Diet pill linked to suicidal thoughts

[AB Asks]

A diet pill used by more than 10,000 Britons is thought to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts. A number of other unusual behaviours were reported by people who were taking the drug. Should this drug be withdrawn or are the suicidal thoughts to do with the person's previous mental state? It could be argued that people who are obese suffer from lower self-esteem due to their weight.

[Octavius]

No, it would only be made available on the black market.
A big warning label on the side should suffice.

You are right people with low self esteem may well have internecine tendencies towards themselves, but such emotions may be triggered by lots and lots of things, not just being fat and taking diet pills - that is a rather one-dimensional view.

[fine,thanks]

do give this question support, might you post what the diet pills are called.

[~max~]

I wonder how they did that piece of research. If they compared the mental well-being of people who use this drug to that of another part of the population (ie "normal" average people), then obviously the results will be flawed as the group using this drug is more likely to suffer from low self-esteem, depression...to begin with. But if they compared the group to another group of similar "profile" and the incidence of depression was higher then there maybe a link. Do you have a link for that study?

[Octavius]

I suspect it is the Alli pill ?

[jake-the-peg]

This sounds similar to Strattera (Atomoxetine)- an ADHD drug that my son tried once. We discussed it with him and the GP with the known possible side effects of depression (again linked to the risk of increased suicidal thought in a few cases)

Shortly after he described really feeling down so we all agreed to stop them.

No fuss, no need for banning or hysterical overreaction providing these sort of drugs are being monitored by GPs and are not available over the counter it doesn't have to be a problem.

Drugs can be dangerous - that's why they're not called Smarties

[jake-the-peg]

It's Rimonabant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimonabant

[~max~]

Good point, Jake!

[IggyB]

where did you hear this?
what are the diet pills made of?
If this is an american story then i believe they still use amphetamine's in weight loss medication that can seriously alter mental health - but then everyone knows about that and the people that still continue to use them are simply putting their desire for a different shaped body over their desire to be actually healthy - so probably deserve some negative thoughts

[Trinny]

I don't know about these diet pills, but do know that your diet can affect your mood swings dramatically. So by taking a diet pill, and effectively, not getting the right amount of nutrients into your body, surely that would affect you the same way.

[knobbynonuts]

jeeze lets just face it if anybody is suicidal dont you think that they would try to do it anyway so why the fruck would they want to go on a diet if they are contemplating to commit suicide, maybe they could say to satan I have just taken a few pills to get me thin can you give me a by pass to go to heaven mate.
It has nothing to do with this pill at all all I can say is that the people that have taken it already have this thought in there head .