weight loss drugs

I"m 22, 5'7" and 276 pounds... recently my doctor reccomended bastric bypass surgery for me when i reached a high of 307lbs, but i refuse.... and that's a whole nother story...

So he suggested that i think about taking an "obesity drug" such as meridia or xenical.  Has anyone ever taken these or know if they help?  I've done a lot of research on the drugs, but id like to hear some personal success/failure stories if there are any!

I began my "healthy eating" plan March the 8th with my doctors help.  I was on Xencial to get started.  I would have loved to take it as planned, but my insurance would not pay for it....(but they would pay for the gastirc bypass !!  ?? )  So, I could only afford to buy 1/2 perscription and limit my dose to meals that had fat.

The best thing for me was the "side effect"  They ARE NOT KIDDING you have to be on your best behavior...no cheeseburger and fries, our else 2 hours later (I never did this, just heard about it) and you could have immediate uncontrollable diahrea (sorry--bad speller)  I did experience some un-expected leakage, and it was enough to keep me eating LOW-FAT.... 

I've lost 80 lbs as of today and I have 60 to go. I hope by April for my 54th birthday.   I keep a small amount of Xenical with me, in case I eat at a resturant that I 'm not really sure of the meal prep. I don't use it often - once or twice a month now.

Yes!  I took Meridia...it's prohibitively expensive and a cousin to Prozac I believe.  All it did for me was make me apathetic about everything...not just eating.  I hated the way it made me feel!  My friend also tried it and it didn't work for her either. 

I dont know if this will help you or not... but I went to my doc at a mighty 411 lbs... He talked to me about my weight, and alternatives.. He disuaded me from gastric bypass for the obvious risks...

He also disuaded me from Xencial first because of the already stated side effects, but also because you dont really retrain your diet and fitness habits... which is the only way to have permanent loss.

He was loathe to put my on any form of perscription drug.. at least not till I tried it on my own. Instead.. he put me on a vitamin regimine and loaded me with information on nutrition.

The main thing I got was to simply look at labels and count calories/fat. Make sure to get lots of protein and fiber and get some exercise.. even if its just walking 30 mins a day.

That was march of this year, about 7 months ago, and I have lost 80 lbs since then.

I have still had chinese, pizza and mexican on occaision... and beer and booze on maybe a few too many occaisions. After the first couple weeks, the feeling of being hungry subsides.. its like quitting smoking. Taking refined sugars out of my diet was probably the hardest part.

My adivce would be to give eating and living healthy without suppliments a good try... if anything maybe get a perscription appetite suppresant.. This way you actually retrain yourself to live healthy and lose weight.

Good luck!

I also took Meridia for about a year.  It did absolutely nothing for me, but there were reasons why. 

Meridia is an appetite suppressant, plan and simple.  All it does is inhibit the reuptake of the hormone serotonin so that the "full" feeling after meals lasts longer, and hence one does not eat more.  So basically, it works to reduce calorie intake.  When I took it, I was just a kid (16 years old) and didn't really understand how it worked, I was just desperate for some weight loss.  In retrospect, I realize that the reason it didn't work for me was because I never really had a problem with over-eating, I just didn't eat the right foods.  So I was eating the same amount, and as usual feeling full, but not dropping any weight because I was still eating high calorie foods that had little nutritional value.  In my overweight-16-year-old mind, I wasn't thinking about the mechanism of the drug, I was just waiting for the results it was supposed to give.

If you find that you feel hungry a lot, or have a hard time feeling full after meals, then maybe Meridia will work for you and could be worth a try.  But I honestly feel--as zirbirt also said--that going the tougher route (with the help of CC) and just logging your caloric intake, building up the will to eat less, and eating better foods, that the weight lost will stay off longer, because you will have trained yourself to control your appetite instead of letting a drug do the work for you.

Good for you for refusing surgery! (Not that there's anything wrong with it, per se) The old fashioned way is probably the best way to go. Much less side effects and complications! I never took any of the drugs, but I was on Topamax, which is an anti-seizure drug that is also taken by some for weight loss. It made certain things (soda..odd, right?) taste terrible, but didn't prevent me from eating anything else that I usually like. And my hands and feet would randomly go numb, my tongue would tingle. And for about 4 hours after taking it, I felt so completely stupid. Like I couldn't think or talk straight at all. It was enough for me to stop taking it. It just wasnt worth it.

i am the queen of tried all the diet drugs...I was on Merida for a year about 5 years ago and lost all the weight I wanted to lose but as soon as i got off of it I gained half of it back...then I tried xenical...and yes sirree I went to go eat at dennys when I got home i was not only having diarreha but i was vomiting too...so i stoped that......but i really wasnt even that overweight to have to be on that but at that point i wanted something that made me feel as good as the merida...i was happy go lucky on those.....but now i am trying really hard not to go on anything...i tried going on phentermine a couple months back but i just cant go on taking diet pills...so so addictive.....i am here on CC ...i lost weight with CC....I had a baby in April.....i made a promise to myself i will do this on my own the healthy way....what i miss the most about taking the pills is the energy it gave me...phentermine is basically almost like speed.....but i cant start this crazy cycle again....its not natural

thank you all for your input.  in thinking this over, i realize that i am losing weight already with cc... almost 30 pounds so far since my highest weight... and i think in being obese ive already done enough damage to my body without putting more semi-harmful drugs in there.  wish me luck!

good choice fauxtograph....good luck...stick with CC....everyone here is so supportive