Drugs for treatment may help the mind but not the weight

a study debates a healthy mind versus a healthy weight, as it seems some drug treatments can cause weight changes:

"Katie's temper tantrums and emotional outbursts became uncontrollable when she was 5 years old. After diagnosing her with Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), doctors placed her on risperidone, an antipsychotic drug used to treat irritability and aggression in autistic children.

The medication "took the edge off," according to her mother, Janet, but it also made Katie ravenously hungry -- a side effect that Janet says she was never warned about. "It was like she had a constant, insatiable hunger and was almost gorging her food," she recalls. "Like when you haven't been able to eat, are starving, and forget your manners."

In less than a month, the slim, 40-pound kindergartner gained 5.5 pounds -- about 14 percent of her body weight. (That's comparable to a 120-pound woman gaining 17 pounds.) Within a year Katie weighed 60 pounds."

read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/09/health.psych.drugs.weight.gain/inde...

that’s sad, i feel like people should worry about their weight if they need medication to help them. i know that weight can obviously cause health problems, but these kinds of prescriptions are important to mental health and should override the weight thing.