Healthy weight or healthy mind? Psych drugs can pile on pounds

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 anti psychotic 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. 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. -CNN health

So would you rather have your child with a healthy mind or healthy body? I'm not a mom yet, so I can only speak from where I am. I would say I would rather that my child have a healthy body than having more health problems associated with childhood obesity. I would try to figure out another way to treat the disorder, because the cure for her disease may be worse than than the disease itself.


_ Tierra Walls