Alarm for yet another health-threatening ‘fad’ that, once again, ‘travels’ on social networks, in particular TikTok: this time the risk comes from an antihistamine, Periactin, used by girls for its ‘side effect’ to increase the volume of the buttocks and breasts, while remaining slim and with a thin waist. An improper use with serious side effects which, in France, has led health authorities and specialists to launch an alert. “Use without medical supervision can favor the appearance of adverse effects such as drowsiness, reduced alertness, blurred vision, dizziness, hallucinations, urinary retention, constipation, heart palpitations and blood count abnormalities,” warned the French Medicines Agency.
This medicine, on the market since the early 1970s, whose active ingredient is cyproheptadine, belongs to the family of antihistamines and is indicated for allergic manifestations (rhinitis, conjunctivitis, urticaria, hay fever, etc.) in adults and children at from 6 years old. But another ‘off label’ use is known in patients with no appetite, since increased appetite and weight gain are relatively frequent side effects. In some countries, including France, this use was authorized but subsequently revoked. Despite this, the abuse continued, particularly in some African countries, so much so that a study conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo showed that in 70% of cases the drug was taken for weight gain, especially among young women.
Therefore, already in January 2022, the French Medicines Agency had raised the alarm for “a non-compliant and potentially dangerous use of cyproheptadine as orexigen to induce weight gain for aesthetic purposes”, underlining how this happened mainly due to the ‘advertisement’ made “on social networks”. Now the French Pharmacological Society has also highlighted the need to review “the benefit-risk ratio of cyproheptadine”, evaluating restrictions on the sale or inclusion in the categories of prescription drugs. Despite this, many girls ‘talk’ about it on social media as “a way to have influencer or model curves”.