The sad things about most diet pills is that they just about all come with some sort of unsavory side effect.  Especially the heavy hitters, the ones you have to go to a doc to get the prescription for. It seems that almost every big weightloss drug that’s been put on the market is either found to have serious side effects and taken off the market later, or is forced to put huge warnings on the product.

Heck, look at Alli (orlistat), the nonprescription sister of the prescription weightloss drug Xenical.  This one is notorious because of its potentially embarrassing and very uncomfortable side effect. It is known for producing water stool and diarrhea when too much fat is taken in.

People have literally gone in their pants with this stuff and had leakage, so that’s pretty unsavory and has prevented a lot of people from staying on it very long.  Then there are the heavy hitters like Meridia which I believe was finally taken off the market because of potential heart problems.

And who can forget the Phen Fen disaster? People actually lost their lives due to this lethal combination of prescription diet drugs. Heart problems were also associated with the drug, which is a shame because it was actually effective for weight loss. There are of course herbal phentermine options available and the one part of the drug, phentermine I believe is still available on the market for prescription use.

Then you have some problems even with the OTC stuff or stuff you can buy on the internet that’s herbal or all natural. First off, there have been a couple of scandals about “herbal” products actually containing potentially dangerous and interactive prescription drugs.

Second off, there have been scandals about some of the herbs and ingredients themselves. Consider the ephedrine ban. Ephedrine was linked to heart issues such as rapid heartbeat, arrhythmia and other problems associated with the fact that it tended to make the heart beat too fast.

Of course, this is the same reason it kept the appetite down, because it had you on “speed” motion all day long!  I know a lot of the herbal diet pills out there now give me that “shaky” feeling, like I’m going to pass out, or like I just can’t calm down.

Some of them even have made me feel sick, like I’m going to throw up. Sure, they’ve killed my appetite, but at what cost? Making me feel like crap all day?  These are all reasons that I’ve consistently turned to non-stimulant diet aids like carb cutters and hoodia appetite suppressants. They help me to get that extra “willpower” to not eat so much without making me a nervous, jittery mess!

Topamax is a well known anti depressant medication that is labeled for people that have epileptic seizures (it is in the anticonvulsant class of medications). However, as with many other drugs, this one can wear more than one hat, but how safe is it to use Topamax for other things, and for how long a period is it really safe to use this type of a drug, which undoubtedly alters something in the way your brain chemistry is working?

Topamax has garnered some buzz as being great for weightloss as well, however, some say the side effects that Topamax may offer is not worth the weight you may lose. 

Why does Topamax help you lose weight exactly, if it’s not really a diet pill, but an anti seizure drug?  Well, a lot of people that are on the drug report that it almost completely eliminates the appetite. People say that either they suddenly just don’t want to eat, or when they do eat, food tastes really flavorless to them, making them not feel the need to eat as much.

Some people have reported pretty dramatic weight loss in short periods of time while using Topamax for weight loss, which is an off-lable use that the product can be used for as long as it is prescribed for this by a Doctor.  It can be a pretty effective diet pill, but can also yield some rather alarming side effects as you’re dropping some pounds. 

Some of the side effects reported while on Topamax are numbness in the extremities (which makes sense since it dulls the nerve passages in the brain which typically contribute to convulsions), slow reaction, difficulty concentrating, children born with cleft palate, nervousness, mood swings, irritability, agressive behavior and quite a few more.

It is not only used for weight loss, seizure prevention and migraines, but it can also be used to treat alcoholics and smokers and is useful to help people cut free of their addictions, which may explain why it is so effective as an appetite suppressant.

Topamax is a Doctor prescribed medication that you must have a Doctor sign off on, and you really must have the doctor know for what purpose you need it so your side effects can be monitored. Some of the potential side effects are really no joke.

An experimental diet pill by drug company Arena sadly is showing in lab tests on rats that it is causing tumors, meaning that it is not going to be considered safe for human consumption (duh).  This is one of many new diet drugs that have failed tests of safety as well as tests of effectiveness, which is supposed to make people lose about 5% more of their body weight with the help of the drug versus placebo alone.

