methadone weight gain

Hi,
Like a couple others who posted here, I have been on methadone for a while and have gained about 10-15 pounds. I am now 5.8 and weight 160-165 pounds. I have a Britney Spears stomach (you know when people thought she was pregnant?) Nobody has thought i was pregnant but.. I tried exercising and nothing happened. One week I got sick and didn't eat for a week.. guess what- no weight loss there either, which is very wierd for me, since before, if I had done that pre-methadone, I would have been 5 pounds lower.. at least temporarily! What is going on? Help!! I saw somebody else posted a question like this but no experts told them how to fix it. Thanks,
-tired of getting rude comments from fat people who are happy to see me getting bigger

Hi, I too have gained an enormous amount of weight since being on methadone. I have been on it for almost 1&1/2yrs. now. Highest dose was 165mg. in morning with 50mg. at bedtime. I am now down to one 60mg. dose in the morning and have not lost even one lb., in fact have even gained! Not sure exactly how much I have gained in all, as I do not own a scale, but I have gone up from a size 3 to a size 11! I am sooo depresssed about this weight gain, feel so crappy about myself and I didn't even get to enjoy getting to this weight, ie., eating yummy fattening foods and all. I just started gaining as soon as I put this crap into my body. I am slowly getting my dosage down to where I can go cold turkey off it. My question is this, will I lose this weight once I am off it? I surely do hope so. Has anyone else gone through this on this medication?

Oh yes I feel your pain. I have been taking methadone for 2 years. I never weighed over 97 pounds in my entire life ! Now at 154 ! Good news is that you will lose the weight when you stop taking it. I was on 95 mg and dropped down 10 mgs a week until I was at 10mg. Throughout that time my weight went down to 119. I looked great but I started to get use to it and forgot what it felt like to be 154 and I kept increasing and increasing my dose again. The weight (All of it) came right back.

I myself have now been on Methadone now for 3 1/2 years, but to tell the truth I started to get high! My best friends mom was selling them to her daughter and I was off work with a new baby and very bored since I have been working since I was 13. Well, anyhow, fun turned into addiction very qwick! Two years into it I relized that I needed help and had to qwit seeing my friend of 20 years. I called a methadone clinic and I am now into it for a year and a half. For the last six months I have been on detox. I go down one mg. every four days. I started at 130 and am now at 96(mgs). And about my weight gain I am 5'2'' and my whole aldulthood I have been @ 102 lbs now I weigh 171 lbs and I hate The way I look. The only thing I know is that I am VERY constipated and I have gained most of my weight in my belly. I look prego and my son is four. My husband deals with it but I know he wishes I were thin. I guess what I am saying is I think once I get off or get low on my dose I SHOULD get my tummy working normal I hope to start to lose weight. I have quit gaining weight but I have not yet lost any weight. But like I said before I'm at 96mgs. so that is still a very high dose and I don't expext to lose weight till I get off. I hope I have not done permanut damage to myself so wish me luck. If I do hear more I will repost but I found this on google under "weight gain and methadone"

I was on methadone for 5 yrs and gained about 40 lbs in those 5 years, I was on a 95 ml a day docage when I first went on it and weaned down to 55 mls a day the last 3 years I was on it. I went off it cold turkey 2 months ago and was in detox for 11 days. I have lost almost 30 lbs in those 2 months! Yeah I still feel withdrawl [minimal] and have to take sleeping meds or I wouldn't sleep, but do I ever feel better! My personality has come back 100%, and I feel alot better physically and don't want to sleep all the time! It's a tough road, but you can do it when you are ready you will know, I did. Good Luck it will happen for you! Much Luck, Sandra

I am on methadone i have been on it for almost 2 years. When i started i weighed 105 pds now i weigh 175 pds and i hate it. I cant seem to get rid of any of this weight no matter how hard i try to diet and exercize. I feel terrible me and my husband havent had sex in over a year cuz i am to embaressed about the way i look. PLEASE if any one has found a way to lose weight on this drug let us know :(CYNDY

