Like many tribe who struggle with t...

Like many tribe who struggle with their weight, Sally Krawczyk has tried everything from liquid diets to low-carb regimens to Weight Watchers.

And like many dieters, each time she stopped, she gained back all the bruises she'd lost. But the 51-year-old teacher says she's finally discovered a felicitous way to lose weight. forward the advice of her doctor, she's been taking an antiseizure medication and couple antidepressants -- and has not to be found 135 pounds in 18 month

Krawczyk, of Murrieta, Calif., doesn't go through from seizures or depression, if it were not that she has found the medication beneficial in another way. "The medicine helps mastery my need to constantly be eating," says Krawczyk, who now weighs 220 impounds and hopes to lose 40 more. "Without it I could eat and eat and not feel full or satisfied."

In the unending search for a miracle diet pill, Americans are trying an array of prescription physics approved by the Food and mix with drugs Administration to treat a variety of illnesses. None of them has been approved as a diet put drugs into -- but for many, weight los is a side meaning

The list includes physics meant to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (Adderall and Ritalin), depression (Wellbutrin), epilepsy (Topamax and Zonegran), diabetes (Glucophage and Byetta), doze disorders (Provigil), smoking (Zyban) and level opiate overdoses (Narcan). Often these remedys are used alone, but sometimes they're taken in combination with each other or with popular weight-loss medications similar as phentermine.

While there is no hard data in succession the trend, doctors and patients say it has been increasing for years and that the put drugs intos are being used by Americans -- especially women -- of all sizes. Adderall, a stimulant originally marketed as a diet medicine in the 1970s under a different name, is said to be the weight-loss agent of choice for everyone from soccer mom to Hollywood starlets, many of whom take it without a prescription.

'Off-label' use in succession the rise

however the drugs generally work to suppres appetite or pabulum cravings, many have less desirable side powers which can include abdominal cramps, anxiety, insomnia and cognitive question s One drug, Wellbutrin, comes with a "black box" warning that it may cause increased risk of suicide in children and adolescents.

Doctors are permitted to prescribe unsalable articles for applications other than those for which they are approved -- a use which is bourned off- label. But not everyone is getting these put drugs intos from a physician. Some purchase the drugs from Internet pharmacies or from Canada. A number admit they take mix with drugss prescribed for friends or family members.

The practice of prescribing physics off-label for weight loss is controversial. physics can be expensive, and insurance companies typically don't pay for off-label uses of medicines What's more, doctors have varying opinions onward the weight-loss effects of these medicines In general, they say, they may help clan lose 5 percent to 10 percent of their material part weight.

More important, these can be risky medicines especially when taken without a doctor's supervision. Part of the reason population are so eager to take off-label remedys to lose weight, according to doctors and patients, is that there hasn't been a in good earnest promising short- term weight-loss medication forward the market since the FDA withdrew approval for fenfluramine in 1997 after it was linked to heart- valve riddles (Fenfluramine had been commonly given to patients along with phentermine, another appetite suppressant; the combination, which was not approved by the FDA, was known as fen- phen. Phentermine is still approved for short-term weight loss)

THE BIG just discovereds

NAIL POLISH LOSING HARMFUL CHEMICALS

Facing mounting criticism from consumer as well as health and environmental arranges three major nail polish manufacturers acknowledged last week they have begun removing a chemicals linked to cancer and birth failings from their products. The companies are Del Laboratories Inc., OPI harvests Inc. and Orly International Inc.

FDA CLEARS hermes IN FILLINGS

Silver fillings used to patch cavities aren't dangerous on the same level though they expose dental patients to hermes federal researchers said Friday. The provender and Drug Administration reviewed 34 studies and raise "no significant new information" that would change its determination that mercury-based fillings don't harm patients, excluding in rare cases of allergic reactions.

GENE MIGHT RAISE BIRTH RISK

A gene variation can lead to high house pressure and high levels of protein in the urine of expectant mothers, a condition called preeclampsia, a investigation by Dr. Xiaobin Wang of Children's Memorial Hospital base Preeclampsia usually occurs after the 20th week of pregnancy. The solely cure is delivering the baby, usually prematurely.

HPV VACCINE HARD TO FIND

Many parents hoping to procure their daughters a new cervical cancer vaccine are learning the marksmans are often hard to find or not however covered by insurance. The three-shot series charges $360 and prevents infections from four strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus.