The relationship between a mother and a daughter is a complex one. In a 2011 NIH poll, 90% of daughters said their mother listens to them, but only 43% felt understood by their mothers. Sometimes, even the most insignificant things – like doing each other's hair – can grow into fights.
But when this mother kept treating her daughter like a hair salon worker on her wedding day, her father had enough. He felt he was going to lose his daughter if the wife kept up this insufferable behavior. So, he started considering divorce and shared his frustrations with the folks online.
A mother kept berating her daughter about doing her hair during the young woman's wedding day
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
The antagonizing got so bad that the father started considering divorce
Image credits: Wavebreak Media / freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: No-Cauliflower-6934
Some Redditors pointed to the medication the woman was using and that it could cause personality changes
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
Many people in the comments drew attention to the fact that this couldn't have been just about hair. The OP has also previously posted about how his wife pressured their daughter to have a big wedding, but the young woman refused.
Some people were quick to dismiss the mother as a classic narcissist, but others observed that the husband described such behavior as unusual. "This behavior truly isn't like her. Of course, she’s had off days where she’s been off and rude, everybody has those days but this is so out of character for her," he wrote in one comment.
Then, some Redditors started asking questions about the woman's health. Was she perhaps close to menopausal age? Or perimenopausal? Was she on any medication? Why is she going to the doctor once a month? That's when the mystery started to unravel.
The OP responded that his wife is currently taking a weight loss drug phentermine. And that's when it clicked for some people: the rude behavior is probably a side effect of the meds. "That will definitely make someone act like an insufferable [a-hole]. It's essentially speed," u/TheRedCuddler wrote.
The medication that the wife is taking, phentermine, can seriously affect a person's mood and behavior
Image credits: The Yuri Arcurs Collection / freepik (not the actual photo)
The Redditor u/TheRedCuddler exaggerated a bit; phentermine is not speed. According to the Weight Wise Loss Center, this is a common misconception because phentermine is chemically similar to amphetamines. "It is not treated as such due to its low potential for addiction and abuse, hence its classification as a Schedule IV drug," they write.
However, people should take it very responsibly. The daily dosage, according to the Mayo Clinic, should be determined by a doctor, but the average dose for an adult for treatment of obesity shouldn't exceed 37.5 mg in the form of tablets and 30 mg in the form of capsules per day.
"She's taking 30mg 2x a day," the OP wrote in a comment. That's when the alarm bells started ringing off for many Redditors who had experience with the medication. "That's a really high dose," user u/mildambition wrote. "I have used it 2x in the last 5 years, the second time I had to stop early due to extreme anxiety."
UK-registered pharmacist Helen Marshall, BPharm, MRPharmS writes for Healthline that phentermine has psychological side effects. What's more, these side effects are more likely to occur if a person is taking a higher than the recommended 37.5 mg dose.
"Phentermine can often cause mood changes, such as feelings of intense excitement or happiness," Marshall explains. "It can also cause feelings of unease and restlessness." When used differently than prescribed, the medication can cause irritability, personality changes, and even psychosis.
One study documented a young female's experience with recurrent psychosis after phentermine administrations. The study's researchers from The Catholic University of Korea concluded that "phentermine can cause psychotic episodes repeatedly, resulting in chronic occupational and social impairment." According to them, "government regulations for physicians prescribing and an education for patients taking phentermine are urgently needed."
Hopefully, the OP has taken the advice from other Redditors and spoke about his concerns with his wife's doctor. Still, the damage to the wife's relationship is already done. "When she [comes] off those meds and [realizes] how she's been behaving and that she ruined her daughter's wedding, she might have a bit of a crisis," Redditor u/ohdearitsrichardiii wrote. "Be prepared for that."
Netizens asked whether his wife's usual behavior was like this, and suggested looking into medical reasons why she might be acting like this
However, almost everyone agreed that going off on the daughter like that was going to have some serious negative consequences
