The long-term side effects of Phentermine

I've just read a study dealing with appetite-suppressing drugs, principally onecalled Phentermine (that's the generic name; it's branded with other names such asFastin).I had to read the report three times before I understood it…full of long words andclinician-speak! But it seems to me that this drug deals with the symptoms of theproblem, i.e overeating rather than the problem itself, i.e why people overeat.People overeat for many reasons, among them boredom, depression, stress andsometimes just habit. Eating is pleasurable; it stimulates "feel-good" chemicals inthe brain. Chocolate is renowned for this, surprise, surprise. After all, what is betterthan a family-sized bar of Fruit and Nut? Sex? Miles behind!!On a more serious note, this good feeling doesn't last. So you continue eating. Andeventually it gets to be a habit that you can't stop. And don't want to. You see yourbody ballooning. So you make a huge effort and go on a diet. Big mistake! (See ourother articles for what we think of diets!). So now you're miserable. All you canthink of is food. By Tuesday lunchtime you've given up. So you mentally beatyourself up. And so it goes on….In a nutshell, and without any technobabble, there is an area in your brain that tellsyou when you are hungry. So you eat. There is another area that tells you whenyou have had enough. So you stop eating. But you can override these "switches" if you try hard enough. Hence eating disorders, both those in which you eat too little(such as anorexia) and those where you eat too much - leading to obesity, feelingout of control, and resorting to desperate measures.This is where you turn to the likes of Phentermine, which works by interfering withthe "switches", therefore decreasing your desire for food. Phentermine alsostimulates the hormones which control your body's "fight or flight" response, whichswitches off the "hunger" sensor and reroutes more blood to the muscles and lessblood to the stomach and digestive system ready for the command for "Action!"Which never comes.Think about it; if something startles you, or you have to suddenly run to snatch achild out of the road, food is the last thing you think about! These appetite-suppressing drugs interfere with the chemistry in your brain. They can only beobtained on prescription, and that's only after a thorough medical check-up - theywon't be prescribed if you have certain heart problems as they narrow small bloodvessels and can cause critical disruption to the oxygen supply to the heart. Theycan also raise the pressure behind your eyes, so they won't be prescribed if youhave glaucoma. Or overactive thyroid. Or a history of kidney stones. And usuallyyou will have to have a Body Mass Index over 30 (i.e obese) to be considered.Still, it looks like Phentermine is an improvement on the former drugs used forappetite control Amphetamines. Yup, I kid you not. But the major problem withthem (apart from the side - effects) was that people became addicted! So if theydidn't keep taking them, they suffered from withdrawal, sometimes becoming