Use of Antidepressants Linked to Diabetes

Anti-psychotics, too. Many of these drugs have weight gain as a side effect.

Interesting, I was on an SSRI prior to being diagnosed with diabetes (although not when I was diagnosed) and I’ve been having a harder time controlling it lately and I am also back on an SSRI. I just figured my pancreas gives up a little more each time I get pregnant. Then again most of my diabetic family members were diagnosed prior to the existence of SSRIs so maybe it wouldn’t have mattered.

Very interesting. I was on MAO Inhibitors for four years before being diagnosed, and I had gained about 25 pounds on them. Even though I had stopped taking them and had lost the 25 pounds, my fasting glucose levels had gone up for the previous two years to my diagnosis. And, also interesting, I wasn’t able to control by diet and exercise alone, and progressed to insulin within 5 years (probably should have been on it earlier.)

To this day, I’m not sure if antibody tests were done when I was diagnosed at the age of 38, but I had them done a couple of years ago and I didn’t test positive, so probably definitely T2. Low C-peptide, though, so I qualify for the pump even on Medicare, thank goodness, because I started on a pump 9 years before hitting Medicare.

Reading this article, I’m left with the thought that science writers (not the same as scientists) often get things really confused. The article makes a link between Type 2 and SSRI use, but state that the research itself suggests something else:

The researchers write that “current use of SSRIs was associated with a lower level of insulin, lower pancreatic insulin secretion (assessed with HOMA-β), and lower peripheral insulin resistance.”

The issue is that there aren’t any models I’m aware of that would link lower overall insulin levels and decreased insulin resistance with increased risk of Type 2. So, if there is a causal connection between SSRI and Type 2, it isn’t likely to be this particular mechanism in action. This action could partially explain why Type 2s on SSRIs are more likely to become insulin dependent, because it suppresses the amount of insulin the body can produce.