This is what its like to gain weight on mental health medication

There are many barriers to seeking and using mental health medication. And a lot of these barriers make up a large part of our conversation on mental health treatment. There's still a huge stigma against using medication to treat an "invisible" disease. Getting meds can cost money and time.

But one barrier to mental health treatment we rarely discuss is it's impact on body weight and patients' self-esteem.

According to Scientific American, "many psychiatric drugs have serious effects of body weight." In one cited study, almost 55 percent of anti-psychotic users gained weight – with 20 to 25 pounds of weight gain in a year being called "normal" by doctors.

Weight gain from mental health medications can take a severe toll on patients' self-esteem when they most need to be feeling good about themselves. And it can also cause patients to feel their body is being taken away from them at the same time their mind is being transformed by medicine. This can be scary: who are you if your mind and body are both being changed?

We talked to babe readers about their experiences with medication-related weight gain. Here are their stories:

"I gained like 20 pounds every time I got on a new antidepressant! I was first on Lexapro and then Prozac. Now I'm on Lamictal as a mood stabilizer and weight gain isn't explicitly a side effect, but it makes me such a boring slug that I don't want to do anything but lay down. Gaining weight on mental illness medications sucks SO BAD because you already hate yourself for no reason and suddenly your clothes don't fit and you don't recognize yourself in the mirror and it's like, "Welp, if I didn't want to kill myself before I sure as hell do now! I was a size 2 my senior year of high school and now I feel like I'm totally unrecognizable." – Sierra, 24

"I haven't exclusively experienced weight gain while on antidepressants, but my weight has fluctuated like crazy over the last year and a half while trying different medications. In May, I was the lightest I'd been since high school, and then by December, I was the heaviest I've ever been. And most of the time I'm somewhere in a 10 pound radius – it varies from week to week. The major weight gain in December was not ideal though, bc that was the worst my depression's ever been, and being heavier didn't help my mental state in the slightest. Side effects aside, the medication really did help me a lot – I had more energy and motivation, and I wasn't constantly trapped in negative thought spirals like I had been before. I'm beyond grateful to be able to have access to such an amazing personal support system, to be able to go to therapy, to be able to take medication that helps alleviate the deficiencies I have in Dopamine and Serotonin. Too many people with mental illness aren't able to get the support and care they need, and they're forced to suffer through it. I'm incredibly lucky to have what I have, and I'm constantly reminding myself of that." – McKenna, 21

"I'm on Paxil for PTSD andI've gained about 20lbs since starting it in January. But my mental health is priority number one to me, and staying fit is second. Yes, it was extremely hard to keep going given the weight gain. The first few months, I endured some horrible side effects but they finally tapered away. Now, it works perfectly for me. I am also in a better place emotionally to focus on losing the weight I gained. It's amazing how much the brain effects the rest of our bodies, and when it's not on the right track the rest of the body can't be either." – Tori, 23