My Experience Trying to Lose Weight with Qsymia

I went to the doctor last week for a check up. The news was not what you would call great. My blood pressure was up. My cholesterol was up.  My blood sugar was up. My weight was up.  Of course at the age of 64, a contributing factor might be that my age "was up" as well.  Nothing was in a catastrophic range because I do watch my diet (slightly).  But in the past year, joint pain had made me give up my favorite pursuit -- walking. 

But what this blog is really about is a medication the doctor gave me to try, called Qsymia. A neighbor had taken it during drug trials last summer.  Oddly enough, she had been chosen because she suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes, which are usually counter-indicated with diet medications.   She told me a horror story about it causing withdrawal symptoms from the Prozac she had taken for chronic depression. She went into a frightening tailspin of despair, pulled out of it after a few days, continued taking the drug and did indeed lose weight.  Well okay. I don't know whether that was a recommendation or not.

I'm somewhat wary of diet pills, because my body cannot handle any type of stimulant, which is what most of them are.   I cannot even drink tea or coffee without getting sick. But I'm not as closed to the "concept" of diet pills as some folk.  The reason is because overeating is a disease or a cluster of diseases triggered by something other than lack of will power and laziness. I've lived in Asia, and been around people who love to eat, but do not have food cravings.  I'm no medical researcher.  But I would posit, that the toxic effects of our western diets might even begin in utero, so that the insatiable appetites that outstrips the body's actual need for food is out-of-kilter from the beginning or early on.  The symptoms may begin to appear as we age and our digestive and other physiological systems become less efficient.  

My point in all this is that a certain arrogant scolding permeates all discussions that thin people in our society engage in with fat people.  Whether spoken aloud or silently, it's about character issues. But millions of people in industrialized Asian countries do not go around starving themselves, living miserable deprived lives.  Their relationship with food is neither stressful nor a battle of will power against choco-demons.   

I will not give you my first week's results, which were wonderful.  Everyone will dismiss the weight loss as "water."     So, I will weigh in with you the same time, next month. But the experience was interesting.  When I took the pill around 9 a.m. I kept waiting for something to happen. I went to work, wasn't in the mood for my usual bagel and 2 yogurts.  By lunchtime I was still waiting for the pill to kick in.  But I had one carton of yogurt anyway.  I worked all afternoon, picked at a salad I had brought from home.  For some reason, I was in the mood for a nice, juicy apple when I got home rather than a dish of ice cream. That evening my husband brought home a Domino's pizza. I ate a sliver. And I was still waiting for that darned pill to kick in.  

So, do wish me luck.

P.S.  The caveat with any pharmaceutical is that we don't know the long range effects, whether it causes birth defects, or has other counter-indications.  The answers to these questions will only become clear as more and more people take the drug.  In short we are the guinea pigs.   

Update:  September 19, 2014

Sorry, for having messed up on the promised update.  I stopped taking Qysmia on July 1, 2014 after having lost 18 pounds.   I had accomplished my goal with remarkably little effort on my part (will power).  The real question was whether I would gain the weight back and I haven't because I do have to pay attention to what I eat but the insatiable cravings for junk food are gone.  I do, however, offer one caveat, which may or may not have anything to do with this drug.  I had my first ever bout with a kidney stone in late June.  Regardless of whether the two are in any way related, I caution you to drink at least 32 ounces of water per day at a bare minimum, in order to stay hydrated during the hot summer months and good luck.