Hydroxyzine

Has anyone been on Hydroxyzine post taper for sleep and gained a lot of weight? Is it possible to stop Hydroxyzine without tapering?

One frieking awful med then is subsituted to *fix* the problems of another one. Hate this roller coaster.

Please help me god (and all of us)

My understanding is that hydroxyzine is not physiologically addictive. Is the weight gain the problem or just wanting to stop the medication? Is it helping you sleep post taper?

Thanks for asking. It is *helping* with sleep BUT not worth 40 pounds of weight gain and feeling like garbage all the time and unable to exercize and fit in clothes. The other part is not wanting my brain to need meds and to find what my own baseline is like.

Hi Phmg,

Hydroxyzine is an antihistamine and is not supposed to be addicting, have you tried coming off of it and had problems? I used it for awhile during my taper but did not notice any difference one way or another. I used promethazine instead which is another antihistamine that is good for nausea, and it did cause me to gain weight but that's what I wanted since I had lost 20lbs due to lack of appetite and nausea for over a year. Now I take it every once in awhile, but have never felt like I was physically dependent on it.

Can you skip a day and see if you feel ok?

 

Thanks for asking. It is *helping* with sleep BUT not worth 40 pounds of weight gain and feeling like garbage all the time and unable to exercize and fit in clothes. The other part is not wanting my brain to need meds and to find what my own baseline is like.

 

I understand completely. I can't wait to get my brain free of meds as well. Fortunately, I doubt we will ever encounter anything as bad as benzos...  You've conquered the beast. How did your quick taper go?

I have been taking hydroxyzine since my second month of withdrawal. It is the only thing that has helped me sleep. I have not gained any weight. I have actually still been losing weight. 42 lbs in the past 6 months.

Hi I’ve been taking hydroxyzine for about a month. Just half of a 25mg capsule. I skipped two days and by day three my inner akathasia was unbearable plus other symptoms. My aka doesn’t go away but hydroxyzine takes the edge off and  helps with some sleep. 

 

How are you now? Are you still on hydroxyzine?

 

Thanks

Tried 25mg for a couple of days. No sleep improvement. Just knocked out. A lot.

 

My psy told me it could happen if you have never taken before. I stopped taking it.

 

Btw it's not addictive: if insomnia is not a preexisting condition and it makes you sleep better you can give it a chance.

The only correlation I can see would be it has a longer half-life than most antihistamines and tends to cause brain fog/lethargy the next day. It’s also an expectorant so can increase drowsiness from other drugs. I gained weight while I was taking it but mostly because I was so tired I stopped exercising regularly.