If only slimming down was as easy as putting on some weight, right? You’ve schlepped through everything from dieting and exercising in an effort to lose the extra kilos but, if you’re honest, you’d rather take prescription medications for weight loss. Sound familiar?
The good news is that there are plenty of medications to lose weight. But, the lesser good news is that it can be overwhelming to choose from a diversity of weight loss medications in the market. To simplify, this article discusses Diethylpropion and Phentermine, which are much more legit prescription weight loss medications.
Drug Classification and the US. FDA Approval
Diethylpropion and Phentermine are both anorexigenic drugs and relate to the amphetamine group. They work by curbing hunger and, in turn, help lose weight. Doctors recommend using these medications for people with excess weight or obesity and have not been able to shed enough pounds with diet and exercise alone.
These drugs offer maximum efficiency as they’re approved by the US. FDA in 1959.
Prescription, Dosage, and Administration
A doctor prescribes both drugs for short-term use. As habit forming drugs, abrupt cessation of the treatment course may result in serious withdrawal reactions. Users should stop taking these drugs if they do not lose at least 4 pounds in 4 weeks. Also, users should not share these drugs with another person who has a drug abuse or addiction history.
While Diethylpropion and Phentermine are usually given after diet and exercise proved no success in obese and overweight people, such drugs differ in dosage and administration.
The immediate-release tablet of Diethylpropion (25 mg) is usually taken three times a day before meals, while the extended-release tablet (75 mg) is usually taken once a day midmorning. Doctors note that the extended-release tablet should be swallowed whole. If a person crushes, chews, or breaks the tablet, all the drugs can be released at once, which will increase the risk of side effects. On the other hand, Phentermine comes in a 37.5 mg oral tablet and 15 mg and 30 mg oral capsules. While the oral tablet is usually taken in the morning, with or without breakfast, the capsules are usually taken about 2 hours after breakfast.
Both Diethylpropion and Phentermine are not approved for use by anyone younger than 16 years old.
Drug Interactions
Diethylpropion and Phentermine should not be taken if a person has used an MAO inhibitor in the past 2 weeks. Doing so can cause a dangerous drug interaction. MAO inhibitors include methylene blue injection, rasagiline, selegiline, isocarboxazid, tranylcypromine, and linezolid. A person should also refrain from using Diethylpropion and Phentermine in combination with each other or with other diet pills and appetite suppressants, as this can result in pulmonary hypertension.
Contraindications
Both drugs are contraindicated during pregnancy because the baby could become dependent on such drugs and undergo withdrawal symptoms after it is born. Additional contraindications include alcohol, bupropion-containing products, and chronic opioid use.
Warnings and Precautions
To ensure that both drugs are safe, one should disclose to the doctor if he has taken any other diet pills within the past 12 months and if he has ever had seizures or epilepsy and kidney disease. Since Diethylpropion and Phentermine are stimulants similar to amphetamine, they can affect the central nervous system. In other words, they can increase blood pressure and heart rate. For this reason, those with heart disease and diseases of rapid heart rate are discouraged from taking either of these drugs. Moreover, a person allergic to any ingredients of both drugs should not take it, or if he has: an overactive thyroid, glaucoma, and severe coronary artery disease.
Use in Pregnancy and Nursing Mothers
As mentioned, both drugs are not safe to use during pregnancy. After pregnancy, they’re still not safe to use if the mother is breastfeeding her baby. These drugs can pass into breast milk and affect the nursing baby. If the mother desperately wants to lose the baby weight, she should stop breastfeeding before taking these drugs.
Brand Names
Today one can buy Diethylpropion under the names Tenapil, Tenuate, and Tenuate Dospan. Phentermine is known as Lomaira, Ionamin, Metermin, Duromine, and Adipex. Prices of both drugs may vary considerably depending on the manufacturer and place of purchase.
Common Side Effects
Among the most commonly appearing side-effects are increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, palpitations, altered sense of taste, irritability, dry mouth, dizziness, constipation, nausea, headache, hallucinations, uncontrolled anger, tremors, sweating, stomachache, fatigue, flushing, diarrhea, vomiting, and insomnia.
Alternatives
To avoid the side effects of Diethylpropion and Phentermine, experts formulated alternatives like PhenGold, PhenQ, and Phen375. These weight loss supplements mimic the weight-loss potential of the two drugs with no life-threatening side effects.
PhenGold
PhenGold is the leading weight-loss supplement since it has broken all sales records since its launch. It works by suppressing the appetite, raising metabolism, and boosting energy levels. Those struggling with obesity and weight-related problems can view PhenGold as something that permits them to shed pounds rapidly and adequately.
The all-natural ingredients of the formula are BioPerine black pepper, green tea leaf extract, vitamins, Dimethylaminoethanol, capsicum extract, L-Theanine, caffeine, green coffee, and L-Tyrosine, Rhodiola Rosea. All of these leaves, herbs, vitamins, and amino acids have independent weight loss benefits,
There are no reported health risks associated with taking PhenGold. As per the testimonials and reviews, PhenGold doubles down their body’s capacity to burn fat, helping them lose up to 30 lbs in 4 weeks.
With PhenGold, one can supercharge the fat breakdown process, thereby losing the stubborn fat in no time. Plus, PhenGold is twice as potent as any weight-loss product in the market.
PhenQ
The new generation 5-in-1 weight loss supplement, PhenQ, gives desirable results with no side effects. It’s an advanced weight loss formula made by Wolfson Berg Limited that works by suppressing the appetite, burning fat, stopping fat production, boosting energy, and improving mood.
PhenQ is designed with natural and potent ingredients, including Chromium Picolinate, nopal, caffeine, L-Carnitine fumarate, and capsimax powder. It also contains a secret ingredient known as a-Lacys Reset that was created using revolutionary research. These ingredients have been proven to decrease body weight and body fat while also improving muscle gain.
Consuming PhenQ equates to a simple and straightforward weight loss process. The supplement can easily be absorbed even if one is following any diet plan. Accordingly, PhenQ allows its users to lose up to 12 extra pounds.
While the price runs a bit on the high side, PhenQ has a strong safety record. Thus, there’s a maximum guarantee that one is paying for a premium quality product.
Phen375
This natural dietary product is manufactured by Shippitsa Ltd., a company based in Scotland. They designed Phen375 to tackle weight loss from two angles- speeding up metabolism and suppressing appetite. As it speeds up metabolism, one can burn for fats per day. As its ingredients act as appetite suppressants, one ends up eating less.
Phen375 is produced in an FDA-compliant facility; hence, it’s 100% safe and effective. The natural ingredients unique to Phen375 are Coleus Forskohlii Root PE (10% Forskolin), L-carnitine, cayenne pepper, Dendrobium Nobile Extract (from orchids), Caffeine powder Anhydrous, and Citrus Aurantium.
The main highlight of Phen375 is that it burns fat 24 hours a day. When paired with proper dieting and exercise, it enables a weight loss average of 3-5 lbs a week.
Phen375 is intended to shed the extra pounds that have been making people feel bad about themselves. Anyone who’s looking for a risk-free weight-loss supplement should give it a shot.