I have been thinking of trying some kind of over-the-counter diet pill.
It isn't even that I want a "stimulant", and I don't care about loosing weight, I just want something to help with the fatigue.
I remember a long time ago, before I knew I had Lyme and we thought it was CFS, a family member told me she had heard of OTC diet pills for CFS treatment. I had ignored that suggestion, because I figured it wasn't solving the actual problem, the source of the fatigue.
Well I've been reading some stuff from well-known CFS doctors, and they said sometimes phentermine (Phen Phen) really helps their patients. They made it sound like it does more than just stimulate you like Adderall....I get the sense it helps some with metabolism, or dysautonomia, or something. Don't know exactly.
Just wondering if anyone has tried OTC diet pills. I am to the point where I don't care what it is, as long as it makes me feel better. I am treating Lyme aggressively, and my LLMD is doing everything he can, but I really need something in the meantime to give me the energy to leave the house, exercise, get things done, etc.
I have tried treating adrenals, and I'm not sure that's the answer for me. I am still looking into it, but I need to be trying other things too. So far the fatigue does not seem to be hormonal. Seems to be from an infection or from my sleep apnea, which we are working on treating.
I just really need something to get me through. I'm sick of depending on coffee. I feel like there must be something better out there. I do do B12 and all that too.
Opinions?
Thanks!
Posted by FunkOdyssey (Member # 15855) on :
OTC stimulants provide mainly peripheral stimulation and jack up your heart rate and blood pressure with catecholamine release from your adrenal glands. I can't imagine this is beneficial for the immune system.
What you want is CNS stimulation, and you'll need prescriptions for that. I'd recommend either dexmethyhlphenidate (focalin), which is a superior single isomer version of ritalin that ditches the isomer responsible for peripheral side effects, modafinil, or bupropion.
Posted by massman (Member # 18116) on :
So the OTCs are like the chicken sales at Price Chopper - cheap fryers ? ---------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER FOR ABOVE POST: The post above is actually........GASP ! SARCASM ! Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- If your body is not able to supply the energy, taking powerful stimulants will just make it worse in the long run. Lyme patients are not even supposed to drink coffee because the caffeine stresses the body so much.
It takes time to heal. Our bodies do the best they can. Even if it can't go at top speed, we just have to support our bodies and listen. It takes lots of energy to fight infection and then, hopefully, to grow new cells.
The Rx, Phen-Fen, caused heart problems and fatalities in many patients. But even OTC diet stuff is very dangerous. No diet pills should even be on the market, either OTC or Rx. Diet pills are more dangerous than we can even imagine. -
Posted by canefan17 (Member # 22149) on :
OTC Diet Pills are crapola.
I work at GNC... I would know.
Lose it the old fashioned way. And if you still have trouble losing... learn how to support your adrenals and thyroid glands.
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Hoosie, Look into Rhodiola. I provided a link on one of your other threads.
Rhodiola will help to balance the HPA axis.
Carol
Posted by TerryK (Member # 8552) on :
I agree with Carol. I've recently been taking Rhodiola and it seems to help a lot. Don't know if the effect will wear off because sometimes that does happen.
Paw Paw is another one that has helped me with energy. It treats malaria so perhaps it is affecting babesia? It downregulates atp in abnormal cells. Apparently I had a lot of abnormal cells sucking up my energy because the effect was pretty noticeable.
As far as the OTC diet pills that you mention, my guess is that they act as vasoconstrictors which would help those of us with NMH. Caffeine is also a vasoconstrictor. If you have Neurally Mediated Hypotension (NMH), you will likely feel tired no matter what you do until you deal with it. It's very hard on the body to have to maintain the blood pressure when standing, warm temps etc. when you have this problem. It can make ne very fatigued.
The dysautonomia causes pooling of blood in my legs because the sphincters in my legs don't push the blood back up to my heart like they are supposed to. I think this is not that unusual in lyme patients. Look for bluish/purple or splotchy legs, feet or hands. Anyway, this causes a fast pulse, low blood pressure etc. etc...
Vasoconstrictors help because they constrict the blood vessels and push the blood back up to the heart so your blood pressure is maintained rather than dropping when you are in the upright position.
If you have NMH or a similar problme, then I think Funks recommendations seem reasonable but you will need to see someone who understands NMH and you may need a beta blocker to keep your pulse down if you aren't on one already. I would probably not take OTC because of the side effects. Prescription is less likely to cause really harsh side effects in my experience.
Terry I'm not a doctor
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
Terry...that is kind of what I was hoping for, something to work as a vasoconstrictor.
I have seen the dysautonomia specialists, and so far I had tried beta blockers and Midodrine. Those helped "sort of", but sometimes caffeine helps more, as a vasoconstrictor.
I was hoping for something that would work as well as caffeine to constrict the blood vessels, but not give as much of a boost. Basically the vasoconstricting is where I think I"m getting the energy from, not really the "fake" stimulant energy.
But Midodrine never worked too great for me. Don't know why.
Posted by Ahodge01 (Member # 23569) on :
I wouldn't recommend that approach... I like low doses of msm you can usually get it in the emergen-c packets if you haven't tried msm it would he worth a shot I think.
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