Doctors advice

I went to the endocrinologist today. She wanted to check my thyroid again for nodules that were found when I was still pregnant about 1 year ago. Now with healthy 9 month old twins and the extra 50 pounds still, my doctor is concerned with my health.

My primary doctor said I was fine, healthy, low blood pressure, good cholesterol, losing the weight slowly and healthy.

Now my endocrinologist, because nothing is wrong with my thyroid, has given me the chance to try Merida, an obesity drug. I have been called fat, overweight, but Never obese. YIKES. I hope it works, I have to get back on track, seem to be lacking the motivation.

Anyone tried this drug before? I have read controversial studies, but isn't that what every drug produces, controversial studies.

 

Well, back on C.C. with a new drug and a new schwinn recumbent on Saturday. Lets pray for my drive and luck! Need to get under 200 in 3 months, at 218 currently, have only gained since giving birth and I eat healthy!!!

Well, keep at it! The eating healthy part.  Good luck with the drug, but remember, the drug is just like a vitamin... just because you take vitamins, doesn't mean you don't have to eat fruits and vegetables! In other words, just because you are on this drug, doesn't mean its a cure-all weight-loss thing, it just might help bolster your success rate.

I'd follow the doctor's advice though... good nutrition, exercise, calorie deficit, and in your case, drug. The other doctor might just not be comfortable bringing up weight issues with a female patient. :-/ Sad truth in many cases.

The endocrinologist if a fruitcake and a drug pusher!  At 218, you should not need a drug to help you lose weight.  Why take the chance with the side effects if it is not necessary.  I do have hypothyroidism and have lost 76 pounds without drugs.  I made it from Obese to Normal BMI last week.  I am not saying that some people do not need help, but drugs should be a last resort.

Original Post by nosouix:

The endocrinologist if a fruitcake and a drug pusher!  At 218, you should not need a drug to help you lose weight.  Why take the chance with the side effects if it is not necessary.  I do have hypothyroidism and have lost 76 pounds without drugs.  I made it from Obese to Normal BMI last week.  I am not saying that some people do not need help, but drugs should be a last resort.

I don't know anything about this drug, but I have to agree with Nosouix.  I wouldn't take any drugs for anything unless it was absolutely necessary.  Maybe you should go back to your Primary Doctor and ask for a second opinion.

Congrats Nosouix on your Normal BMI. :)

 

Original Post by mammamoosh:

I went to the endocrinologist today. She wanted to check my thyroid again for nodules that were found when I was still pregnant about 1 year ago. Now with healthy 9 month old twins and the extra 50 pounds still, my doctor is concerned with my health.

My primary doctor said I was fine, healthy, low blood pressure, good cholesterol, losing the weight slowly and healthy.

Now my endocrinologist, because nothing is wrong with my thyroid, has given me the chance to try Merida, an obesity drug. I have been called fat, overweight, but Never obese. YIKES. I hope it works, I have to get back on track, seem to be lacking the motivation.

Anyone tried this drug before? I have read controversial studies, but isn't that what every drug produces, controversial studies.

 

Well, back on C.C. with a new drug and a new schwinn recumbent on Saturday. Lets pray for my drive and luck! Need to get under 200 in 3 months, at 218 currently, have only gained since giving birth and I eat healthy!!!

IF and that's a HUGE IF....if you still choose to take anti-obesity drugs...why not try XENICAL?  I would strongly urge AGAINST meridia as it works on your central nervous system.  I know many women who have developed heart murmurs and other heart problems due to this drug. 

Xenical is different because it's a fat asborber/blocker.  Does not affect your CNS at all!  You can lose weight without these drugs.  i strongly DISCOURAGE the use.....Should be taken off the market!!!  Your heart will thank you!

~H~

 

If your primary care doctor is satisfied with your progress and your blood-pressure etc are fine, and the endocrinologist can't find any biochemical reason for your slow weightloss, why do you need to take a drug to try and force the issue? Doctors don't know everything, and some are just glorified pill-pushers. Personally, I'd say that it's better to maintain at 218lbs than to take that stuff.

I'm going to agree, it sounds like the specialist is now looking for a reason to keep you as a patient.  If you're primary doctor has determined that your body is healthy and you are losing weight appropriately, then you shouldn't need additional drugs. 

A good specialist should recognize when to let go of their patients.  I say this as someone with an autistic child and I've recently had gynecological surgery.  They serve their purpose and then should let the primary doc take over. 

