19 Year-Old Thai Student Dies After Taking Diet Pills And Losing 20Kg

[webfact]

Student, 19, dies after taking diet pills and losing 20kg

By The Nation

A 19 year-old student yesterday died of apparent side effects from weightloss pills she took in the hopes of reducing her weight for the uniform of a university she was newly admitted to.

Natthiyaphorn Udomkantrong, a straightA 12thgrader from a Roi Et high school who had just secured a seat at Maha Sarakham University's faculty of pharmacy, lost 20 kilograms after taking the pills for two months.

Her mother had noticed her drastic weight loss from originally 65 kilograms, but her 10yearold sister, who learned of Natthiyaphorn taking the pills, was not aware of their potentially fatal side effects and did not tell their mother about the pills.

Initial autopsy reports cited heart failure as the cause of the young woman's death. Natthiyaphorn was due to register at the university on May 22, after passing the admission tests.

The younger sister said Natthiyaphorn took a white pill for a while before switching to a pink, oval one. Both types of pill are pending verification and analysis while police find out from what pharmacy Natthiyaphorn bought them.

-- The Nation 2011-05-13

[keestha]

In 2000, I purchased weight loss pills for my girlfriend at the time at the (prefer not to disclose the name)hospital in Bangkok. The pills instantly made her very tense and prone to violent outbursts, and she didn't lose much weight.

These substances should be very strictly controlled.

[xitroen]

These pills can be purchased everywhere and are not expensive. There are dozens of kinds, all more miraculous than the other ... Besides, existe also the slimming cafesfrom witch are also copies!

Edited May 13, 2011 by webfact
Thai language removed /Admin

[trisailer]

This is so very sad.

Unfortunatly it is all too common. My wife used to take something when she was younger to loose weight and it almost killed her. Young people are not making proper evaluations about the risks. I think there is a tendency to think that if a little is good than more is better. My MIL has suffered lung damage from using cleaning chemicals improperly and we all know about the people who recently died in Chang Mai due to chemicals.

I think that the best approach is to educate people to the dangers and try to persuade them to do some research before they use chemicals so that they know what the danger is. Most companies have material data safety sheets and products have labels. The challange is to get people to read them and follow the directions. I tell my wife; "some poor entry level process engineer sat in a cubicle for months writing directions for a products use, all you have to do is read them and follow them."

[geriatrickid]

Wow. They can interfere with access to emergency birth control but have no problem with these pills. Gotta love the Thai FDA.

[grumpyoldman]

Poor girl, this is terrible.

Are there not health educators in the schools that can teach vegetarian/no carb diets and exercise? I can lose 1-2 kilos a week this route. No meat, no sweets, (oh yeah, no beers!) run 3kms a day.

RIP, I feel terrible for her, she just wanted to fit in her new university outfit..............:-(

[jaltsc]

The more the Thais voice rejection of western style and customs, the more they pick up the bad habits. This sad case is one of someone wanting instant results no matter what the cost (of health). This is all too common in the west. Feel depressed, take an upper. Feel insecure, smoke some crack. Want to lose weight, take some 'legal' yabba. What makes people this think just because it is dispensed by a pharmacy, it is totally safe? The Thais are being influenced by western media where pencil thin bodies and high fashion are what is now desired.

Along with everything else that is NOT taught in the schools today, safe and healthy lifestyles are ignored. Reasonable diet and exercise get the same attention as safe and responsible sex. Why is anyone surprised when this sort of tragedy occurs? What is surprising is that it doesn't occur more often. Perhaps is will when Thais start addressing the growing problem of obesity resulting from eating western style diets with western style solutions.

Edited May 13, 2011 by jaltsc

[Nisa]

How very very sad.

[dumpling]

I had a similar experience with my wife a few years back.She was worried about putting on weight and went to the doctors who rather than prescribing more exercise and diet change gave her a myriad of pills.After taking these pills for a couple of days I notice a change in her behavior , so I hit the internet to find out what I could about said pills.

