Diet Pill Abuse

Americans spend over $40 billion annually on weight loss products, the National Eating Disorders Association reports, diet pills included. Designed to enhance weight loss, diet pills typically work by reducing your appetite, boosting your energy or metabolism -- the rate at which food is converted into energy -- or interfering with fat absorption. Like other substances, diet pills can lead to abuse, meaning that their use causes harmful consequences. If you exhibit signs of diet pill abuse, seek medical guidance.

Contributing Factors

Numerous factors contribute to diet pill abuse. People with eating disorders commonly depend upon diet pills as a means of losing weight or reducing psychological symptoms, according to a "Social Work Today" report published in July 2008, because the appetite suppression stimulates the reward center of the brain in ways similar to alcohol, nicotine and cocaine. Athletes may take diet pills for improved athletic performance. If you're prone to addictive behaviors, or have a family or personal history of addiction, your risk for diet pills abuse upon taking them is increased. Social pressure, brain chemistry and susceptibility to media messages may also contribute.

Dependency

Stimulants in many diet pills, such as caffeine, taurine or ginseng, can also lead to physical dependency. Athletes may take stimulating pills for improved athletic performance, for example, and find that as their body grows accustomed to the pills, modest daily doses are no longer effective. The longer you take diet pills, the more likely an increased dosage for similar effects may become. Consuming the pills in excessive amounts may trigger cravings for additional pills, according to the Center for Substance Abuse and Research.

Emotional dependency involves the belief that you need the pills for particular benefits and results in stress, anxiety or depression if you miss a dose. You may also deem yourself more likable or attractive while taking the pills, particularly if you suffer from low self esteem or body image problems. Once you've developed a dependency, withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, mood swings and nausea, can occur after you stop taking the pills.

Health Risks

In addition to the risk for dependency, diet pill abuse can pose potentially serious health risks. Weight loss medications with amphetamine properties, according to the CSAR, can cause an irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, headaches and, in severe cases, cardiovascular failure. After prolonged use, breathing difficulty, psychological and behavioral disorders, toxic psychosis or a lost sense of reality, dizziness, ulcers, malnutrition, insomnia, skin disorders and loss of coordination may occur. Cardiac conditions, including irregular heartbeat, heart attack, stroke and heart failure, can result in death. Taking more than one diet pill or combining diet pills with other substances, such as caffeine or alcohol, may increase these risks.

Types

All current prescription medications for obesity with the exception of orlistat pose risks for dependency and abuse, according to the Weight-control Information Network, including phentermine, phendimetrazine, diethylpropion, lipase inhibitors, topiramate and metformin. Over-the-counter diet pills, including natural herbal supplements, can also become addictive. Because they are not regulated for safety or effectiveness, many risks remain unknown. Supplements containing bitter orange, chitosan, country mallow, hoodia or green tea extract, for example, have not been proven safe. Ephedra or ephedrine-containing pills, which have amphetamine-like effects, were banned by the Food and Drug Administration after numerous reports of serious side effects, some of which were fatal.