Thank you for all of your advice and you input. I also asked the endo. about the side effects that I read about, she stated that most of the negative side effects occured with people who were severely overweight and had high blood pressure to start, that is why the heart suffered and the palpatations occur. She said that if my blood pressure was high she would have never even offered it. My blood pressure is 108/68.

I do want to make it clear that she did not push it on me, I understand from the replies that some feel she is a pill pusher and that is not the case. If I could break down my weight loss for all it would be more reasonable to "try" something. I have strange plateauing issues after haveing my children and it took 5 years to lose the weight from my daughter, but for that 5 years I was over 200 pounds and my pre-pregnancy weight is much less, so the strain on the body was the main concern. My primary, as I mentioned, pushed anti anxiety pills on me, if anything he is the pill pusher. I brought up my weight loss issues with him and said that after 9 months I weigh more than when I came home from the hospital with the twins. 1st pregnancy plateau was 213, this pregnancy 218. I never thought I would go above 180 ever again in my life.

Anyways, I am not siding with anyone, I just needed to share.

As for the Xenical, I do not eat enough fat in my diet to need to block fat absorption. But that does not mean I have not taken that into consideration.

I understand everyones concern for my health and I thank you. IF, is right, and I believe I will try for a short period of time, I will know within the first month if this is something that I will take or somemthing that will negatively affect me. I am still a paitient with my endo. pills or not, there are nodules in my tyroid that could become cancerous, so no matter my choice with this, I will still be visiting her every 3 months to make sure my body stays healthy. I am young, I am determined, and I have 3 children I want to live with for a long time.

THe negative side effects due to this drug can also be caused by fatty foods, ciggaret smoking, illegal drug abuse, or even more common or even environmental factors. Trust me, I am the first to question, but I am also the first to ask.

This is not my only step, today we are picking up an elliptical, and tomorrow a recumbent bike. The kicker from this whole situation is that I eat between 1350 and 1600 calories per day and was working out with turbo jam 30 min a day and walking between 3 and 6 miles while pushing a double stroller with 2 20lb babies. The minimal weight loss is baffeling to all of my doctors, all THREE, all my family and friends.

It is just a very frustrating situation. I hope you all understand. Thank You! And good luck and congrats to the Normal BMI!!

I'm  certainly glad you have done your homework in all aspects of this situation.  Please promise that if you experience any 'weird' or 'unusual' side effects from the meridia, stop taking them right away.  Stay focused and you WILL achieve your goal weight with ease!!!  Best of luck to you :)

Oh btw, you better be posting your progress here to share with us!  We are HERE to help you if you need a kick in the butt LOL

~H~

my honest opinion is similar to what others have said. i would first try upping my exercise, and maybe being a bit more strict with calorie, and if i saw no results for a year (which i sort of doubt) i might try a medicine like that.

I would recommend not taking Meridia. Even the most promising studies show an average weight loss of about 10 to 20 pounds with the drug, that reverses soon after the drug is discontinued. Weight loss drugs so often are discovered to be dangerous, years after the fact (remember fen-phen?). You have been losing weight on your own, and succeeding. You don't need this drug, and studies strongly suggest that any additional loss that you do obtain by using it will simply come back unless you keep taking it for life. Meridia, by the way, is an appetite suppressant structurally similar to amphetamines and the banned drug fenfluramine (the part of fen-phen that was banned right before meridia was approved), though its mechanism is closer to that of tricyclic antidepressants. Going on meridia should be viewed with the same reservations as going on antidepressants.

For what it's worth, not every drug produces controversial studies. Some, though not many, are just unequivocal miracles. When a drug does produce controversial studies, the "controversy" usually arises between those studies that were funded by the drug company (positive results) and those studies that were funded by independent bodies (not-so-positive results). Meridia is heavily marketed by Abbott, and pharma marketing is very skewed toward providing "information seminars" and dinners, etc. to physicians. (If you want to learn more about the pharma industry, I recommend a book by Marcia Angell, MD, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.)

At only 50 lbs overweight, with normal blood pressure, you are not risking anything by taking your weight loss slowly. You don't "need" to get under 200 in three months.  You are obese, it's true ("obese" usually starts at about 30 lbs over healthy weight, BTW - very different from what we are mentally used to considering "obese", namely "very large").  However, if you are eating healthily, exercising, and losing slowly, that is all that can be realistically expected of you by any doctor, and that is what will lead you to health and longevity. If it takes you a year or two to get all the weight off, that's OK too. It is more likely to stay off permanently that way, anyway.