Any way long story short she had been given two types of amphetamine along with sleeping pills I was shocked that a medical professional would hand out such a combination to someone who was far from obese and I showed her the sites and information on what she was taking thankfully she stopped immediately and changed the doctor she visits when sick or has a problem.

In my experience very few Thais will question a doctor or ask for a second opinion and when it comes to pharmacist it seems that they are given the same blind faith.

My condolences to the family a very sad loss to die so young.

[mca]

A few years ago my neighbour came to see my wife with some medication and wanted my wife to translate the product information sheet that came in the box. It was for acne as her teenage daughter had a few ( and i do mean few ) standard teenage zits on her forehead. The side effects listed ran to a long list and as I recall contained some possible horrors like birth deformities if pregnant and sever liver damage. A quick google came up with the fact that they were only to be taken in extreme skin problem circumstances under strict medical supervision.

She bought them without prescription in a nearby pharmacy.

Edited May 13, 2011 by mca

[animatic]

The more the Thais voice rejection of western style and customs, the more they pick up the bad habits. This sad case is one of someone wanting instant results no matter what the cost (of health). This is all too common in the west. Feel depressed, take an upper. Feel insecure, smoke some crack. Want to lose weight, take some 'legal' yabba. What makes people this think just because it is dispensed by a pharmacy, it is totally safe? The Thais are being influenced by western media where pencil thin bodies and high fashion are what is now desired.

Along with everything else that is NOT taught in the schools today, safe and healthy lifestyles are ignored. Reasonable diet and exercise get the same attention as safe and responsible sex. Why is anyone surprised when this sort of tragedy occurs? What is surprising is that it doesn't occur more often. Perhaps is will when Thais start addressing the growing problem of obesity resulting from eating western style diets with western style solutions.

Not completely so in this case.

It says in the OP that she was trying to fit onto the school uniform.

That they don't make and easily found large size is endemic to the prevailing attitude you must fit in and not stand out to be a good student and good Thai. This isn't western, but very much local. Fit in, because the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.

Thai women in general are/were known for being mostly slim compared to the rest of the world, this is standard Thai form here, except for some who don't fit the normal mode. Not the Western mode, the normal Thai mode.

The thing that IS really artificial is all the WHITENING paranoia.

Very sad for the young lady. RIP. If only this would prod educators to educate about actual 'real world, today' dangers and not just what's written in the text books.

Edited May 13, 2011 by animatic

[mca]

The Thais are being influenced by western media where pencil thin bodies and high fashion are what is now desired.

I feel you're giving the west too much credit on this. The trend seems to be a bit closer to home as in following what's going on in South Korea.

[Huey]

Thats a damm shame. They really need to stop promoting this unrealistic, sick emaciated, no curve having, flat chested flat backed wealthy pale crack head look. Who the F wants something like that? My wife has so many friends like this girl who could have ended up the same.

Poor girl I hope she comes back thick and happy to a rich family who's supportive of how she looks and a husband that loves her just the way she is.

[Kilgore Trout]

These pills can be purchased everywhere and are not expensive. There are dozens of kinds, all more miraculous than the other ... Besides, existe also the slimming cafesfrom witch are also copies!

Does anyone know what the supposed drug is; dexydrine, benzedrine etc?

[Steele404]

I blame it on Thai culture .... every freaking time you meet up with someone, they always comment on "did you gain weight?" "did you lose weight", "you look fatter"

and every that facebook status message is about weight related.

[dunkin2012]

Gosh! doin' exercise 10-15 mins a day.

wouldn't have to take pills.

RIP

[toybits]

Same thing happened to the singer in a popular restaurant at Chiang Rai. Apparently, the weight loss drug she was destroyed her kidneys as well. What is sad is that the people selling this weight loss and potentially lethal drug - goes unpunished.

[trisailer]

"The Thais are being influenced by western media where pencil thin bodies and high fashion are what is now desired"

Maybe desired, but not obtained in America anyway.

