[SlenderMe]

Hi. Recently, I went to my Primary Care Physician and told him I wanted to get a prescription for a diet med to help boost my metabolism and lose some weight. My dr. prescibed Merridia
10 mg pills that I take one pill every morning. The pharmacist charged me $ 99.00 for a bottle of only 30 pills which is crazy expensive.

Have any of you used this RX weight-loss med? I asked the pharmacist if there was a generic for Merridia and he said NO, but he said that I could get a med called " Fastin " which is same thing as "Phentermine" and he said that Fastin costs a whole lot less and works basicly the same as Meridia. I went ahead this time and bought the Merridia and planned on talking with my dr. in 4 wks when I have my follow-up appt. My dr. said he must monitor me at appts. every 3 to 4 weeks and I do not have any warning health problems, so am okay to take Merridia. However, he is aware of 2 of my ongoing meds I take for my back pain that I really must take but has slowed my metabolism down a lot since my back operation. Sure, I plan on exercising a lot and watching my diet, I just wanted a boost.

Do any of you have any experience with any of these meds?

Thanks for listening and look forward to hearing from you.
......April

[Sojourner]

Several years back I took Phen/Fen (the phen as in phentermine) and lost about 20 pounds. I was thrilled to be thinner, but I became very depressed, wasn't exercising, and never changed to a healthier eating lifestyle. When the drugs were pulled off the market, I of course started the slow climb back up the scale and gained an additional thirty pounds on top of the twenty... fifty pounds!

I would be very, very careful with weight loss drugs. They create an artificial physical environment in which to lose weight. Meridia will not boost your metabolism, in fact, it will probably do just the opposite since you will cut way back on food intake. Once you go off the drugs, you will likely gain the weight back unless you have made real behavioral changes. Of course, you will lose weight on your own if you make real behavioral changes in your life without the drugs! Granted, the drugs will give you a great jump start, but you have to do the work or it will all be in vain. It's slower and harder without drugs, but I am happy knowing the weight I have lost over the last six months will stay off. Try it for a few months, but don't skip out on exercising and eating healthy foods. Good luck!

[Lunula]

Meridia does NOT boost your metabolism. In theory, it works by affecting the part of your brain that controls appetite, making you "think" you're fuller than you actually are. It's not an appetite suppressant, it just tries to trick your brain into not eating as much.

In fact, there are no pills that can truly boost your metabolism. You can take amphetamine-like drugs to make you burn more calories temporarily - the crux of course being, as soon as you go off those drugs you'll gain all the weight back. This is why speed isn't the drug-of-choice prescribed by doctor's anymore for overweight individuals.

I've known two people who've used Meridia - neither one with great results - very minimal weight-loss (I think I read one place that the average weight-loss during one year for Meridia users was only like 6lbs more than people taking a placebo) and now both are freaked out about the growing number of lawsuits against Abbott Laboratories, the makers of Meridia. In fact, it's been pulled from the market in Italy & is under review in many other European countries.

Not tryin' to freak you out - I was actually on it myself for an entire month, lol. Didn't do a thing for me & I just couldn't see that the "benefits" outweighed the risks.

Best of luck to you!