If you are having a hard time sticking to your eating and exercise plan, that is the kind of thing that requires behavioural intervention and perhaps psychosocial support and counseling. It doesn't need a psychoactive drug. For what it's worth, though, if you aren't inaccurate with your calorie counting (the most common culprit - guesstimating calories or portions), then you may, in fact, derive some benefit from adding about 200 calories a day, in case you are in conservation mode (are you tired all the time? what are your medications? etc.)

Anyone here wouldn't be surprised at the minimal weight loss because you are hardly eating, which will slow down your metabolism.  I don't know how tall you are but I'm 168lbs, 5'5 1/2" and I require more calories than that when I exercise.  You probably need to eat at least 1700-1900 on exercise days. 
YOu can plug in your info in the tools here and find out what you burn and what you require for maintenance and weight loss. 

It sounds counterintuitive to eat more but it really works. 
I think of it as "fueling my exercise". 

H- Thank you, and I will post my sucess through this forum thread. I have no friends. So maybe if you guys add me?! We can keep intouch, although I have been using C.C. for awhile now I have not figured out all of the functions. BTW, sorry for all the spelling mistakes in my first post. I didn't realize.

 

Anyways, as for my success, I think my doctors scale was a little wrong, I have to put new batteries in mine, but I believe I have lost 3 pounds. I will keep in touch. And thank you again, I do need support and I don't seem to get enough of it at home, but that couldn't be becuase I spend 16 hours a day with 9 month olds and a 6 year old....now could it ?! LOL :)

 

Original Post by mrsdagle:

Anyone here wouldn't be surprised at the minimal weight loss because you are hardly eating, which will slow down your metabolism.  I don't know how tall you are but I'm 168lbs, 5'5 1/2" and I require more calories than that when I exercise.  You probably need to eat at least 1700-1900 on exercise days. 
YOu can plug in your info in the tools here and find out what you burn and what you require for maintenance and weight loss. 

It sounds counterintuitive to eat more but it really works. 
I think of it as "fueling my exercise". 

 C.C. is the one that gave me my caloric intake amount. I have based the exercise and the calorie consumption on the results it has given me by putting in all of my information. I have upped my calorie intake and decresed. This is what confuses everyone. I can eat 3000 calories a day and not gain anything and I can eat 1600 calories a day and not lose anything.

Hi, thanks for all the information, I have read all of the studies already, but I do appreciate. I don't have trouble sticking to my eating habits or exercise, I am moving all day long and eating really well, that is the confusing and the controversy with my body. Nothing is making sense to any of my 3 doctors. This weight is due to my pregnancy of my twin, whom I had 9 months ago.

Trust- these are not excuses and I guess you can say we have done everything from increasing my calories to decresing my calories and we can not get results. I am purchasing two pieces of exercise equiptment this weekend and hoping that we can get some results but switching up the exercising- I have been told by my doctors that my exercising has been extreme- I AM TIRED OF THE WEIGHT!!

Anyways, I appreciate your input and your information- but I do take an anti anxiety medicine, so I know what it is like to weigh the possibilities of taking a drug. And I am well aware of everything that can occur- I am also the person that will stop using it, it I feel inclined to do so. I do not have an addictive nature, I am willing to try, and obviously I have been willing to try and fail and keep trying for most of my life now.

 

Thanks agian- I'm hoping we all can keep in touch!

Support is what is needed!

Most of the replies you got for this post didn't come from doctors. They're coming from people who (mostly) have little background knowledge in the medical field.

I strongly advise you to follow the advise of your doctor. Of course, doing your own research on this diet drug is a good idea.

Hope you have a safe journey to weight loss!

for what it's worth, mimi, I am a med student. :/

This is my recent experience using Meridia.  Obviously different people have different experiences, so do not take this as anything more than the account on an individual. 

I used Meridia for 7 months, from September 2007 until March 2008.  I was very happy with the weight loss-35 pounds in 5 months (so less than 2 pound per week).  Using this medication allowed me to feel satisfied with what I ate-something I have never experienced before.  I was able to exercise portion control!  I was able to eat in a moderate way!  I lost weight because I counted my calories and exercised in a new way (shorter time, greater intensity). 

Although I was not obese according to the BMI chart (female, medium frame, age 42, 177 pounds, 5'8"), I do have very high cholesterol (290) and there is diabetes in my family history.  My blood pressure averages around 112/70.  I am an absolute salt-a-holic. I was prescribed this medication because I asked for it after doing some research.  I wanted to see what it is like to feel satisfied after a meal.  I wanted the slight anti-depressant effects.  I know from previous dieting that my cholesterol goes down as my weight goes down.

