Xenical for Kids

Cute. (That's sarcasm for ya!) There's a funny thing on the page though. There was an ad for New York Times Photographs you can purchase. There was a cute picture of a child eating an ice cream cone. Awwww. In 10 years she'll be on Xenical!

Ah,yes, better health through chemistry. They will make us all thin or they will kill us, by God, & they will start in childhood! Better dead than fat, don't you know?

And then, also, what happens to these kids' bones? They're setting them up for osteoperosis, among a zillion other things. And, what if the absorption problems become permanent in pre/mid-adolescents? Why don't they just start gassing us outright? In a lot of ways, it's be easier to fight.

I never took Xenical, thank God. And if I had kids and any of them were fat, I would not ALLOW them to take Xenical. I did take Meridia and Redux some time ago but haven't done so in years. I stopped taking them as soon as I heard negative info about them. The FDA has rocks in its collective heads. STOP MESSING WITH OUR KIDS, DAMMIT!

I can tell you from experience that a 210 pound kid who loses 20 pounds is not thin in the eyes of others. So the kids on Xenical get all the fun of being tormented for being fat while also getting the fun of intestinal torment. Never mind what being deprived of all those vitamins does to their thinking skills at that critical time for brain development.

I notice that the article completely fails to mention whether the kids in any of the studies kept the weight off. All that torment for probably temporay weight-loss.

I was actually going to try this stuff not too many moons ago and was advised by the pharmacist against it. At a weak moment I inquired about the price of the script I received after going to the doctor for an unrelated concern (yes, really). The pharmacist told me the cost was well over $100 for 30 pills (one 30 day supply). I asked if it was really that good. She told me nobody ever returns to have them filled after the initial pickup. She offered to order them for me (since they quit carrying them) and was very informative. I never did get that filled. What a shame we don't have a lot more pharmacists like that.

Oh, boy, that's interesting. Even with few "repeat" customers, $100 per fat person still means a high "success" rate (i.e. profit margin) for the pharmaceutical companies. All that rage from the MDs up to their ears in free Hoffman LaRoche pens when I've said "no" outright is starting to make more sense. (Speaking of No Free Lunch

Hey Kell, I like the "No Free Lunch" site. When I was shopping around for a new doc, one of the ones I went to kept me waiting in the waiting room for 30 minutes past my appointment time. Meanwhile, two different drug reps were ushered in and she had time for them. When it got to the point where I still hadn't seen the doctor an hour after my scheduled appointment, I walked out.

I'm sitting here wondering how easy it is for kids at school to get to use the toilet (bathroom, restroom, whatever) whenever they want to. I know when I was at school you had to wait until in between lessons. Contrast this with many workplaces where a lot of the time you can go whenever you like. I'm thinking there's going to be a fair few of the Xenical-taking school-goers who are going to experience a whole different level of humiliation... How can they DO that to children?

Oh man, Sharon...I never thought of that, but yikes! Yes, there are probably some schools where you can't go during class, and at the very least kids have to request a pass or key. Imagine having to request one twice during the same class! Imagine not making it there on time! And if you crap your pants ONCE, believe me, your schoolmates will NEVER let you forget it. So instead of being called "Fatso," you get to be called "Poopy Pants." Yeah, that's a real climb up the social ladder, isn't it? Whoever came up with this idea needs to be locked in a closet for a month with nothing but WOW chips to eat, a Porta-Loo...and no Charmin.

ajoyce, may I add locked up with some low larb chocolates too! yikes!

We have to ask the question, are we helping kids by giving them Xenical? Clearly the answer is no. By feeding kids diet drugs with difficult if not harmful side effects we are reinforcing that: 1. You cannot trust your body to tell you how much and when you should eat. 2. It is better to be thin than fat, no matter how you get there. 3. Even a few pounds lost temporarily is better than being the fat child you are today. 4. There are miracle, magic cures outside of us for what ails us inside. I'm sure Xenical is a money maker for its manufacturer, and they are happy as clams that kids are under as much pressure as they are now to be thin, or even a little less fat than they are right now. Aurgh..