What phentermine does and what it does not?

About Phentermine

Phentermine is prescription drug, used to treat extremely overweight or obese people. The drug works by affecting the central nervous system and as the result suppressing the appetite in treated patients. Obese people can suffer from many medical conditions and some of them are very serious because of the excess weight. This medication can therefore help obese patients suffering from life threatening diseases provoked by overweight.

Phentermine is the drug that must be prescribed by your doctor and as various other prescription medications it also has certain adverse effects associated with its use. Because some of them may be severe health problems, Phentermine is advised to be used only in patients where health risk from obesity is more serious than drug’s side effects.

Phentermine on the Market

This medication can be found in tablet and capsule forms. Depending on the strength, 15, 30 or 37.5mg, tablets and capsules are of different color. There are also two distinctive forms of Phentermine pills available: immediate release and time release capsules. Immediate release pills work when ingested and released into the bloodstream, while time release capsules take about 8 to 12 hours to show their effects. You can find Phentermine under several different names on the market, including ADIPEX-P and IONAMIN, but also some other.

Phentermine should be used as the short term treatment of obesity, and most doctors don’t recommend the drug for more than few weeks. Healthy lifestyle, physical activity and diet regime during the course of the treatment will decide about the amount of weight a patient will lose.

Adverse Effects of Phentermine

Patients using Phentermine might expect to experience some mild side effects such as: dry mouth, stomach upset, constipation, blurred vision, sleeping problems and irritability. Gastrointestinal problems, effects to the central nervous system and libido problems may also be present in patients on Phentermine. However, these are only transient effects that usually disappear after few days of treatment, when the body adjusts to the medication. Be careful with alcohol, because it is known to increase dizziness in some patients treated with this drug.

People using Phentermine may also suffer from more serious adverse effects, like: urinating difficulties, breathing problems, chest pain, pounding heart or even some swelling. Most serious problems that may arise in patients treated with Phentermine are: primary pulmonary hypertension and cardiac valvular disease. These have been reported especially in patients treated with combination of Fenfluramine and Phentermine.

Additionally, this medication can also show false positive results on drug tests. Because of the amphetamine-like structure, drug testing for amphetamines might turn falsely positive in patients using Phentermine.