Well it is a bit of a waste of time taking an amphetamine like phentermine
with an SSRI, as SSRIs block the action of amphetamines.

I wouldn't have thought you would have gained any weight, not lost much. I
think the easiest thing would be to weight and see.

You will be the first to know, because it is your particular body reacting
to both drugs.  No doctor can really forcast this answer for you.
Good luck,
Jackie

First, SSRI's are supposed to take 2-8 weeks to have a positive
theraputic effect
(besides side effects).  Second, I don't think people really understand
SSRI's at all.
Assuming that one's depression is due to the need of serotonin reuptake
to be inhibited,
it makes no sense to me that, in the right dosage, any SSRI would do the
job once the
dosage was right and time was given for it to have it's positive effect.  

You're talking about the side effects, which are different for each
person.  If you ask
the pharmacist for a package insert for Paxil, or look it up in a PDR in
the library, etc...
you'll see the percentage of people that experience side effects
compared to a sugar pill
(placebo).  If I remember right, most people don't gain a significant
amount of weight
from taking Paxil.  In fact, many lose weight.

phentermine, I believe is an amphetamine type drug that may cause short
term weight loss
but only for a short term and soon, like all amphetamine type drugs,
when taken regularly
over a long term will develop dependence and tolerance, and I would get
many opinions
before taking it regularly.

For some reason, an almost cult type belief that two of these type of
drugs (known as
Phen-fen together), was pushed by some doctors, but it was widely shown
not to be useful
except in rare cases.  It would often temporarily make people feel
better, lose weight, and
fix almost everything else according to some people, but this theory was
widely agreed by
almost everyone in the mainstream health care community (pharmacists and
doctors), and
would often lead to very serious problems.

There are some older generation antidepressants that did cause weight
gain in most users,
however, (such as tricyclics such as Elevil and Sinequan, for instance),
but the only true
long term way to deal with weight gain from these drugs were exercise
and diet.  Many
were helped by drinking/eating zero calorie stuff like water and
sugarless hard candies,
due to the dry mouth side effect.

I wouldn't proactively treat side effects until they manifest themself,
and then make sure
you get the help of experts.  Most people taking Paxil don't gain
weight, especially on a
long term basis without any treatment.

In fact, often the weight gain is due to the depression which often
causes either weight gain
or weight loss (depending on the patient), just like some people sleep
more or less when they
are depressed.  Weight gain/loss takes time and often while even  if
given a placebo, the weight
would have been gained anyway.  It just may not have accumulated weight
due to just the
depression, to be bothersome to the patient, until the depression went
on, perhaps uneffected
by the Paxil/other antidepressant.

Unfortunately, the answer isn't simple, and there are many schools of
thought on these things.
I'd get multiple opinions from people you can trust, and treat things as
they become a problem.
If one tried to apply treatment to every side effect of almost any
medication (psych or otherwise),
it would be impossible because the medications used to deal with each
side effect have side effects
too, and very quickly one would see the possible problems would grow
incredibly fast.

Also, weight loss/gain is a long term process, except for water weight
unless one either over does
things like dieting way too much or exercising an incredible amount.
The quick fix solutions rarely
last long... crash diets, for instance, usually result in long term
weight gain because of several factors.
To gain a pound of fat, one has to take in 3600 calories over that one
consumes.  To lose a pound, one
must expend 3600 more calories than one consumes.  Remember the average
adult uses about 2000 calories
to break even (of course it varies by individual in many ways, such as
current weight, amount of exercise
one gets, and other factors).  However, if one starves oneself and
doesn't drink much, it is easy to lose 10
pounds in a few days, but it is water weight.  Remember a gallon of
water weighs 8 pounds, yet has no
calories.  In fact, consuming water consumes calories without bringing
any in.  

I remember once I rode my bike on a hot day 100 miles and while I had
some water along the way, I was
really thirsty when I got home.  I weighted myself right after the ride
and then after a few hours of drinking
a lot of water.  I weighed 9 pounds more 8 hours after the ride, just
due to water consumption.

Amphetamine type drugs for a while (until tolerance occurs, usually
within a month at most, it stops reducing
appetite as it does at first, unless one raises the dose which is why
people aren't given amphetamine and drugs
that work like it such as ritalin and many others drugs like it, are not
given for long term weight loss as was common
in the 1950s and 1960s.  

What would be best if one wants to lose weight is to see a nutritionist
and work out a diet & exercise program that
results in a long term, healthy solution, rather than a quick fix.  

Good luck, Jacob
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