fit every single moniker of that disease, I always recommend that they get checked out for Dercum's as well, mostly because some of the treatments for fibromyalgia can actually make Dercum's worse. In fact, one of the worst things you can do for Dercum's is exercise too much, as it's physically impossible for the body to generate enough heat to burn off these mutated fat cells, and for some reason when exercise irritates those mutated fat cells, it can kick-start their growth.

Anyway, if you want to learn more, feel free to check out DercumsDisease.com. There's lots of information up there for both you and your doctors.
Good luck!

I have been on Inderal for approximately 9 months (80mg - short acting) for prevention of migraine headaches. It is an inner ear problem and after visiting 4 different specialists -- the inderal worked very well. However...I have gained 30 pounds and I am absolutely miserable. Does anyone have any suggestions for 1) How to stop taking inderal as soon as possible - safely 2) Any other beta blockers that do NOT cause weight gain (or a preventative medication for migraines) Thank you!

I hear that topamax is one that does not cause weight gain.