Guest wrote:

Hi, Like a couple others who posted here, I have been on methadone for a while and have gained about 10-15 pounds. I am now 5.8 and weight 160-165 pounds. I have a Britney Spears stomach (you know when people thought she was pregnant?) Nobody has thought i was pregnant but.. I tried exercising and nothing happened. One week I got sick and didn't eat for a week.. guess what- no weight loss there either, which is very wierd for me, since before, if I had done that pre-methadone, I would have been 5 pounds lower.. at least temporarily! What is going on? Help!! I saw somebody else posted a question like this but no experts told them how to fix it. Thanks, -tired of getting rude comments from fat people who are happy to see me getting bigger

I ALSO GAINED STOMACH WEIGHT WHICH IS VERY UNCHARACTERISTIC OF ME. I FOUND WATER LOSS TABS AND GREEN TEA CAPSULES IN THE DIET SECTION HAS SLOWLY BEEN HELPING, ALSO IF YOU CRAVE SWEETS WHICH IS TYPICAL, TRY NOT TO EAT AFTER 7 PM. GOOD LUCK!

Yes i understand sooo totally... its all funny that most of us weighed very little and then went up to about 160 or higher, I am in this boat too but the only prob is im pregnant for the second time and sooo scared that im going to get disgustingly obese. No one else thats not in the situation seems to understand not even my mother.... which sucks. I have managed to lose some weigh before i got prego doing pilates cardio strength and walking excersizes and let me tell u this has been a 2-3 yr battle of working out and trying to eat right. All i can say is to work out do what u can and STICK TO IT and slowly try to get off the methadone... i think thats all that works. I too went from 97 pds to a 160 pds...i know the pain it hurts u just want to be the way u were before, My boyfriend is very understanding but he isnt me and he doesnt have to hate what he sees in the mirror. if ne one wants to chat PLEASE email me at lazahares@charter.net,,, i feel as if im at the end of my rope, with this i escaped heroin to develop a whole new problem

I also am one of you who has been on methodone for about 3yrs and it started as a pain med for a condition called nueropothy. (severe pain in my feet and legs) I was sent to a pain clinic after going through many doc who could not control my pain levels. So, here I am I started a out weighing a wopping 115 lbs and have always been very thin even after having two babies I was able to drop all of the weight after 6mos to a year and be back into my normal clothes. I started methodone after my third baby in which I weighed 157 after giving birth and and now I am up to 210 lbs. I am so sick and tired of doctors telling me that methodone has not been noted to cause weight gain, but I and Im sure everyone else in my shoes begs to differ! I have never ever had a weight problem in my life and now my sex life sucks with my husband because i feel so discusting and unsexy as well as my self esteem is out the window and i am becoming soooo focused on my weigh that it is taking away all of the personality traits that make me who I have always been. I can only focus on what I look like and I want off this crap so bad I have tried to cold turkey several times and I end up worse due to withdrawl. HELP!!! i really need to know what to do to get this weight off and I know it will if I just get off this methodone! I want me back!

I have been taking methadone for almost a year ( i take between 35-45mls a day) b/c i suffer nueropothy with severe pain in hip and leg and although it has helped my pain control immensely i too have gained weight. I used to be 115lbs and am now 131lbs....but i have recently lost 10 lbs from being on a new medication called topamax, also to help with neuro pathic pain and sleeping.

i have noticed it mostly in my tummy area. (i am female, 25 yrs old, 5'7).
The weird thing about this is i NEVER had an issue with weight before going on methadone! i never had to watch what i ate, or exercise to stay at my weight...i was just naturally thin, and now i am feeling like the rest of the world who complains about being overweight! i've started working out but it is a very thin line for me between working out and causing myself 3 days of very severe pain b/c of working out so i am learning how to pace myself...b/c like i said, i've never had to deal with this before.

im just glad im not the only one...
also, i never had a "sweet tooth" before either and now i really do! does any one else share this?