Along with the Meridia I took Ambien to help me sleep.  I stopped the Meridia at the end of March, when the Ambien stopped helping me sleep.  I miss the Meridia.  I value my sleep more.  I have gained back 10- 15 pounds (all during the month of April) but have leveled off it seems between 150-155, which was what I considered my "set point" in my 20s.  I have gained this weight back because I eat more and exercise less (less exercise is due to my boys' Little League schedules, but that should end soon), much like what happens to anyone who stops following their diet plan.  ONE complaint with the Meridia was dry mouth but I drank extra water and chewed more gum to deal with it. 

Overall, it was a positive experience for me.  I learned what portion control means.  I learned how it feels to stop when I'm satisfied rather than wildly overeating until full.  I still give in to emotional eating at times, but I did on the drug, too.  Sure I'd like to be 145, but at 155 I'm wearing a size 12, shopping in the regular size departments (at 177 I was wearing 16-18), and if I can stay at 155, I'm OK with it.  My doctor helped me enormously by letting me try this drug, although I didn't strictly fit the "obese" guidelines.  My blood pressure was checked monthly, and although it did go up (to 140/80) it remained within normal ranges.

I track my calories and exercise on this site, and hope that I can continue to maintain, if not lose a bit more.

 

Original Post by slent:

This is my recent experience using Meridia.  Obviously different people have different experiences, so do not take this as anything more than the account on an individual. 

I used Meridia for 7 months, from September 2007 until March 2008.  I was very happy with the weight loss-35 pounds in 5 months (so less than 2 pound per week).  Using this medication allowed me to feel satisfied with what I ate-something I have never experienced before.  I was able to exercise portion control!  I was able to eat in a moderate way!  I lost weight because I counted my calories and exercised in a new way (shorter time, greater intensity). 

Although I was not obese according to the BMI chart (female, medium frame, age 42, 177 pounds, 5'8"), I do have very high cholesterol (290) and there is diabetes in my family history.  My blood pressure averages around 112/70.  I am an absolute salt-a-holic. I was prescribed this medication because I asked for it after doing some research.  I wanted to see what it is like to feel satisfied after a meal.  I wanted the slight anti-depressant effects.  I know from previous dieting that my cholesterol goes down as my weight goes down.

Along with the Meridia I took Ambien to help me sleep.  I stopped the Meridia at the end of March, when the Ambien stopped helping me sleep.  I miss the Meridia.  I value my sleep more.  I have gained back 10- 15 pounds (all during the month of April) but have leveled off it seems between 150-155, which was what I considered my "set point" in my 20s.  I have gained this weight back because I eat more and exercise less (less exercise is due to my boys' Little League schedules, but that should end soon), much like what happens to anyone who stops following their diet plan.  ONE complaint with the Meridia was dry mouth but I drank extra water and chewed more gum to deal with it. 

Overall, it was a positive experience for me.  I learned what portion control means.  I learned how it feels to stop when I'm satisfied rather than wildly overeating until full.  I still give in to emotional eating at times, but I did on the drug, too.  Sure I'd like to be 145, but at 155 I'm wearing a size 12, shopping in the regular size departments (at 177 I was wearing 16-18), and if I can stay at 155, I'm OK with it.  My doctor helped me enormously by letting me try this drug, although I didn't strictly fit the "obese" guidelines.  My blood pressure was checked monthly, and although it did go up (to 140/80) it remained within normal ranges.

I track my calories and exercise on this site, and hope that I can continue to maintain, if not lose a bit more.

 

 Thank you so much for sharing your expierence while using Meridia, It really is nice to hear how it worked with someone. And I like to see that you can attribute your weight gain to your own personal changes in diet and exercise, not just the fact you are not taking the drug anymore. I was wondering what your blood pressure was before taking meridia and if it went down when you stopped taking it.

 

Thanks again, Morgan

Original Post by trustwomen:

for what it's worth, mimi, I am a med student. :/

 I am looking for everyone's opinion, medically structured or motivationally structured. We all appreicate your goals and your drive to continue with school, get an additional degree and go to med school. Please, Mimi is correct and i'd like this forum to stay postive.

My blood pressure was around 112/70 last summer. At one point during my use of Meridia it went up to 140/80 (around my 43 birthday). The last time I was checked while on the drug it was 120/70. I don't know what it is today.