Phentermine Diet Pills

A blending of changes in a lifestyle and drug therapy is a well-known and time-tested approach for obesity treatment.

According to this approach, high risk patients are prescribed cholesterol-lowering, antihypertensive, and anti-diabetic medications in case their diet plan has failed and the increase in physical activity has been ineffective. However, doctors are less likely to prescribe drug therapy for obese patients. It can be partly explained by previous experience of amphetamine derivatives treatment that caused drug dependence, and extremely negative results of widespread use of fen-phen, a medication that consisted of two drugs: fenfluramine and Phentermine. Besides, a lot of physicians are still reluctant to prescribe anorectics, because they haven’t sufficiently mastered use of these drugs. A significant role is also given to a general lack of knowledge about obesity. The US FDA recommended two medications, Sibutramine (Meridia) and Orlistat (Xenical), for a long-term treatment of obesity in 1997.

Drug therapy of obesity is carried out in several areas. They are all based on creation of a negative energy balance. The first and most-studied area is appetite suppression by affecting monoamines neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (CNS). The second area is the limit of main nutrients (e.g. fats) intake in the gastrointestinal tract. Mechanisms of action of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs include the weakening of taste perception (benzocaine), induction of feelings of stomach fullness and satiety (dietary fiber supplements), and decreased appetite (phenylpropanolamine, ephedrine).

Learning more about the mechanisms of appetite regulation and energy metabolism, of course, will lead to the production of new medications in the next decade. Among the promising studies are studies of dopaminergic selective compounds that regulate appetite, neuropeptide synthetic analogues or inhibitors that reduce the caloric intake and increase energy expenditure (including leptin, neuropeptide Y, melanocortin, thermogenic stimulants, e.g. selective beta 3-Adrenoceptor agonists); drugs affecting energy metabolism and changing the ratio of nutrients uptake. Recently a series of reviews of existing and developed medications has been published.

It is very important to combine pharmacological effects and the patient’s lifestyle changes the right way during drug therapy of obesity. Regardless of the mechanism of drug action (appetite suppression in the central nervous system or fat absorption blockade in the periphery), patients are required to radically change their behavior in order to lose weight. In other words, the pharmacological effect from any medication designed to treat obesity should be converted into changes in the patient’s lifestyle. For example, use of anorectics suppresses the feeling of hunger and/or enhances the feeling of satiety. It is required to make patients reduce the amount of food intake, switch to a more favorable diet plan, and reduce the number of daily meals. If the patient doesn’t notice or ignores the hunger suppressant effect achieved due to medications, he won’t be able to achieve sufficient weight loss. Similarly, use of a drug that blocks fat absorption in the intestine, can only lead to therapy failure due to hard-to-bear side effects if a patient doesn’t reduce fat intake to <30%. On the other hand, if the same patient increases the intake of protein, carbohydrates, and alcohol (but not fat), the amount of calories taken will increase but side effects won’t develop. The weight will not decrease. It may even increase, despite taking the right medication. Moreover, the initially achieved weight loss results will be lost without an increase in physical activity within the changes in ones lifestyle. Therefore, drug therapy and lifestyle changes interact in both ways and are equally positive. For this reason, any weight loss medications taken for treatment of obesity should be considered as a supplement only, but not a substitute for patient’s lifestyle changes.