Anyone know about appetite suppressant Qsymia???

I've tried to read everyone's posts with an open mind; however, I find myself bias since I'm currently taking Qsymia. I'm on day 11 of the starter dosage and I'm happy with the results. Let me start with a bit about myself. I've been fat or obese my ENTIRE life. I finally reached my boiling point after college and did something about it. I did everything right to start. I revolutionized the way I ate and I rediscovered exercising. In 8 months, all on my own and without any drugs, I lost 50 lbs. I was so happy with myself and I still can't believe I did that. I went from 306 to 256 and I was happy... for a while. After last September my weight-loss really slowed and finally stopped and I did everything I could to continue progress. I increased my exercise time and decreased carb intake while increasing protein. I consulted my Diabetic Dietician, because no matter what I did it was going my effect my Type 1 diabetes and I needed to stay safe. I visited my endo a couple weeks ago and I've been down and out leading up to my appointment. SHE suggested Qsymia. I have been seeing her for 3 years now and I trust her with my life and I trusted her with this suggestion. So here's my review of Qsymia:

I LOVE IT... so far. I stress that because like I said before I'm only on day 11 of the starter dosage. I still leave space to change my mind. I knew I could change my activity level because I had already. I knew I could change how I ate, because I had already. But I hadn't change how much I'd eat and Qsymia has changed that drastically. Day 1 on Qsymia was a HUGE day for me. My first meal after taking it I stopped dead in my tracks, put my fork down, and actually FELT FULL!!! I never FEEL full until after I've made that horrible decision to eat everything on my plate because I thought I was THAT hungry. Its been that way ever since. With the added bonus of feeling sick when I just think of eating greasy fast food and sugary sweets. I've been making the conscious decision to fill up on protein, veggies, and fruits. Honestly, the idea of having a cucumber now makes me salivate the way a giant piece of chocolate cake used to. I still have to have some carbs, but they are the last thing in my mouth and they are multi-grain to similar. I love the feeling of being full so much I could cry. I know that seems dramatic, but when you'd been 'blind' to how much you'd eat and you finally had that revelation, it's amazing.

My opinion of the drug:
I'm no medical genius so I'm presenting my honest opinion. I already have been taking topiramate for a year-long migraine I had several years ago. I was the best thing to happen to me. I have nothing but good things to say about it. As for the phentermine, I'll admit I don't know much more than that its an appetite suppressant, which seems to be doing the trick. I haven't had any of the side effects that are in the long list of possible side effects that you can read about of the Qsymia website. Today was the first day my taste buds changed. I kept reading about foods tasting different, and today I decided to have caffeine free, diet soda (I know... yum... remember I'm a diabetic) and it had NO flavor. Not even the suggested metallic flavor, but no flavor at all. I only had the sensation of carbonation.

My suggestion for others:
Do your research! I researched Qsymia before I started, when I started, NOW, and I intend to when I move on to the next dosage and beyond. Make an informed decision that includes you, your research, and a medical professional. Take other's opinions as just that, an opinion.

I wish everyone luck on their weigh-loss goals! And since I didn't mention it before - I've lost 10 lbs. since starting Qsymia.

Might be easy for you to say if you not experiencing something someone else is.
I have never been overweight. I would work out for YEARS 5 times a week, and eat
extremely healthy. I started to gain 5 lbs so of course, I worked out more, and I cut out
having a margarita and switched to drinking a wine instead. Those were my bad
habits on a weekend night. However, if I was going to drink, of course, that meant
I would eat lighter and work out harder to make up for the extra calories. But still
the weight went from 5 to 10 lbs. I was stumped, so I gave up the alcohol, and worked
out more, and then I tried giving up bread, but still the next month gained another 10,
I then went to a dietician, and she looked at all I ate, I always write down what I ate,
and the only thing she could see for looking back at 1 year is that I ate too many cherries,
VERY long story short, I gain 56 lbs in the year, doing ALL the right things. I ended up
having a Thyroid problem, so YES, I went on Qysmia to help me along with my Thyroid
medicine to help me get back to where I have always been pretty much most of my life.
My family also has had several woman die at my age, and this is why I choose to start
back 15 years ago to work out and choose a healthy way. I love reading when people
just say about some of these drugs it'sjust people taking the easy way out, sometimes it
is for a good medical reason.

Weight loss clinics are usually code for "pill mill"

Be careful.

more like kill-mill.... the reason you have to be checked is if you get pregnent your child will have birth defects

Google Topamax - Topiramate

I would guess it's the phentermine that is the problem. I took Topiramate as a migraine preventative, and never had to have pregnancy tests because of it.

I'm going to write my story. I began Qsymia about 3 weeks ago.

