Psychiatric Medicines For Weight Loss?

It was bad enough that pharmaceutical companies were promoting harmful medicines like Ritalin and Adderall for treatment of ADHD in children (many often misdiagnosed with ADHD). Many parents began to realize that these medicines were harmful for their children and took alternate approaches to dealing with ADHD.

And for good reason.There have been numerous studies about these pharmaceuticals and the damage that they can cause after use over a period of time. The use of Ritalin was actually linked to leukemia. Because of these potential side effects, a number of parents have refused such treatments for their children and have put the medicine companies that manufacture these medicines at risk for losing money. But have no fear. These medicines are not going anywhere. They are simply being “re- packaged” and doled out to a new group of people - those who want to lose weight.

Doctors are prescribing these stimulants as a way for obese adults to lose weight. This is because they believe that a chemical imbalance in the brain that is caused by ADHD prevents obese people from being able to lose weight. People who want to lose weight are one of the easiest targets of the medicine companies. They are usually willing to do anything, especially if it seems easy. Now, it appears that those who are overweight and desperate to do something about it are being given medicines that were created for psychiatric patients in a way to help them lose extra pounds. These medicines were never meant to be used as often as they are prescribed as it is, only in severe cases. And they were not created for weight loss.

Negative Health Effects
How much are you willing to risk, of your health, to lose weight? Ritalin stimulates your body in such a way that it increases your heart rate, increases your body temperature and alertness and also suppresses the appetite. So do cigarettes, but no doctor will prescribe a carton of cigarettes to a patient who wants to lose weight. The fact of the matter is that someone who is obese is probably already suffering from increased heart rate. The last thing that they need is to increase this even more by the use of psychiatric medicines. This may not only lead to complications down the road from long term use of these medicines, but can also end up resulting in heart disease.
The use of ADHD medicines other than Ritalin have also been found to increase the risk for stroke as well as increase risk of aggressive behavior and other negative health and behavior problems. If you are considering Ritalin or ADHD medicines in your effort to lose weight, you should be aware of the serious negative health consequences of these medicines. It is far safer for you to go on a sensible diet and increase your activity level to lose weight rather than rely on a some medicine to do the job . . . especially when this medicine was never designed for weight loss in the first place.