Table of Contents
About Weight Loss Pills
Weight loss pills help to lose weight but eating less and moving more are the basics. For some people, prescription weight loss pills may help. You’ll still need to pay attention to diet and exercise while taking these pills; they’re not for everybody.
Doctors usually recommend them only if your BMI is 30 or higher or if it’s at least 27 and you have a condition that may be related to your weight, like type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure.
Medication and Treatment with Weight Loss Pills
The medication Semaglutide (Wegovy) received FDA approval to treat obesity in 2021. More common prescription weight loss pills which have been in use longer include Liraglutide (Saxenda), naltrexone-bupropion (Contrave), Orlistat (Alli, Xenical), phentermine (Adipex-P, Ionamin, Pro-Fast), and phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia).
Before you get a weight loss pills prescription, tell your doctor about your medical history. That contains any allergies or other conditions you have medicines or supplements you take (even if they’re herbal or natural), and if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, or scheduling to get pregnant soon.
About Liraglutide (Saxenda)
How it Works:
Liraglutide, a higher type 2 diabetes drug Victoza dosage, mimics an intestinal hormone expressing your stomach full to the brain.
Side Effects:
Includes Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and low blood pressure. Serious side effects can contain raised heart rate, pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, kidney problems, and suicidal thoughts. Studies have shown Liraglutide to cause thyroid tumors in animals, but it is not yet recognized if it can root thyroid cancer in humans.
What Else You Should Know:
If you don’t lose 4% of your weight in 16 weeks of taking Liraglutide, your doctor may tell.
About Naltrexone HCl and Bupropion (Contrave)
How it Works:
Contrave is a mixture of two FDA-approved pills, naltrexone and Bupropion, in an extended-release formula. Naltrexone is permitted to treat alcohol and opioid dependence, and Bupropion is approved to treat depression and seasonal affective illness and help persons stop smoking.
Side Effects:
The maximum common side effects include Nausea, constipation, headache, vomiting, dizziness, insomnia, and thirsty mouth. Contrave has a boxed cautionary about the increased risk of suicidal feelings and behaviors associated with Bupropion. The notice also notes that serious neuropsychiatric subjects linked to Bupropion have testified. Contrave can cause seizures and should not be used in patients with a seizure disorder. The pills can also raise blood pressure and heartbeat.
What Else You Should Know:
If you do not lose 5% of your weight during the last 12 weeks of taking Contrave, your doctor may tell you to stop taking it because it’s unlikely to work for you, the FDA says.
About Orlistat (Xenical)
How it Works:
It stops your body from fascinating about a third of the fat you eat. When a doctor prescribes Orlistat, it’s named Xenical. If you can get it without a prescription, it’s Alli and has half the dose of Xenical.
Side Effects:
Including abdominal cramps. They were bloating, leakage of oily stools, more bowel movements, and an inability to control bowel actions. These side effects are regularly mild and temporary. Though, they can get worse if you eat high-fat foods.
Rare cases of severe liver damage have been reported in people taking Orlistat, but it’s unclear whether the drug caused these problems.
What Else You Should Know:
It would help if you ate a low-fat diet (less than 30% of your daily calories come from fat) earlier by taking Orlistat. Then take a multivitamin at least 2 hours earlier or after taking Orlistat, as the drug temporarily marks it harder for your physique to absorb vitamins A, D, E, & K.
Orlistat is the one drug of its kind approved in the United States. All other prescription weight loss drugs reduce appetite, including the following.
About Phentermine
How it works:
Curbs appetite. Your doctor may prescribe this under names that include Adipex or Suprenza—approved for continuous use. No, it is only approved for short-term use (a few weeks).
Side Effects:
These can be serious, such as B. high blood pressure or palpitations, restlessness, dizziness, tremors, insomnia, shortness of breath, chest pain, and difficulty with activities you could do before. Less serious side effects contain dry mouth, unpleasant taste, diarrhea, constipation, and vomiting. As with other appetite suppressants, there is a risk of dependence on the Pills.
Please do not take it late at night, as it can cause insomnia. If you are taking insulin for diabetes, tell your doctor before taking phentermine, as your insulin dose may need to be adjusted.
Then you should not take phentermine if you have heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, or uncontrolled high blood pressure. Also, you must not take it if you consume glaucoma, have an overactive thyroid, have a history of substance abuse, or are pregnant or breastfeeding.
What Else You Should Know:
The Phentermine is an amphetamine. Because of the danger of addiction or abuse, stimulants are “controlled substances,” meaning they require a particular prescription.
About Phentermine and Topiramate (Qsymia)
How it Works:
Curbs appetite. Qsymia combines phentermine with topiramate, an anti-seizure and migraine medication. Topiramate causes weight loss, promoting satiety, making food taste less appealing, and burning more calories.
Is it approved for continuous use? Yes, Qsymia has much lower levels of phentermine and topiramate than when these drugs are administered alone.
Side Effects:
The most common side effects are tingling in the hands and feet, dizziness, altered sense of taste, insomnia, constipation, and dry mouth.
Serious side effects include congenital disabilities (cleft lip and palate), faster heart rate, suicidal thoughts or actions, and eye problems that can lead to permanent vision loss if left untreated.
Women who might become pregnant must take a pregnancy test before taking Qsymia, use contraception, and have monthly pregnancy tests done while taking the pills.
You should also not take Qsymia if you have glaucoma, hyperthyroidism, heart disease, or stroke. Have your heart checked regularly or increase your dose when taking medicine.
What Else You Should Know:
If you don’t drop at least 3% of your weight after 12 weeks on Qsymia, the FDA recommends that you stop taking it or have your doctor increase your dose for the next 12 weeks, and if so, do not work, you should gradually stop taking them.
About Semaglutide (Wegovy)
How it Works:
Semaglutide mimics a gut hormone stimulating insulin production, reducing your appetite, and making you feel full.
Semaglutide was initially approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and is prescribed for that use under the names Ozempic and Rybelsus. Like Wegovy, it is designed to treat obesity and is approved for continuous use. Yes.
Side Effects:
Including abdominal cramps, constipation, vomiting, bloating, headache, fatigue, and gastroesophageal reflux. These side effects are usually mild and impermanent. Kidney problems and blurred vision have occurred in rare cases. Semaglutide has been associated with issues of disease affecting the pancreas (pancreatitis). Get medical help proximately if you develop symptoms of pancreatitis, including severe stomach/abdominal pain and persistent nausea/vomiting.
What Else You Should Know:
Indications are that you would essential to take Semaglutide for lifetime to manage your weight, and ceasing to accept it could lead to regaining the maximum of the lost weight. You should also track a low-calorie diet and exercise program.
Conclusion
The pharmacological weight loss intervention studies demonstrated significantly more significant weight reductions in obese patients compared to lifestyle interventions alone. Lifestyle interventions for weight loss combined with diet and exercise were more successful at achieving targeted weight loss goals than a diet- or physical activity-only interventions.
Also, MI counseling intervention was demonstrated to be an effective tool to promote lifestyle changes leading to more significant weight loss than a one-time provision of written information about diet and exercise. Consequential weight loss (≥5%) was associated with health benefits, including a reduction in both systolic and diastolic, as well as reductions in cardiovascular risk factors, including hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, and reduced use of concomitant medications. The degree of health benefits positively correlated with the degree of weight loss regardless of the intervention used. With regards to dietary weight loss programs, evidence from a meta-analysis indicated that Mediterranean diets appear to be more effective than low-fat diets in inducing clinically relevant long-term changes in cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory markers.
