Teen Obesity and Risperdal

The same drug that helped Rachel Mason graduate eighth grade by controlling her bipolar disorder caused her to weigh more than most girls at the ceremony.

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Apprehensive about severe side effects associated with the first generation of drugs approved to treat psychosis ? including tremors, muscle contractions and involuntary movements that can cause disfigurement doctors have embraced a new group of drugs during the past decade, among them Risperdal and Zyprexa. ...

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved these second-generation anti-psychotic drugs to treat mentally ill adults, the agency has not agreed to their use in youths. Doctors prescribe the drugs based on clinical trials, experience and limited data, and doing so is not illegal.

...This year the FDA added a warning label about increased diabetes risk to the anti-psychotic drugs, which doctors find also are connected with increased cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

... "It's a huge problem. All of these medications right now are double-edged swords," said Dr. Michael Naylor, University of Illinois at Chicago director of child psychiatry. "You're kind of left with a dilemma: Do I choose a medication that can harm me or an illness that can harm me? It's a terrible choice."

..."The gateway to these serious complications in the future is the weight gain," Correll said. "The numbers we found were very surprising and sobering."

...2002 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found Zyprexa and Risperdal were associated with "extreme weight gain in adolescents, much higher than that reported in adults."

...Eli Lilly and Co., which makes Zyprexa, is looking into which patients gain the most weight, said spokeswoman Marni Lemons.

...On Zyprexa, Rachel was calm enough to make friends ? but she also felt alienated because she was larger than her peers.

...In June, Rachel stopped taking Zyprexa and began Risperdal. She had gained 50 pounds since the previous August, and Rachel's psychiatrist feared she would be at risk for diabetes and teasing at school if she stayed on the drug.

...On Risperdal, Rachel's mood is better even than her mother had anticipated. And since August, she has lost 2 pounds.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2002133037_healthweight29.html