When my wife first arrived in America we stopped at Wal Mart outside Jacksonville. Most Wal Mart's have a few electric carts for handicapped shoppers, this one had 100 and they were all in use by grossly obese people.

I don't think that Thai women need western models to pressure them to be thin, they have plenty of pressure right here. She is a student at ABAC where the pressure to be thin and beautiful is intense.

[Misterwhisper]

"The thing that IS really artificial is all the WHITENING paranoia."

Well said. I wonder how snow white the girl's complexion was - even before she was a corpse. After all, she not only wanted to fit into her uniform, but probably also wanted to "fit in" in a figurative sense.

[jimbeam1]

"The thing that IS really artificial is all the WHITENING paranoia."

Well said. I wonder how snow white the girl's complexion was - even before she was a corpse. After all, she not only wanted to fit into her uniform, but probably also wanted to "fit in" in a figurative sense.

What?

jb1

[roamer]

These pills can be purchased everywhere and are not expensive. There are dozens of kinds, all more miraculous than the other ... Besides, existe also the slimming cafesfrom witch are also copies!

Does anyone know what the supposed drug is; dexydrine, benzedrine etc?

Dexedrine & Benzedrine are trademarks for the same substance. Controlled drugs in Thailand. The "legal" variants are usually produced by tinkering with the structure of the parent compound to produce a homologue that is not covered by the regulations. One of the problems here is that the side effects are often unknown as there will have been little, if any, research done on the compound. Many of these drugs are produced in China for export.

Edited May 13, 2011 by roamer

[Ulysses G.]

Are there not health educators in the schools that can teach vegetarian/no carb diets...

Aren't vegetables mostly carbs?

[cardholder]

Poor girl, this is terrible.

Are there not health educators in the schools that can teach vegetarian/no carb diets and exercise? I can lose 1-2 kilos a week this route. No meat, no sweets, (oh yeah, no beers!) run 3kms a day.

RIP, I feel terrible for her, she just wanted to fit in her new university outfit..............:-(

It is even sadder that at 65 kgs she probably would have.

[Bagwan]

A Thai doctor might suggest losing weight but then look dumbfounded when asked where the hospital dietician can be found. It seems hospitals would rather buy another state of the art TV set then hiring a dietician. Keep 'em fat, ,keep the doctors busy making even more money and then there is the prospect of treating another heart attack or stroke victim. Keeps the money rolling in, eh?

As for exercising most Thais that I know jump on their motor bikes to travel 50 yards. As for walking up a flight of stairs, heavens forbid!

On more than one occasion I have returned unsafe medicines to doctors and insisted that they authorise a full refund after reading the manufacturers instructions and extensive Googling of credible authorities. My wife takes 3 different antiviral medications every day and I advise all doctors and dentists of her condition, yet still they prescribe NSAIDS which would damage her liver and kidneys in no time at all. All medications have side effects and thankfully most of them are tolerable but I do not feel that I am being psychotic that I check out all medications before ingesting.

BTW I understand that anybody can open a pharmacy business in Thailand so even consulting with the boss person may be no more safer than consulting the hired help.

[BuckarooBanzai]

"The Thais are being influenced by western media where pencil thin bodies and high fashion are what is now desired"

Maybe desired, but not obtained in America anyway.

When my wife first arrived in America we stopped at Wal Mart outside Jacksonville. Most Wal Mart's have a few electric carts for handicapped shoppers, this one had 100 and they were all in use by grossly obese people.

I don't think that Thai women need western models to pressure them to be thin, they have plenty of pressure right here. She is a student at ABAC where the pressure to be thin and beautiful is intense.

Sorry trisailer, don't agree. IMHO Thai women in general have historically been thin but their diet and perhaps other labor factors have been changing. Thai's in general are gaining weight over historical levels and many of the thinner Thai's respond negatively (verbalizing insults to others etc.) to the trend. I suppose we can blame the west for the lousy fast food and extremely bad example though.