Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Day 10: exercise, appetite, and Lamictal

Lamictal/lamotrigine is supposed to be a "weight neutral" drug.  Unlike many mood stabilizers or antipsychotics, it doesn't mess with your metabolism and it doesn't make you crave carbs (thank you, Lexapro!).

The downside, at least for me, at least so far, is that it seems to suppress my appetite.  This is bad in two ways.

The first is that maintaining steady blood sugar is key to managing any mood disorder.  Whether you have depression or bipolar disorder, remembering to eat regular, healthy meals is going to keep you from crashing.  The same is true of ADHD, which I also have -- if I forget to eat, my attention suffers, making it hard for me to remember to eat, etc.


The second is that I'm doing a weight lifting program right now.  I'm supposed to be eating 5 or 6 small meals a day.  Even cutting calories is tricky during weight training; your body is trying to build muscle, and to do that it needs calories.  Not eating enough leads to exhaustion, overtraining, and even injury.

I had to cut my workout short yesterday when I realized that I was feeling spaced out.  Oh yeah; my appetite had deserted me in the middle of breakfast, and half a waffle was still sitting next to my computer (yes, I eat while I surf; it's a mindfulness fail).  And I'd forgotten to eat lunch.

I don't know if this will continue or not.  The rash-that-is-not-The-Rash did not appear today as it did last week after workouts, so maybe my appetite will return to normal.  If it doesn't, I'll need a better strategy than just eating when I'm hungry.

1 comment:

  1. I'm on lamictal and it has decreased my appetite as well. I'm bipolar 1 and it is also making me more manicy. I cleaned my house for 8 hrs yesterday! Lol. I too am working out. The last rounds of meds I did made me gain 40lbs! Great blog!! Thanks for sharing.

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