She dreams of an hourglass body like Kim Kardashian. On social media, women who consider themselves “too thin” are extolling the benefits of anti-allergy drugs they use to gain weight quickly and especially to make them “pop” while ignoring the risks associated with such abuse, the News reports. ro. It’s the reverse of Ozempic, an anti-diabetic drug that became an international problem after being overused for weight loss.

They call themselves “skinny” on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. These young women are obsessed with “shapes”, meaning bigger buttocks and breasts. And they achieve this with a drug that does not require a prescription in France and costs less than 10 euros per box: Periactin (from the laboratory Teofarma), reports AFP. “I, who ate little, am now constantly hungry, even in bed,” says one of these young women. “It works really well, it makes you fat right away,” she says.

The before and after photos of this drug show a truly impressive weight gain in just a few weeks. The problem is that Periactin (the active substance of which is cyproheptadine) is not a food supplement, but a medicine for allergy sufferers.

In a press release sent at the end of March, the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (SFPT) warned about this phenomenon, believing that “the benefit/risk ratio of cyproheptadine should be reassessed with the aim of withdrawing the marketing license or, at least, of its registration on the mandatory list “obligatory purpose”.

Cyproheptadine is “a very old drug that has been marketed in France since the 1960s”, which has since been replaced by much more effective molecules and is no longer prescribed, SFPT member Dr. Laurent Chouchana explained to AFP.

According to him, until 1994, this drug was prescribed “for appetite stimulation in patients with reduced appetite accompanied by weight loss.” Molecules that affect weight are particularly scrutinized for potential abuse, Dr. Chuchana adds, following the example of the antidiabetic drug Ozempic, which is used for weight loss.

“Let’s look like Kim Kardashian”

Pharmacy representatives interviewed by AFP said they only sell it “very rarely”, but the drug is also available online, where its purchase is often accompanied by a purchase of weight gainers such as fenugreek seeds, according to websites. consulted by AFP.

The French Medicines Agency (ANSM) could not measure the “increase in sales”, AFP said, but was now carrying out an analysis of the situation on the basis of which it would consider “gradual measures” to limit the phenomenon. if necessary.

Last year, the ANSM already warned health professionals about the “inappropriate and potentially dangerous use of cyproheptadine as an orexigen (appetite stimulant) for aesthetic weight gain”.

Dr. Chuchana’s team discovered this trend, which was alerted by Internet users. “We found sorcerers’ apprentices who were giving incredible medical prescriptions to look like (reality show star) Kim Kardashian, bordering on illegal medical practice,” says the doctor.

One TikTok user admitted: “I trusted the girls, I didn’t even go to the doctor, I tried.”

Consequences of excessive use

Cyproheptadine consumption is not without consequences: it causes drowsiness “most of the time”, but sometimes also seizures, hallucinations and more serious effects such as liver, blood and heart problems, especially if there is an overdose, which happens if we look at doses suggested in the online video, says Dr. Chuchana.

In videos online, users complain that they are “sleeping all the time” due to periactin or that they have “tummy aches.”

Before the advent of social media, in the 2000s, cyproheptadine abuse was reported in Africa. A scientific study conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2011 observed cases of obesity, especially when people became dependent on cyproheptadine.

Read also:

• The phenomenon of weight loss with drugs: more and more Romanians are asking doctors for a drug to treat diabetes, hoping that it will help them lose weight

• “I didn’t do any exercise, I just injected the product.” Doctors are worried about the success of an anti-diabetic drug in TikTok