What I find most disturbing is that there was no mention that this drug was not going to be, under any circumstances, approved for circulation. But I’m sure that’s gotta be the case, especially since the drug, called Lorcaserin, did not even fulfill fully the requirement that it cause a 5% more weight loss in subjects that were obese and taking the drug as opposed to those that were on a placebo.

A few other diet drugs that were proposed to go to market in the desperate void of safe diet drugs that work to both suppress appetite and help people burn fat better, were also declined for dispensation after years in development and high hopes for their approval due to other safety issues.

It seems that we really don’t have any other options other than some great herbal diet supplements that are always at our disposal for appetite suppression and good old fashioned patience and discipline in what we eat as well as how often and how hard we exercise.

That’s always going to work. There are unfortunately no easy ways out for great weight loss and optimal health, not without serious consequences at least. In the end, it’s all up to you and your fitness level as well as your ability to eat the right foods as to what you will look and feel like for the rest of your life. That’s why we must make the right choices today and tomorrow on what we eat and how we choose to live our lives.

The popular diet drug Meridia has been a questionable diet drug for some time now, and there are new calls now to recall this diet drug due to the potential for some pretty serious health conditions that affect the heart as well as increase risk of stroke.

Heart and stroke risks are often associated, because any drug or lifestyle habit or diet that affects the way the blood flows through the body and the thinness or thickness of the blood, so to speak, can have an effect on both the heart’s health as well as the blood vessels in the brain which can rupture and cause a stroke.

Apparently the study, which was actually funded by Abbott Labratories, which is ironically the maker of the drugs (hey, I gotta give them props, because the outcome of the study shows an increased risk of their popular drug), shows a correlation between an increased risk of stroke and heart attacks in patients that already have predispositions toward these issues.

Now, while that’s not a smoking gun that this drug alone caused the potentially life threatening problem on it’s own but instead had some help from good old genetics, it’s still not good for the consumer protection groups who want all drugs to be 100% safe. Unfortunately that’s just not possible, but of course we want to get as close to that as we can. Heck, even acetominophen and ibuprofen have been linked to certain health issues, if you want to be a real stickler.

The bad part is that the drug Meridia has already been pulled from the market in Europe, where they are notoriously more open to new drugs, therapies and treatments than the stringent US FDA is. So you know that there have to be some real health concerns connected with taking this diet product.

Some are recommending that the diet pill stay on the market because it is relatively effective for weight loss in overweight patients, but only that it not be prescribed to those with known heart problems, or perhaps patients are required to get screened for these issues before they are allowed a prescription.   The diet pill is supposed to help control the appetite by making you feel fuller faster.

It works to naturally suppresses hunger by working on the brains central appetite control center, thereby reducing the need to eat a whole lot and reducing the caloric intake of patients, which in turn reduces their weight over a period of time.

What is sibutramine?  It was the first time I had ever heard of it when I heard that an herbal weight loss remedy called Slim-30 was recalled because it was found to contain traces of this appetite suppressing drug.

Sibutramine is a medical grade, prescription appetite suppressant which can have certain side effects that may render it harmful if taken by people with pre existing health conditions, especially if they are taking it in an herbal product that they think only contains other certain naturally derived ingredients.

We have heard stories like this before, where herbal remedies or herbal supplements are supposed to be all natural appetite suppressants, and only contain untouched herbs and other natural vitamins and minerals, and it is found that they actually contain medical prescription ingredients.

This has happened a few times in the realm of male enhancement remedies which claim to be all natural. I think once that traces of prescription male enhancement drugs were found in a few herbal remedies for things like libido and male performance, and they were recalled as well.

The bad apples like that ruin it for all the legit herbal remedies that really only do contain ingredients that are on the label and that are natural, not putting clients well being at risk by putting drugs in them that may endanger their healthy or perhaps interact with other drugs they may already be taking.

That is the biggest danger of course, that and the fact that existing health conditions like high blood pressure or heart problems may be worsened if the prescription is taken unbeknownst to the customer.

Sibutramine is a prescription appetite suppressant that works on the appetite control centers of the brain, and it may have certain side effects and be dangerous for those with high blood pressure or heartbeat irregularities to take.

The company that distributes the Slim-30 product were very responsible in their recall of the product after it was found to contain the prescription medication, to props to them. No negative side effects or interactions were reported, so it looks like it was taken off the market in the nick of time.