Redux or Meridia?

[ironfist]

Have any of you guys used this for weight loss? I'm thinking of giving them a shot but they seem to be for obese people and not athletes trying to cut up...Seems to me that redux is a stimulant and more effective than ECA and the Meridia suppresses the appetite. Anyone have any info for me?

[the original jason]

bro im 100% sure if u go to google.com and search either name u will find some info sorry havent got time to help right now but I will look later in about 4 hours

peace

[the original jason]

heres one to start!!!


Consumer group seeks Meridia ban

By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

A consumer watchdog group has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the prescription diet drug sibutramine.

Public Citizen says the drug, sold as Meridia, is associated with 29 deaths, including 19 from cardiovascular causes such as heart attacks.

But obesity experts say it's difficult to determine if people died because of the medication or because they were obese, which put them at increased risk for many diseases and premature death.

This is not the first time a diet drug has come under fire. In September 1997, the FDA pulled two diet drugs from the market, fenfluramine (part of the popular fen-phen combo) and dexfenfluramine (Redux), because of concern over heart-valve problems.

Sibutramine, marketed as Meridia by Abbott Laboratories, works on two brain chemicals that control appetite and make patients feel full. It was approved in November 1997 for people who are obese (about 30 pounds or more over a healthy weight).

Average weight loss from using the medication is 5% to 9% in four to six months. At the time of its approval, experts warned that the drug was not meant for people with heart disease. Studies showed that the drug slightly increased the blood pressure of some patients and substantially increased it in others.

In a Tuesday letter to Tommy Thompson, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Public Citizen's Health Research Group says:

There have been 397 serious adverse reactions reported to the FDA from February 1998 (when Meridia began being marketed) until September 2001. Of those patients, 152 were hospitalized; 143 patients also reported irregular heartbeats.
Sales of the drug have been suspended in Italy because of two cardiovascular deaths, and its safety is being reviewed in other European countries, the group says.
"This is a drug with no evidence of long-term benefit and significant evidence of short-term risk, including death," says Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.

Laura Bradbard, a spokeswoman for the FDA, says, "We are concerned about these particular events and are looking into them and have been looking into them."

The FDA thinks that the drug's warning labeling is adequate for anyone who would be at risk for cardiac events, she says.

Jennifer Smoter of Abbott Laboratories says the drug is sold in 70 countries and has been used by 8.5 million people worldwide. "Based on a careful analysis of the 32 deaths reported to us (company stats differ from those obtained by Public Citizen), it does not point to an increased risk of death with the use of sibutramine. Many of those patients have serious complications of obesity, which is associated with increased mortality."

Louis Aronne of Weill-Cornell Medical Center says he has patients on Meridia who are doing very well. "The health benefits of even a small weight loss are clear," he says.

[the original jason]

Is Meridia more Safe than Fen Phen

Meridia was an attempt to combine the properties of Fenfluramine and Phentermine in one pill. Phentermine is a stimulant, scientifically referred to as an adrenergic or catecholaminergic drug. A catecholanminergic drug increases brain levels of andrenaline and/or noradrenaline, your body's most stimulating neurotransmitters. Phentermine makes you stimulated and energized, thus reducing appetite, delaying time for food intake and increasing your metabolic rate. Fenfluramine, on the other hand, stimulates serotonin release. Serotonin is one of your brain's most sedating, satiating and relaxing neurotransmitters. Fenfluramine, by increasing serotonin levels, makes you feel less anxious, decreases carbohydrate cravings and produces a feeling of rapid satiety which helps reduce food intake.

Meridia is a drug with both catecholaminergic and serotonergic properties. It works by blocking your brain’s reuptake of both serotonin and noradrenaline, thus prolonging and increasing the activity of these neurotransmitters. Theoretically at least, Meridia should be highly effective as it should help suppress appetite through two different pathways. So Meridia theoretically should be the next Phen-Fen.


Meridia, unlike Fenfluramine which stimulates the release of serotonin, is a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Like Prozac and other anti-depressants, Meridia "recycles" your brain's serotonin instead of increasing serotonin production. Meridia and Prozac are safer than Fenfluramine, as the excess serotonin from Fenfluramine is what led to heart problems in Phen-Fen users. However, serotonin reuptake inhibitors are simply not as effective as Fenfluramine. Prozac might have some use for short-term weight loss, but in trials lasting longer than six months it is a failure. Patients might even gain more weight than a placebo when using Prozac (3). Since Meridia has similar properties as Prozac, its lack of success as a new Phen-Fen does not surprise me.