Is Adderall an Anorexic’s “Best Friend”?
I didn’t know, and as a mother, writer, and teacher to preteens, teens and adults, I really should be “up” on these things:
Adderall, the popular amphetamine often used to treat ADD/ADHD (Paris Hilton takes it, as a side note), is being abused by women (and presumably men) who want to lose weight. And some docs are even prescribing it “off-label” to obese kids, as noted in this CNN article.
Of course, this is not the first time a drug — legal or otherwise — has been sought out by people dying (literally, in some cases) to shed weight. Cocaine and crack do the trick nicely, I’ve heard. Heroin works for others (and was “chic” in the ’90s.) Some people might suggest that nicotine is also a cure-all for hunger pains. Many ED sufferers pop laxatives like they are Tic-Tacs.
So I shouldn’t be surprised… I really shouldn’t…
Yet I’m always saddened when I hear the great lengths people will go to just to be smaller. Don’t mistake me — I understand their desires. I always will. I still want to be thinner even though I’m at a normal weight and I know people don’t see me as “fat” or “overweight”. (Even if they did, it shouldn’t matter.)
As a mom and a woman, the Adderall abuse concerns me. Am I so out of the loop or was this news to you, too?
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POSTED IN: Adderall, Anorexia, Paris Hilton
5 opinions for Is Adderall an Anorexic’s “Best Friend”?
SzélsőFa
Mar 16, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I’m not really surprised.
People are taking pills on an everyday basis just for any little thing that MIGHT occur to them…It is our modern age.
I’m not taking any pills, but I open my eyes. Just today I stumbled upon someone’s diary about being pregant and a commenter suggested taking medications against morning sickness well before she experiences any symptom.
It is just a habit to chew on some spill.
It is truly a madness, but it has not started with anorexia and/or AD/HD.
ard
May 3, 2008 at 10:08 am
I think that treating morbid obesity with Adderall is a practical idea. I read an article where a doctor is treating obese patients with it. Yeah, the risks are there, but the risk of death/complications involved in surgery on an obese person is way higher!
That doesn’t mean I think it’s ok for an anorexic or for abuse.
em
May 17, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I am a woman in my mid 30’s I have suffered with bulimia for over 10 years. I have been taking adderall for the past 2 years and it has been a God sent for me. It allows me to control my cravings and get past urges. I believe it has saved my life.
kate
May 21, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I am 17 and have been addicted to adderall for 2 years. I love it and at the same time hate it. I am now to the point where I can not function without it. I am in no way anorexic, but just have to have it to survive.
lauren
Jul 31, 2008 at 10:23 am
im 17 years old. and on adderall. if taken the right way, i learned over the years you can drop 10 pounds a week from it. it makes me drop at least 5 a week. i was on it in 6-7th grade…dont really remember which, i was 5′6″ish and 115 pounds. not normal for a 11-12 year old, i can tell you that. my hair started falling out, my skin starting breaking out, my periods stopped. i looked like a meth addict. it almost killed me. they took me off of it, and i felt hungry again…but since i had gone so long without eating, i had to RELEARN how to eat and how to keep it down. it was the most painful thing i had ever had to go through. im on it again now, its been three days and ive already shedded 10 pounds. i know the same things about to happen, but i dont care, because i gained the weight back since then, and then they put me on prozac and stopped all my ADHD meds…i dont know why im willing to put myself through this again, probably because i want to be skinnier more than anything, but it is sad how im running back to something that almost put me in my grave before i even hit 13.
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