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Long-term use of Phetermine
Since 2009 I have been taking 37.5 Phentermine pills consistently with minor breaks and recently my chest has been giving me trouble. Since last Sunday, my heart has been pounding with an elevated pulse so I decided to go to Primary physician. She performed and EKG which my results were normal but she wanted me to see a Cardiologist to be sure... Well the pounding has improve but all last week my chest feels like someone is standing on top of it and its extremely hard for me to take deep breaths. The "pressure (I guess thats it) comes and goes at any given moment so I am unsure of what are the triggers. Ive been doing some research and have landed on few diagnosis but I wanted to reach out to see if anyone has or is suffering from this...I have been under a tremendous amount of stress but then again I have been taking a diet pill far too long...The last day Ive took the phetermine pill was approximately two weeks ago so I am not sure if my body is going through withdrawals and/or if I have cause heart damage due to the long-term use. If anyone have any sound advice please share...Truly scared of the possible damage I could have cause to my body and/or heart!
dehydration can do it also; but make sure to ask about any valve problems...all of my valves are affected to some degree which is why my primary said he thought it was due to Phen.
hopefully the dr will do or has done an electrolyte panel to see if anything is going on there...
you may want to make sure you have a copy of the tests you've had done to take to your cardiologist appt, some of my paperwork didn't get forwarded to mine when I went the first time...let us know how your appt goes
hopefully the dr will do or has done an electrolyte panel to see if anything is going on there...
you may want to make sure you have a copy of the tests you've had done to take to your cardiologist appt, some of my paperwork didn't get forwarded to mine when I went the first time...let us know how your appt goes
The pounding got so bad I went to the ER this morning. The dr said everything was fine including blood work and EKG. He did say I was severly dehydrated which somewhat decrease the heart rate but he also says my heart skips so I'm unsure if the diet pills and/or dehydration is causing it...he also said its highly unlikely that pills are contributing since they've been out of my system for approx 3 weeks now. Going to cardiologist this week I'll keep you'll posted.
This was one of my worries when I first found out I had some valve problems in 2009, because back in 2007 I went on Phen for 6 months then went on it again in 2008. Even though I had never had any problems from it directly. I thought maybe it had caused problems such as PPH.
Every cardiologist and EP I saw said Phen alone is not the ingredient that caused problems; do I believe them? Heck no...any drug at any time has a potential to have side effects and I knew going into the treatment what side effects may happen. I thought I was safe because the dr did EKG's, said they were fine and signed off on them even though they showed problems on them (they're in my profile under pictures).
I even talked to an attorney about this and tried to prove the dr was at fault and there was no attorney who would take my case - it's just so hard to prove medical malpractice and they didn't find much with Phentermine involved as the single ingredient.
Phen is a stimulant; it's bound to have some side effects when used "off market" such as long term use and doctors know better than to prescribe it for more than 3 months. I was told it was my responsibility as a patient to know not to take a med if it was only a "short" duration med and not to be prescribed more than say 3 months such as Phen.
I gave up after the last attorney told me that; yes I should have told the dr to take me off them but I lost weight, felt great and got him off my back about those "last" 30 lbs he said would be a miracle when I lost it. (I proved his theory wrong)
I still worry with all my symptoms if I didn't develop PPH and have tried to get dr's to do testing to figure it all out and pretty much get laughed at when I tell them I think I have it from Phen use.
As merileegal said, please see a cardiologist and possibly an Electrophysiologist to have a full cardiac workup just to be safe. They really need to keep an eye out for changes since you've been on it for awhile, be very cautious of symptoms and make sure you keep a log/journal of symptoms with dates & times so you can see if there's a pattern or anything that may be helpful in getting a diagnosis.
Every cardiologist and EP I saw said Phen alone is not the ingredient that caused problems; do I believe them? Heck no...any drug at any time has a potential to have side effects and I knew going into the treatment what side effects may happen. I thought I was safe because the dr did EKG's, said they were fine and signed off on them even though they showed problems on them (they're in my profile under pictures).
I even talked to an attorney about this and tried to prove the dr was at fault and there was no attorney who would take my case - it's just so hard to prove medical malpractice and they didn't find much with Phentermine involved as the single ingredient.
Phen is a stimulant; it's bound to have some side effects when used "off market" such as long term use and doctors know better than to prescribe it for more than 3 months. I was told it was my responsibility as a patient to know not to take a med if it was only a "short" duration med and not to be prescribed more than say 3 months such as Phen.
I gave up after the last attorney told me that; yes I should have told the dr to take me off them but I lost weight, felt great and got him off my back about those "last" 30 lbs he said would be a miracle when I lost it. (I proved his theory wrong)
I still worry with all my symptoms if I didn't develop PPH and have tried to get dr's to do testing to figure it all out and pretty much get laughed at when I tell them I think I have it from Phen use.
As merileegal said, please see a cardiologist and possibly an Electrophysiologist to have a full cardiac workup just to be safe. They really need to keep an eye out for changes since you've been on it for awhile, be very cautious of symptoms and make sure you keep a log/journal of symptoms with dates & times so you can see if there's a pattern or anything that may be helpful in getting a diagnosis.
An ekg is only a short snapshot. It is usually very unlikely that it would catch anything. The cardio will probably do an echocardiogram which will give you a lot more information. If your heart is pounding he might have you wear an even monitor so you can catch the pounding on it so it can be evaluated. Phentermine is a stimulant and directly affects the heart. For those of us with arrythmias, it is something we stay far away from. When you add phentermine and stress together, you've got a double dose of adrenaline. Other things that might irritate it are caffeine, liquor, or choclate.
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