Heart hazard?

[Hunnee]

When i started Phentermine, the doctor i saw specifically told me that this drug has not, and will not, cause any heart disease, any valve problems, nothing. That it was completely safe. But, when I called the office to ask if it was to take some other medication on the drug, i talked to another doctor and decided to ask again. This doctor told me that it CAN/DOES cause heart problems. Im concerned with this. Has anybody who has been on phen encountered any heart problems? Or know anybody who has? I'd greatly appreciate any input.

[me_n_phen]

This drug has been used for over 40 yrs. as an appetite supressant. The only known problems were when this drug was combined with Pondamin, also know as the cocktail Phen-Fhen, to cause problems w/the heart. You could probably call 10 differetn docs and get 10 different answers, The bottom line is listen to your body, Start out on a low dose, eat right and excercise!

[phenlander]

phen by itself is ok.. i know somone who used ppondamine a young lady and had a heart atttack.. check with your doc- listen to your body

phenlander

[only1man]

Hi everyone! I am new to the forums and must admit that I am a little concerned right now. Friday I started having pain in my chest (left side only) and I have held my phen until I see a doc on Monday. I am not sure what it is (could be stress) but I am going to get it checked out. I also looked up S/E of phen and they did mention pulmonary artery hypertension - which leads to heart prb's. Anyway, just wanted to give my input and I have enjoyed reading everyone's post.

[firefly]

I am starting my 5th week on phen. The past 2 days I have started having shortness of breath. I don't know if I should continue on it or not. I don't see the Dr. again till the end of June. I had only lost 4lbs. when I was there last week.Dr. was disapointed. Said I should have lost at least 10lb. or more and that I had wasted a month.I told him I was scared my blood sugar would bottom out if I didn't eat something even if I wasn't hungry. I am a diabetic and have lost 30lbs. since being taken off the Avandia in Oct. which is all in the news now for heart problems. The phen is mainly to just help my cravings so that my blood sugars stay in control. I am also on insulin.Weight is 200 and I would like to at least get down to 160. Have any of you had the shortness of breath? I had been very active those 2 days since the phen gives me more energy. I also have fibromyalgia, so I really suffer the days after a lot of physical activity. Any advice? Should I continue the phen? Just kinda scared right now.

[cbklingler]

i have not had sob, but this is not something i would ignore, it may not be cardiac but pulmanary. Just to be safe I would call your MD before continuing on phen.

[LoveMyself]

i also am having the whole heart issue thing going on...i am not going to take it until i can get back to a doctor.

[jazzygal72]

I have a heart murmur (was born with it) and took Fen-phen when it was available. I also went in and had the testing that they paid for when it was disovered that it was bad for the heart. I had no changes.

I take phen now, and have regular check ups with the cardiologist- and everthing is still just fine.

I'm not saying that no one else will have issues- I'm just saying that I don't.

Good luck!

[Bridget Jones]

I lost over 90 lbs on phen-fen when it was available. I didn't have any problems with it. I also am not having any problems with phentermine altho my doctor monitors me every month to make sure my blood pressure is normal. The good news is that all that energy from phen has inspired me to walk every day. I'm up to 3 miles/day! Now, my blood pressure is normal. I don't know if that would be true if I weren't exercising. For me, the phen has had a positive effect on my blood pressure but only because I'm putting the exercise time in too.

[roller_coaster]

I've done a lot of reading about fen-phen and fenfluramine on its own.

fenfluramine, especially when combined with phentermine, was the cause of 2 major problems: heart valve damage, and primary pulmonary hypertension.

Sometimes heart valve damage isn't detected until you are actually tested. The best test is the echocardiogram, it's non-invasive, easy to adminster, and easy to read. All people who have taken fen-phen are advised to have echocardiograms. Damage can show up YEARS after you stopped taking fen-phen.

In 1999, in the largest study of its kind, researchers found people taking fen phen for longer than six months experienced heart valve disease at an unusually high rate. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology. According to the study, people who never took fen phen had a 3.6 percent incident rate of heart valve disease. Of 1,163 former fen phen users included in the study, people who had taken the drugs for less than six months had a 4.5 percent incident rate, which increased to a 7.0 percent incident rate of heart disease among people who took the drug for six months to a year.

Once users had exceeded one year on fen phen up to two years, the rate increased to nearly double the incident rate of the heart disease to 13.6 percent. At more than two years, the rate was a high 17.4 percent.