Appetite suppression, phentermine and obesity treatment

During last few decades the problem of obesity has become so evident that we just can't pass it over in silence. The number of obese people increases not only among adults, but also among teenagers. Where does obesity springs from? Today it has become obvious that eating is not just a physiological response. The contemporary world and life style provides plenty of reasons for being overweight: stress and depression, irregular meals and lack of exercises, unhealthy food and absence of time for proper rest.

Studying craving for food in obese patients, scientist have found specific areas of brain to be responsible for appetite. It entailed the idea of appetite suppression by affecting these brain circuits. The stimulants aimed at reducing hunger and by that controlling weight are called amphetamines. They are supposed to have addictive potential if taken during a long period, therefore are available strictly on prescription.

In general, all available in the market appetite suppressant drugs may be divided into two broad pharmacological categories: those affecting through catecholamine pathways and those which affect through serotonin pathways. The drugs related to appetite suppressants include phentermine, which has been proved to reduce hunger and lower food consumption thereby helping obese people to keep to a low-calorie diet. It stimulates the brain circuits which increase patient's blood pressure and heart rate to reduce appetite. Phentermine is rather cheap and available online, what upholds its popularity.

Phentermine percentage of prescription totals as much as 50% due to its low cost and high effectiveness. In 1959 FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved phentermine as the short-term obesity treatment appetite suppressant. Since then phentermine outlived both periods of extreme popularity and times of decline and customer's distrust.

Fen-Phen and Dexfen-Phen, the combinations of phentermine with fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine (or Redux) respectively, were the first drug cocktails to gain popularity. Though these mixtures had never been approved by FDA, they were legal as all constituents had been FDA approved. The number of prescriptions ran up to 6.6 million in culminating 1996. University of Rochester group of scientists under the leadership of Dr. M. Weintraub stated Fen-Phen to have no side effects and be even more effective than exercises and proper diet.

However, despite considerable public excitement there had been no safety tests of these cocktails until 1997, when the Mayo Clinic physicians faced 24 cases of heart valve disease among Fen-Phen users. It attracted rapt attention of FDA and induced thorough investigations. The trials revealed that about 30% of Fenfluramine and Dexfenfluramine users had valvular abnormalities, what exceeded expectations greatly. These findings primarily showed that valvular incorrectnesses prevalently develop in patients who took drugs containing dexfenfluramine and fenfluramine for more than 6 months. As a result Fenfluramine and Dexfenfluramine were withdrawn by FDA September, 1997. Note, that FDA did not request to withdraw Phentermine.

Today phentermine is legal and allowed on prescription. Currently it as available under the brands "Ionamin" and "Adipex-P" in drugstores and online. The newest cocktail containing phentermine is "Phen-Pro". It is considered to not to cause the problems resulted from taking Fen- or Dexfen-Phens. "Pro" is from Prozac, which is one of the following antidepressants: Calexa, Zoloft, Trazadone, Luvox and Effexor. This constituent is needed to enable better work of phentermine during longer period of time and has no relation to depression.

Finally you should know that phentermine is an effective drug for obesity treatment available at a reasonable price. But it by no means substitutes proper diet and training. It is efficient only in conjunction with a low-calorie diet and exercises. So now you are aware of all there is to know about phentermine, and we hope it'll help you to make the right choice on your way to healthy and happy life!