Cannot Loose Weight Anyone Has Anyone Tried Phentermine/adipex

[Findinghope]

I am feeling better (at least better for me) and have been exercising but I cannot seem to lose weight. I want to loose about 30lbs. I am up to 180!!! Which is too much for me. A friend went to a weight loss clinic where she is taking this and has lost 40lbs! But in reading the information it sounds like it might not be such a good idea for someone diagnosed with POTS.

Anyone have any experience with this or other weight loss meds? I am feeling so much better I hate to send myself into a flare up......but I really want this weight OFF.

Let me know what you guys have done that has helped you. I currently take a very small dose of Lexapro (which has been a lifesaver) .5 mg every 2 days then skip the 3rd day and repeat. That has helped so much.

Thanks for all of your help wishing you all health love and success!

[millyaulait]

It's basically a stimulant so if you have anything such as palpitations, fast heart rate, etc it will likely make them a lot worse very quickly. Also you may not sleep/sleep well.

There's really no magic pill out there, especially not with high risks, as far as I know. Losing weight is honestly all about the food. Pills are dangerous, IMO!

I have tried a ketogenic diet, they really work and I did not feel deprived or have to worry about my heart.

[dkd]

I have a friend who took it a few years back. She lost 30 lbs in a month, but when she quit taking it, she gained it all back plus some.

She complained of insomnia, dry mouth and constipation when she was taking it. I was considering it, but since I have tachycardia already, I decided it was not a good idea.

[Sunshinegirl]

I have to agree with the above posts. When you loose weight the wrong way, you are actually loosing muscle and water....not fat. Weight loss is so much more than the numbers! If you don't do it the correct way, meaning keeping and gaining muscle while loosing fat and staying hydrated, you will gain it back and maybe more! These pills could hurt you if you have a high heart rate or irregular beat. If you have a hard time with electrolyte balance...it will get worse.

I gained a bit of weight and want to loose it. I was at a MD who is also a Dr. of Osteopathy yesterday for a holistic approach to things and he is close with my neurologist. When I mentioned that I wanted to loose some weight he said "why?" After the exam of my legs and arms where he was squishing me, he said that I had a very high muscle content and should just keep working out when I can and continue eating right. He suggested that if I do loose weight, not to take any pills and not go to excess on anything or I will end up with repercussions. The message was, slower is better. He also suggested that I get a new concept of body image and be at peace with myself no matter what. Wise! So, I still do want to loose 25lbs (im short) but now I feel better about doing my best on any given day and not giving in to the temptation to fret or add negative feelings to my situation. I do think this encounter changed the way I look at myself. I am not a number or a fashion statement. I am a person living with a situation that is akin or likened to living with congestive heart failure! I don't need to be my own worst enemy right now or put unrealistic expectations on myself...or loose muscle mass.

One very good reason not to loose muscle mass on fad diets is because muscles are the furnace for burning energy (fat) and when you loose muscle mass you have nothing left to compensate for sloppy vein constriction that causes POTs in the first place. The POTS will get worse with deconditioning and then you will not be able to work out as well as you could today. Deconditioning is far worse than being a bit heavier than you would like.

I have decided that in 5 yrs time, I will work up to being a "version" of a body builder....that means I will get as much muscle as I can....and maybe shave my legs if I can bend over.

[Jordanalynn]

Honestly, I'd be more worried about my symptoms flaring, which seems to happen anyway every time I lose weight (without the use of weightloss products). Phentermine is probably risky for someone without POTS, I think you're asking for trouble if you take it...

[lfreem02]

I gained 35lbs on Lexapro, and it has been difficult to get it off. I switched to Zoloft, and stopped gaining weight, but couldn't lose any. I finally went off of the Zoloft, and lost 15lbs. My symptoms flared up, so I had to go back on Zoloft. I am eating a plant based diet, and stay away from cakes, cookies, basically anything with added sugar. I only drink water (with NUUN tablets), and try to eat as little processed foods as possible. I started going to a bootcamp gym, and do five 30 minute classes a week. I have only lost 2-3 lbs, but my close are looser. The good thing about loosing weight slowly is that you don't end up with loose skin and stretch marks. Medication has a big impact on your body. Don't give up. If you are eating right, and exercising, you are doing what is best for you.

