My son was diagnosed with schizophrenia, i call it voice hearer and.........?

Question

recently his nutritionist put him on a really good formula that he can take along with his meds. It has a lot of good stuff for the brain, such as ginkobiloba, gaba,magnesium, niacin and others the one that i am concerned about is the v.b 12, i am afraid he will gain more weight on this. He is already gaining a lot on the zyprexa med. He is 6 ft. 1 in. and weighs 211lbs. Mostly his stomach is what is gaining. He does exercise some, such as walking, but should i have the nutritionist to change this and take out the vit. b 12? I ordered three bottles which was the least i could order.What do you think about this? I should wait i guess and see if he gains more,but mainly my question is does the b.12 make you eat more?

Answer 1

first of all, don't demean schizophrenia with terms like "voice-hearer".

to your question, vitamin B12 doesn't make you gain weight...  it is highly important to normal brain & nervous system function.  it's involved in jobs like metabolism of every cell in the body, DNA synthesis, and energy production.  i don't know why you got in your head that b12 is the problem, but it's not.

however, you definitely should tell the nutritionist about his weight gain and s/he can adjust his eating to address that, and definitely get some healthy exercise into his day-to-day.

Answer 2

Excess vitamins in anyone's body are just excreted out. Don't worry about the vitamins. He could just be gaining weight from getting older, lack of exercise, stress, or any variety of reasons. If you're concerned, go back to the doctor.

Answer 3

Hi.  Let me tell you Zyprexa is an excellent medication, but it has a TERRIBLE side effect of weight gain.  There have been many lawsuits because it is known to cause so much weight gain that people get Type 2 diabetes.   Most of the anti-psychotics have this problem, but Zyprexa and Seroquel are the worst.

I take Seroquel because I am Bipolar and I gained weight in the "gut."  It is commonly "joked" among Bipolar people that you can tell what meds they are on, by looking at their stomachs.  Big guts = antipsychotics and mood stabilizer; little guts=no antipsychotics

Now, my suggestions are the following:

1) There is some belief that these medications cause people to eat more and crave sweets.  Watch your son's diet.  Make sure he does not start drinking TONS of juice or coke and that he does not eat too many sweets.

2) There is some belief that these medications cause people to eat late at night.  Beware of this.  Help him not eat after 7-8 PM.

3)  Exercise every day.  Walk for 30 minutes.  It will help alot.

I would take all the vitamins suggested.  Because the medication is more likely to cause the problem.

It is not easy, but you sound like a great mom and willing to help.  Good luck.