Antihistamines and weight gain

[Who Me?]

Since starting H1 blockers for mast cell I've been constantly hungry. Zyrtec is really bad. Claritin bad but not as bad. @Lissa

I found this

It has long been known that the administration of antihistamines can cause weight gain. In fact, one antihistamine, cyproheptadine, has been used for this purpose. There are many postulations as to why this occurs. One reason, which may be the most reasonable, is that histamine is known to reduce the appetite, and antihistamines, therefore, counteract this effect.

In a recent NHANES survey, antihistamine use was associated with obesity, and a study in the journal “Obesity,” (see abstract copied below) confirmed this and analyzed the use of over-the-counter antihistamines and their effect on weight gain. They found, as in the NHANES survey, that the use of over-the-counter antihistamines, including both fexofenadine and cetirizine, was associated with obesity.

Unfortunately, we know more about this association and the potential underlying reasons for it than we do about which antihistamines may be less likely to produce this effect. I know of no study comparing the effects of available antihistamines on weight gain and could find none on a literature search. Therefore, although it is not unlikely that some antihistamines may be more potent than others in this regard, the effect appears to be more class-related rather than drug-specific.

But because we have no available information on relative potency of antihistamines regarding their effect on weight gain, there is, to my knowledge, no information available to assist you in selecting a specific antihistamine that might be helpful and not produce this side effect. Therefore the only strategy available to you, if you wish to continue to use antihistamines, is to employ various agents via “trial and error.”

The other strategy of course would be to use alternative agents to supplement or replace antihistamine use. A thorough discussion of these drugs are available in two articles.

http://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/antihistamines-weight-gain

 

[San Diego]

Well then. It’s no wonder so many of us gain weight in this disease. If the inactivity doesn’t get us, the medications do.

I never had to fight weight in my entire life until ME struck. My brother and I used to say we had the metabolisms of an oil refinery fire.

There are times when I start eating and can’t stop. Not often, as I usually have zero appetite. I need to make a mental note and see if those times are linked to antihistamine use!

 

[Who Me?]

There are times when I start eating and can’t stop. Not often, as I usually have zero appetite. I need to make a mental note and see if those times are linked to antihistamine use!

Mine is for sure. And for me appetite doesn't have that much to do with it. I have the urge to eat, then my OCD brain gets the idea of something I want, and I have to eat it.

I'm ok until I eat something. Once I start its like s runaway train.

 

[Remy]

Afrin says for MCAS, people either can't lose a pound or conversely can't gain a pound. And often antihistamines are able to help reverse either situation which helps those that need it to lose or gain weight respectively.

Strong anticholinergics would almost always promote weight gain in the healthy but it's almost impossible to say what they will do in any one of us with rampant inflammation and metabolic dysfunction.

I'm on quite the large dose of antihistamines now and still losing weight albeit slowly. Ketosis probably has a lot to do with that though.

 

[Who Me?]

You're lucky then. I'll be a whale if I continue with the two I've tried. I'll look for another and see if that is different. I do not need to gain any weight.

 

[Remy]

You're lucky then. I'll be a whale if I continue with the two I've tried. I'll look for another and see if that is different. I do not need to gain any weight.

Not lucky! Ketotic...and you know how I've struggled with that. But it's worth it for me. I feel much better than I did when eating carbs regularly.