Taking the right kind of medication!

By: Ingrid Sure

With all the talk about the use of DNP, clenbuterol, and Cytomel for burning fat, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the other diet drugs that are available legally, with a doctor's prescription or through online medical web sites. Although highly effective, DNP is a very dangerous substance and its use is questionable except for the most elite bodybuilders who have no choice. For most, a more conventional diet pill is a safe and effective alternative, although one that is rarely explored. Fortunately, in the age of the Internet, drugs like Tenuate, Phentermine, and even Didrex can all be easily and discretely bought online from reputable medical web sites. Xenical and Meridia are also readily available.

The currently available diet drugs attack the bodyfat dilemma in three different ways. They either stimulate the metabolism and suppress appetite, or they affect serotonin, or they impede digestion of lipids (fat). Each method has its merits. The stimulants are essentially derivatives of amphetamine. Amphetamine is still an FDA approved drug and is sold under the brand name Adderall. Interestingly, the only indication for amphetamine is for use in treating Attention Deficit Disorder - primarily in children. Meridia is the brand name of the diet drug that exerts its influence on serotonin. And Xenical is the name of the drug that blocks fat absorption.

All of these drugs with the exception of Adderall are easily obtained online. Before I discuss each of the currently available diet drugs there is a fourth drug that merits mentioning. Fenfluramine, which used to be sold in the United States under the brand name of Pondimin, was available in the US in 20 and 75mg tablets and is still available in Europe in tablet form and as a transdermal patch. What was good about fenfluramine was that it was not a stimulant like the amphetamine family of diet drugs. In fact, it was a central nervous system depressant. During the day, there are many choices for appetite suppression and increased metabolism, but at night, there are not many choices and fewer now that fenfluramine has been pulled from the market.

As you may remember, in 1997, fenfluramine was linked to heart problems. They became apparent when fenfluramine was used in the so-called "fen-phen" combination -- a mixture of the drugs Phentermine and fenfluramine. These heart-valve defects can make the heart work less efficiently by allowing blood to backwash into one of the heart's chambers.

However, according to the latest report in the June 11th issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, there appears to be no evidence that people, who took the diet drug fenfluramine for a short period of time before it was removed from the US market, are at higher risk for heart valve abnormalities. The findings confirm other studies that suggest that patients who took the drug for less than 3 months are not at risk for the heart valve problems seen in those who took the drug for a prolonged period of time.

A new study, from Boston University Medical Center, looked at women who took the drug as part of a 1993 smoking cessation study. The women had been randomly assigned to take 60 milligrams of fenfluramine or an inactive placebo every day for 3 months.

The researchers were able to locate more than 500 of the original 720 enrolled in the trial and found that up to 5 years later, those women who took the drug had heart function essentially the same as those who did not take the diet drug.

"It is now generally agreed that treatment with fenfluramine-based diet drugs for 3 months or less does not increase the prevalence of valvular abnormalities," the researchers note. "However, concerns regarding long-term followup have not previously been addressed. This study provides additional information regarding cardiovascular status almost 5 years after drug discontinuation."

This study underlines what bodybuilders have known for years. Diet drugs must be cycled just like one would use anabolic steroids. And as any educated athlete who has taken Cytomel, Clenbuterol, or ECA knows, three months is the outside limit for use of diet drugs during a cutting cycle. Beyond a three-month period, the benefits diminish rapidly and the side effects greatly increase.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

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