The Obsession to be Thin!

Gorgf · ‎03-10-2010

I have a cousin through marriage who called me yesterday to tell me his wife who is nearly 70 has been using Speed to be rail thin. She is now in treatment for a month. She had bypass surgery in 1985 but I also witnessed she ate junk and never seemed to have learned to eat healthy.

She has been doing this 50 yrs. fooled family,friends. coworkers, much less Drs. and mental health professionals especially the past five years as displayed manic behavior dementia and chronic depression. She was falling and dehydrated off and on drank diet pop all day long. Would not take medication unless he reminded her and got that mixed up. While in treatment be found pills hid all over the house as she forgot where she put them enough to fill a quart jar.

She had to have minor intestinal surgery 15 years ago and was so malnourished they had to give her nutritional feeding to operate.

She is lucky to be alive. They also care for her 94 yr.old Mother part time with her sister.

He gave her an ultimatum to quit using and make changes or leaving her. He wants to travel and do things and tired.I like them both and they are nice people and hope it gets better. She was lead teacher in a 30 plus career in a large HS. All the Doctors she saw over the years and no one ,even people close to her had a clue or they did and denied it?

Nonametoday · ‎03-09-2010

@Gorgf wrote:
I have a cousin through marriage who called me yesterday to tell me his wife who is nearly 70 has been using Speed to be rail thin. She is now in treatment for a month. She had bypass surgery in 1985 but I also witnessed she ate junk and never seemed to have learned to eat healthy.

She has been doing this 50 yrs. fooled family,friends. coworkers, much less Drs. and mental health professionals especially the past five years as displayed manic behavior dementia and chronic depression. She was falling and dehydrated off and on drank diet pop all day long. Would not take medication unless he reminded her and got that mixed up. While in treatment be found pills hid all over the house as she forgot where she put them enough to fill a quart jar.

She had to have minor intestinal surgery 15 years ago and was so malnourished they had to give her nutritional feeding to operate.
She is lucky to be alive. They also care for her 94 yr.old Mother part time with her sister.

He gave her an ultimatum to quit using and make changes or leaving her. He wants to travel and do things and tired.I like them both and they are nice people and hope it gets better. She was lead teacher in a 30 plus career in a large HS. All the Doctors she saw over the years and no one ,even people close to her had a clue or they did and denied it?

@Gorgf Somebody knew because somebody was giving her the pills. Many, many women are addicted to amphetamines today because they get the Ritalin for their children (claiming they have ADHD) and the mothers take the pills themselves and when the children come of age and they can no longer get the pills, they resort to other methods of obtaining them, some of which are ilegal. This is epidemic in this country and nobody is talking about it. They are talking about opioids.

AuntG · ‎03-09-2010

And the sad thing is rail thin is so unattractive. At her age, I can't imagine things improving.

sidsmom · ‎11-25-2011

The thread title is misleading.

Her addiction has nothing to do with the 'Obsession to be Thin.'

It's unfortunate the Public still doesn't understand addictions.
Maybe that's why there's an issue....

happycat · ‎09-18-2010

@Gorgf, where was she getting it?

I am no expert, but I'm afraid if she took these for 30 years, she may need more than a 30 day stint to get off of them.

I imagine she would need more and more of it as she got older. I use to take adderall, and after a few years, I needed or felt like I needed a stronger dose, a few years after that, it felt like I needed to up it again. It was very difficult for me to get off (give up, if we are being honest) I gained 10 lbs, but quit having little chest pains.

Anyway, I hope this relative of yours can successfully get off it.

So many medications are easy to get addicted to, and we don't think about long term effects.

ValuSkr · ‎03-15-2014

He should try to cut off her supply. That would be better than leaving her, in the short run at least.

Nonametoday · ‎03-09-2010

@ValuSkr wrote:
He should try to cut off her supply. That would be better than leaving her, in the short run at least.

@ValuSkr He may not know where she is getting them but she could have convulsions or even die if they were removed abruptly. Drugs that are addictive (because they cross the blood-brain barrier) cannot be removed instantly or the patient can have horrible adverse effects, up to and including death.

Tricolor · ‎04-19-2010

@happycat wrote:
@Gorgf, where was she getting it?
I am no expert, but I'm afraid if she took these for 30 years, she may need more than a 30 day stint to get off of them.

I imagine she would need more and more of it as she got older. I use to take adderall, and after a few years, I needed or felt like I needed a stronger dose, a few years after that, it felt like I needed to up it again. It was very difficult for me to get off (give up, if we are being honest) I gained 10 lbs, but quit having little chest pains.

Anyway, I hope this relative of yours can successfully get off it.

So many medications are easy to get addicted to, and we don't think about long term effects.

People are certainly more aware of the addicting qualties of medications than they were in years past. I worked in the medical field before such an influx of overdoses and chronic addiction. I think people thought it was safe to take these meds because a doctor was prescribing them. In defense of the doctors, they were misled by the pharmaceutical companies who claimed that their particular med was safe.