I wondered the same thing about weight and memory. I lowered my dosage of Effexor from max to lowest but am leaving well enough alone with the last bit because of nasty withdrawals without it. I wanted to be at minimum dose in case I ever, for whatever unlikely reason got cut off from supply.

Weight and memory are tricky. I feel that such meds do fight the effort for weight loss and depending on which MD I ask, I’ll get modest support for that notion. I have, however dropped about 45lbs in 9 months from calorie counting and a trainer. Keeping it off and going from 220 to maybe 205 is a separate issue.

So here is what I am forced to acknowledge:

1. Calorie counting and a trainer overpowered the weight retention so it’s not as if the medicines are all powerful and you can’t win.

2. Given the lack of obesity, by comparison, in countries like Norway and Sweden and that have mental disorders there are insights to be found. (I say that have mental disorders because not all countries acknowledge that mental illness even exists)
The food quality, quantity and volume of consumption in the US is outrageous by comparison. We could have numerous threads on this but I’ll stick to my point. So given this reality, what factors for people with mental illness and weight are consistent and different? Among the many, the food and eating I argue is a big difference and aggravated the problem for Americans.

From an scientific and epidemiological aspect, I can’t prove a thing, I’ve no training. But, anyone can start making observational analysis, ask questions and draw reasonable conclusions. I do not know what medicines are used, the frequency, the disorders treated and a host of other factors. Intellectual honesty demands I acknowledge all this.

But it is safe to conclude that the food types, eating habits and quantity is such that the consequences for weight are inescapable for everyone. Medicines might indeed have an impact but I suspect that the more powerful factors are related to the way we fix and eat food.

3. As to memory, I have wondered that too. I do not have the Scandinavians to conveniently refer to here.

When I took full doses of Effexor I want to say that I did have memory issues. I also want to say they are better now that I’ve scaled down But let me hasten to say that’s what I WANT to believe. I also have ADD, and at age 51 am subject to the same slips of memory anyone else can get as I age. The eyes start needing and continue to need glasses at age 40 upwards for most of us, why not the brain and mind.

Like it does with weight, stress and the types of demands and environment can mediate a great deal regarding our physical and mental health. Stress alone can overpower memory so add that to mental disorders and you get all sorts of results with or without medicine. Since I’ve been on Effexor and Lamictal for so long, I cannot remember what it was like beforehand but when you consider the reasons one went on medicine in the first place, memory at that time may not have been as reliable.

So fast forward to now and ask, what part of memory or mental memory recall is suspect? That might be more useful. The older we get memory is naturally affected by all sorts of non-medical reasons.

I started memorizing poems and got up to about 100 including some three page poems. I know my memory works. But, I get told I forget things too and need lists.

Well so far that sounds about normal for most of us. We can remember when we focus and practice things of interest to us and need varying degrees of prompts when we get weaker.

Then we get to the murky questions. How do you determine what is a true change in memory that could be attributed to medicines of any type. There are indeed some that do this but I want to say that in those cases, the difference is noticeable by everyone. I know it can be more subtle than that.

The only thing I can think of doing to address this question is testing yourself. Can you memorize and retain, but some people are terrible with this anyway. How have perceived memory changes affected daily life and routine? The more we engage our minds in activities to keep it going the better chance of it being healthy and optimal. As we do this, any deficits that arise might be worth looking at. Chances are, it’s related to age, interest level, stress or all three.

Even if something is identified, the physician may be hard pressed to pin it to medicine or do much about it (again unless so obvious and head injuries are ruled out). I would say constantly test yourself and even note discrepancies. Just don’t over do it because we can get anxious and create a whole new problem obsessing over what is normal.

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