I was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, (although, I'm not sure this was an accurate diagnosis), so my psychiatrist put me on Zyprexa. I gained about 30 lbs. I wasn't a happy person. He changed my med to Geodon. I gained a little more weight. He then put me on Seroquel and Xanax. I know some of the above mentioned drugs cause edema. . .now! I wish I had known before hand. Anyway, I felt terrible and it made my depression even worse, so, I took my self off of the Seroquel, slowly but stayed on the Xanax. I am also in menapause and wake up nauseated every am. The doc had me on 4 Xanaxes (.05 mg) per day. I have dropped down to 2 or 3 per day and I've been off of the Seroquel a few months. I talked to my family physician and she gave me a diuretic, which I took for a week and noticed a little of the edema disappear, but still have more than I should. Anyone have a suggestion?
B

Check all of your meds on this site, here's the link for Xanax:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202084.html

Although weight gain isn't mentioned as a side effect for Xanax, I've heard that many/most anti-depressants have this side-effect.

Yes, I also have lower leg edema from taking Xanax. If I quit taking Xanax, the edema goes away. I also used to take Klonopin which caused me to perspire excessively. Sometimes my shirt would be soaking wet with only mild exercise.

I'm not sure what effect these medications have on my system, but they do seem to affect how my body processes liquid.