[donaxemena]

This is a really old post I am replying to but I wanted to update for me. I have Nuero/hyper andergenic POTS or Hyper POTS. I have slowly gained weight from 130 up to 288 regarless of diet. I have flares. I did not go down the path of medications for the weight because of all the feedback here. I was worried about having more POTS problems on top of everything else. But, now that I have ballooned up and no I do not eat a lot. I barely eat 800-900 calories a day. I am never hungry. I eat good food when I do eat but its not enough. It all started with that Keto diet. I did loose weight initially but then I flared and ended up stopping. Dietitian and md said it was because my body couldn't handle the ketosis state and I went down adrenal insufficiency hole and crashed. This became the story. I would stabilize with weight but each time it would go up a bit higher. Occasionally jumping 70+ lbs in a couple of months. It seemed that I had too much cortisol. all in all, the dysautonomia has affected my system terribly and POTs isn't the only problem from it. The entire endocrine system, all of the other processes have problems with working right on  a regular basis. Just when I feel stable and think I can start to do something to loose weight, I crash. My doctors only suggestions are to learn to love who I am at the moment and they prescribe the meds and I am very in tune with when I have to come down on them or go higher and I have a lot of them. My point here is phentermine is like any of the other meds if you have dysautonomia. It may cause problems sometimes and not others and you may have to try it for a few days or weeks and then come off it and then next time you try it will work great. Its not the meds but rather your system waxing and waning and if you can be in tune with yourself and have report with your doctors then you can manage your condition better. I have finally chosen to go down the path with a couple of stimulants because I also have narcolepsy and ADHD both are "intermittently expressed" and turns out I need the dopamine and serotonin boosts but not all the time. I have been stable for a month now and really wish someone would have told me earlier on that it will be trial and error and that I have to be more proactive with my body. keep notes, communicate with the doctor regularly via messages, and be consistent with everything. It helps to then when you try to tell them that you are continuing to gain weight but you only eat 900 lor less calories. They dont believe you but if its in black and white and in an app then they have to face that medicine may be failing you instead of the other way around. Good luck and enjoy life.

[Ginger_]

On 10/25/2023 at 11:57 AM, donaxemena said:

This is a really old post I am replying to but I wanted to update for me. I have Nuero/hyper andergenic POTS or Hyper POTS. I have slowly gained weight from 130 up to 288 regarless of diet. I have flares. I did not go down the path of medications for the weight because of all the feedback here. I was worried about having more POTS problems on top of everything else. But, now that I have ballooned up and no I do not eat a lot. I barely eat 800-900 calories a day. I am never hungry. I eat good food when I do eat but its not enough. It all started with that Keto diet. I did loose weight initially but then I flared and ended up stopping. Dietitian and md said it was because my body couldn't handle the ketosis state and I went down adrenal insufficiency hole and crashed. This became the story. I would stabilize with weight but each time it would go up a bit higher. Occasionally jumping 70+ lbs in a couple of months. It seemed that I had too much cortisol. all in all, the dysautonomia has affected my system terribly and POTs isn't the only problem from it. The entire endocrine system, all of the other processes have problems with working right on  a regular basis. Just when I feel stable and think I can start to do something to loose weight, I crash. My doctors only suggestions are to learn to love who I am at the moment and they prescribe the meds and I am very in tune with when I have to come down on them or go higher and I have a lot of them. My point here is phentermine is like any of the other meds if you have dysautonomia. It may cause problems sometimes and not others and you may have to try it for a few days or weeks and then come off it and then next time you try it will work great. Its not the meds but rather your system waxing and waning and if you can be in tune with yourself and have report with your doctors then you can manage your condition better. I have finally chosen to go down the path with a couple of stimulants because I also have narcolepsy and ADHD both are "intermittently expressed" and turns out I need the dopamine and serotonin boosts but not all the time. I have been stable for a month now and really wish someone would have told me earlier on that it will be trial and error and that I have to be more proactive with my body. keep notes, communicate with the doctor regularly via messages, and be consistent with everything. It helps to then when you try to tell them that you are continuing to gain weight but you only eat 900 lor less calories. They dont believe you but if its in black and white and in an app then they have to face that medicine may be failing you instead of the other way around. Good luck and enjoy life.

hello! have you tried contacting a dietician or nutrition coach for help? often doctors are not well versed in nutrition and it can be best to reach out to a specialist.  it is common in those who eat so little to have problems with weight.  the average adult has a basal metabolic rate that needs 1200-1500 calories daily depending on age and body composition.   eating less than this can downregulate the metabolism as the body thinks it is starving.  this can lead to high cortisol as you mentioned which can affect blood sugar, water retention, and weight retention.  the calories you DO consume the body will hold onto and store because your body thinks you will starve to death otherwise.

a downregulated metabolism can affect the thyroid as well as the thyroid produces the hormones responsible for metabolism regulation. 

i personally would avoid extremes of either high or low carb diets if I was in your situation and make sure that I was balancing what I do eat, making sure to have protein, fat, and carbs at every meal + snack.

[TachyRN]

I took phentermine temporarily and not only did I have massive flare ups of my tachycardia , palpitations, shortness of breath, and fatigue, I also had dry mouth and constipation. I did gain half the weight I lost back after stopping the medication. I would never do that again. It’s just not worth it for me.