There are certain guidelines concerning who may be prescribed weight loss medications.  A patient must have a body mass index that is over 30, unless they have other obesity-related health conditions such as heart problems, diabetes, or high blood pressure.  These severe medical conditions lower the body mass index requirement to 27.  Whether or not a medical condition is obesity-related and grounds for prescribing medication can depend on the doctor, so get a second opinion if you disagree with your doctor’s assessment.  These health problems can become severe if left unchecked and prescription weight loss medications may be the answer you have been looking for.

The most common weight loss medications work by suppressing the appetite.  These types of diet aids have been around for decades, with amphetamines and Dexedrine being used even back in the 1950s.  A new type of appetite suppressant drugs use a slightly different mechanism to achieve the same result, reducing their appeal for abuse.  For example, the popular drug Meridia inhibits the release of a certain type of brain chemical that is responsible for signaling hunger.  This way, the patient never even gets hungry, so there is no feeling of depriving themselves of something they want.  Unfortunately, Meridia is known to increase blood pressure and heart rate, making it unsafe for many people with cardiovascular issues.

Besides the weight loss medications that suppress appetite, there is another class of drugs designed to interfere with the body’s ability to absorb fat from food.  Xenical was the first of these lipase inhibitor medications to be approved, hitting the market in 1999.  These drugs work by inhibiting the body’s production of lipase, which is a necessary part of the fat absoprtion process.  Without this enzyme, fat molecules cannot be broken down and will pass harmlessly through the digestive system.  The side effects of Xenical show the drawback to letting fat leave the body in its unprocessed state, with cramps, flatulence, diarrhea, and anal leakage being the most common.

Testing is always being performed on new drugs for the commercial markets, so it is only a matter of time before there are better options for people wishing to lose weight.  Some developmental medicines have received short-term FDA approval, but they have shown too many side effects to be approved for mainstream use at this time.  With some more refining by the pharmaceutical companies’ research and development departments, they should be available as part of the next wave of prescription weight loss medications.

There comes a point in the fight with obesity where you may just say, “Forget diet and exercise, I need weight loss medication!” The good news is that there are a wide variety of weight loss drugs on the market today. The bad news is, there’s pretty much never going to be a circumstance where you can truly forget about diet or exercise. That doesn’t mean that weight loss drugs are useless, of course – far from it. Weight loss medication can be very helpful in your quest to lose weight.

There’s a big difference between over-the-counter diet pills and genuine, prescription weight loss medication. Anyone can buy diet pills. Usually, the only function that diet pills provide is a boost to a person’s metabolism through assorted herbal compounds and a generous dose of caffeine. This can be enough for some people when combined with diet and exercise, but it’s not always going to get the job done in severe cases.

Prescription weight loss drugs are, of course, tougher to obtain. When your doctor feels that weight loss drugs are the way to go for you, he’ll recommend them for you and write a prescription. Generally, weight loss medication is only prescribed to people with a body-mass index of over 27, and even then, sometimes only if that person suffers from obesity-related symptoms.

Obesity-related symptoms are numerous, and can include: heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and more. If you’re suffering from these symptoms, then you need to lose weight, and fast. Losing weight is more than just a matter of fitting into your summer swimsuit – the symptoms it can cause can be life threatening!

Most weight loss drugs are meant to only be used for a short period of time – a couple weeks, months at most. There are a few medications made specifically for longer-term use, but their safe use has not been tested past 2 years. Again, your doctor will be able to advise you of the dosage and length of time that you should use any weight loss drugs he or she prescribes.

Most of the weight loss drugs on the market today are one of two types: appetite suppressors or fat absorption inhibitors. Those are a lot of big fancy words for saying that these drugs either make you get hungry less or make less of the fat in the food you digest “stick.” Only one fat absorption inhibitor is legal in the United States, so most of the time a doctor will prescribe an appetite suppressant.

Ironically, appetite suppressants actually work on your head, and not your stomach. These drugs trigger the release of a natural chemical in your brain that helps keep your appetite in check. Basically, your brain believes that you’re not hungry or even full when you’re actually not. With these types of weight loss medication, you’ll have less desire to eat to fill yourself up, but you’ll still need willpower to avoid eating for pleasure, so hide those chocolate bars!