I was losing about two pounds a week on my own using MFP before that (40 pounds total). I went to the nutritionist just as an added doctor/tool for my journey here. so he said i was a good candidate for qsymia, i thought well lets see what could happen, i'll try it for a month. may as wel use all the tools there are. Well the first two weeks, they put you on a low dosage, i had no problem, lost about 5 pounds. then on the beginning of the 3rd week, they up the dosage.

coincidentally, not sure what caused what, but i got one of the possible complications - constipation, unfortunately it is severe, so that i was so sick, that i thought i was going to have to go to the E.R. to remove this brick of poo that would not move. this was friday a few days ago. finally at 2;30 a.m. relief, but i still have not gotten total relief, but im trying to eat salad and water and stuff to try to get things working again. it is now Tuesday and things are not moving again, and im still not able to go to the bathroom right.

the doc said i may not have been drinking enough water, which may be true, as i may have dehydrated myself, let me tell you, between last week monday and this week monday i lost 5 pounds. WHERE THE EFF DID THAT COME FROM? Probably water weight dehydreation, which i probably caused by not drinking enuf water, however, even though i probably could take the lower dose, i said no thanks i want to be off this meds. maybe the qsymia also dehydrated me a bit, im not sure or not. perhaps it did take away my appetite but i was eating my usual calories about 1600, so i was not undereating on purpose to starve.

so maybe it will be ok for some of you, but my experiment is over, and now i am still a bit sick, but hopefully my
body will be back to normal soon.. this is no fun.. i am not willing to go thru feeling sick just to lose wieght. when i told the doc i didn't want to go back to the lower dose because i donnt want to suffer this terrible tummy trouble again possible, he said i could stop immediately, i was THRILLED!!!

so theres my story.. if your going to take it please watch out for symptoms.

oh one curious thing - two other side effex - it really does screw up the taste of soda pop and it makes you a chatterbox, and it does make you feel like you have more energy in a way, but not in a good way, kind of a drugged way.

its funny that the first 14 days of taking Qsymia, it was like i felt pretty much ok, no side effects, but day 2 of when they upped the dosage, thats when everything turned disastrous. please eveyrone who is on week 3 please let me know if you are experiencing anything bad, i want to know if it was just me or what.

i want to know if it was my fault i was not drinking enough water, or if the meds were dehydrating me and tahts part of the weight loss. im just not sure.

My weight management doctor was talking of prescribing me this he told me the side effects can include: still births if you get pregnant, head issues (Topamax is an anti-convulsant-but something if you're not epileptic it can have different effects?) and a few other really horrendous sounding things, so I opted out of that REALLY quickly. My family doctor told me it's bad practice, in his opinion, to prescribe one medication to counteract the effects of another.

I'm not into taking medications anyway, so my feeling is always that it's a crutch you probably don't need. Be careful if you choose to take it.

Water, water, water. I read on this site that we normally do not actually feel hunger, that our body is actually thirsty. So when you think your hungry drink water. If pills worked for weight loss do you think that there would be any over weight people? Exercise, calorie counting, and water it's a proven weight loss method. I find eating a huge salad with lots of low calorie veggie is very filling. Best wishes.

My doctor prescribed Qsymia to me almost 6 months ago. Low dosage the first week, the 7.5 mg daily. The only side effect I experienced was the constipation. Prunes helped with that. She suggested the med because, I am older than most of you from what I can tell by your pictures, and I am honest to say that I absolutely hate exercise. I can walk and swim, but I will never become an athlete, especially this late in life. I have lost almost 50 pounds in 6 months following a healthy 1200 calories per day "diet" with about 24 left to go to reach my goal weight of 150. The first few months of taking Qsymia, I did have the mild "speedy" types of affects that you get from other appetite suppressants but after that, not at all. A little dry mouth the first few hours after taking it. Could I have lost the weight with the diet and exercise without the meds? Probably. But it makes it easier, and for some of us, either with health reasons, or just being old and stubborn, I think it helped me tremendously, with very little down-side. Also, I decided to stop taking it this week, just to see if there were any "withdrawal" effect from it, and good news. Nothing. My body is used to my calorie intake now, so I don't really need the appetite suppressant any more.

In my experience, I can't say anything bad about it.

I read that too. I haven't taken it for 3 days now, and no seizures or any other effects that I can tell. I'm due to see the doc next week anyway. Calm down. Its alright.

Weight loss clinics are usually code for "pill mill"

Be careful.

more like kill-mill.... the reason you have to be checked is if you get pregnent your child will have birth defects

Google Topamax - Topiramate

Weren't the weight loss clinics the same places that gave out Phen-Phen like MnM's in the 90's?


Yep!!! I took phen fen when I was 16. Went from a size 12 (I would kill to be a 12 again! !) to a size 2!!! So now I have a heart condition and am for realz fat!!!! For me diet pills just keep the weight off until I stop taking them, then it piles on again. Not worth it to me!

whatever you choose, please study the drug and read lots of reviews online. all the best

I was on Celexa and gained weight while taking it regardless of daily workouts and eating healthy....NOT because I am constantly eating, or can't control what I eat (as some people have made comments above about taking medication) Qsymia actually has an SSRI in it that helps to deal with anxiety and panic attacks as well as the 'diet' issue which is why my doctor gave it to me, and it's not cheap ($90/two weeks)....I'd much rather be able to lose weight with my workouts and healthy eating plan, but I guess what some people aren't aware of, we aren't all built the same. This is a time release capsule. It's not like what Phen-phen was years ago. Hopefully for whatever reason you are taking it for you will find the results that you are looking for. Best of luck!

