[HappyHousewife]

My doctor prescribed me Belquiv for weight loss. Has anyone tried them? Does it work? Side effects? Average weight you lost?
Thanks for any tips or input! :-)

[nelie]

I found this article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/willia...b_3446243.html

Basically, it is an anti-depressant that can reduce your appetite. Having said that, you should see what the contradictions are. Many anti-depressants increase the risk of upper GI bleeding but the risk is nominal unless you combine the drug with things like ibuprofen, aleve, tylenol, etc. Also, you generally cannot eat grapefruit (or grapefruit juice). I'd read up on the contradictions if anything to ensure you aren't combining it with something else you shouldn't.

[AnnRue]

Well.. today.. I just started. Before agreeing to it I looked at the reviews on drugs.com. It has an 82 % approval rate. And frankly the 18% who don't approve I think just couldn't get past the opening side effects of the drug. Which can be horrible but usually go away after a week. Your body is like -- what the?

I think it is very hard today to look at any drug and not be terrified by the side effects. I think the FDA requires they list everything no matter how small a chance. In fact full disclosure, this drug can cause your breasts to grow AND for you to start releasing milk (if you are not breast feeding). That is a scary one. But, on drugs.com only one person reported that. So...

I will say that at first they were concerned about the drug causing heart valve problems but over the last 4 years on the market it has become clear the drug doesn't do that.

[AnnRue]

So Belviq "worked" in that I lost about 10 lbs in 6 weeks. But the side effects were unfortunately too great for me to continue. When you go on the drug you have a series of side effects that are pretty extreme. Then it calms down. But during the calm period I had side effects such as cognitive problems and also, wet stools. I didn't realize it was related to the pill for about 3 of the 6 weeks. Finally when you go off you have withdrawal. My withdrawal was so severe I had to get back on an taper. Including symptoms such as heart palpitations that lasted for hours. Quite bad. I have decided that it was not worth it.