My son is 11  and has been on dex for more than five years (though we’ve also been on Cortef for very short periods in the past.)

Dex is much, much stronger than Cortef (about 80 times stronger) so I do feel that you will see the effects of little too much dex, or a little too little dex, much more quickly and more dramatically than you will see with Cortef.   So, I absolutely believe people who report uncontrollable weight gain with dex.

At the same time, I also believe that you can make dex work for you, if you know how to handle it and are extremely careful with dosing. I feel we have been very successful with using it with my son.  He is extremely healthy and has much better energy levels, I feel, on dex than Cortef.  With careful monitoring and dosing, his weight has also been quite stable. 

For the last eight months, we have been splitting his total dex daily dex dose in two...giving approx. 2/3 when he wakes up, and 1/3 aroung 3-4 pm. I am extremely happy with how this has worked for him....his levels have generally been very well controlled and he looks great! 

I know how difficult it is to really know what people mean when they say "looks great," but if anyone can tell me how to post a picture in the text of my message, I would be glad to post a recent picture.  You know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words! ( And, of course, it will also give me the chance to show off how cute he is...LOL!)