I started taking qsymia in September and had lost 15 pounds by November and it just so happens I was scheduled an annual check up and they discovered I had developed hyper-thyroid and said that was causing me to lose weight. When I told them what I had been taking they said it could not have caused my hyper-thyroid, but it's awful coincidental. Now I have to go see an endocrinologist. I'm still losing weight even though I haven't taken the qsymia for about a month. I was 160 and now I'm 140. I'm glad I lost weight. I just hope I don't have a permanent health issue now. I really feel like the qsymia caused the issue Even if they said it didn't.

I am on my 3rd week of qsymia. this is a miracle drug.

6' 3" male, 48 years old, starting weight 286 lbs. type2 diabetic, high bp.

I have been 286 +/- 10 lbs for the last 8 years (since diagnosis of type 2). Ive tried everything.

Last Dr visit early January, A1C was back to 9.8.. i am now maxed out on Glyburide, metformin. pretty much doc said this is it.. lose weight or its insulin time, cant go any higher on meds. So read about Qsymia and he wrote the script.

unbelievable.

after 3 weeks (2 weeks of the low dosage and 1 weeks of the full dosage), i am getting about a pound per day of loss.

I have also tried to exercise more, and what the med has allowed me to do is stop eating at night and eat less.

I am right now i am at 264. (so -22 after 21 days). I haven't seen the 260's in a decade.

this stuff really works.. you dont feel hungry, and when you eat, you feel "content" for a long time. and it must raise your metabolism, because i dont understand how the weight falls off so fast (im not calculating a 3500 calorie a day loss).. so its doing something else (which is probably why on their webpage the manufacturer says they dont know how it works)...

The only side effects i have had so far.

1) sleeplessness -- i get tired, but restless...like i want to sleep but i cant.
2) focusing problems during the day - may be related to #1
3) carbonated drinks taste like metal.. but i dont drink much of them anyway.. coffee taste good (Thank god).
4) Sugar is low - i might have to talk to Dr about adjusting meds down... my glucose is really low at some points. more so than ever before.


I really look forward to waking up everyday and weighing myself. the best part of this drug is you really see progress nearly every day, thats one of the things that makes it easier to stick to the program of eating better and exercising, you see results fast.


The drug is expensive but worth it. you get the first 14 days free, the next 3 are $75 OFF (not $75 for each refill), at walgreens, it came to $108/month).

Don't need to know about it. Don't want to know about it.

The AMA has officially acknowledged obesity as a disease and like all diseases there are different treatment methods available. There can be a vast array of different causes to this disease also. Every case is different. That's why we go to doctors. They help to determine the cause of the disease and help to treat it based on the individual and the cause. Just because it is easier for some of you to diet and excersise and see results doesnt mean that you are an expert on another individuals situation. This is supposed to be a forum to help in supporting people, not to chastise them for the weight loss decisions that they and their doctors have made. It seems to me that a lot of you need to get off of your high horses and support these people in their difficult weight loss journey instead of acting like we all have the ame exact problem and the same exact solution to that problem. The goal here is to be healthy and for some people the risks of taking these drugs is way healthier in the long run than failed diets and exercise programs and rebounding because they were made to feel so guilty about doing what they had to in order to help them succeed. Like I said earlier, obesity is a disease and criticizing someone's decision to treat it is no different then criticizing someone with cancer on their treatment decisions. I feel that a person's disease and treatment are very personal things and if they choose to share it with us we owe them a certain amount of respect. Looking down your nose at them with a holier than thou attitude and just feeding them your opinions in the form of criticism will ultimately do more harm than good.

As far s weight loss clinics only being "pill mills", that may be true but they are not that different than gnc or any other health store that pedals overpriced supplements that don't really even do anything. The only difference that I see between the two is that at least the clinic has the presence of a medical professional and the stuff that they prescribe actually produces some results. While it may not seem to be the "healthiest" option to some, at least it produces resuls that can motivate a person to keep up the nutrition and excersise plans they are doing and continue to loose weight and ultimately end up a healthier person. Isn't that what all of this is about? Reaching a fitness goal and continuing to live a healthy lifestyle for good.

I think that the original poster was looking for "informed" people to tell her more about Qsymia. Not for a bunch of stuck up people to tell her that "you should have this many calories a day" and "you need to eat more whole foods and less of that" and "I would never do this or that...blah, blah, blah". If she wanted any of that information she could easily do a search and find page upon page of that stuff. I think she wanted more infomation on Qsymia from people who know about it, either from research or personal experience. I think that she is trying something new and she is both nervous and excited about the prospects of this medication and she wanted infomation about it. I have done a bit of research on this medication, but no more han anyone else doing a google search and reading a few articles and studies out of curiosity. JMHO.

To the original poster:

I do not feel I am educated enough on Qsymia to even post anything about it, nor have I taken it, so I can't help with my opinion. But, I do think that there are people on this forum that can and will give you an informed and reliable opinion. All that I can say is to do whatever you and your doctor decide that you should do in order to reach your goals. And good luck.