Now that Sally has made me think about phentermine’s side effects and has been so kind as to thrust one of their leaflets into my hand, I feel I ought to read it more carefully. I know I must have read it way back when. After all, what idiot would just start taking a medication like phentermine (or Acomplia, for that matter) without reading all about it? So I must gave skimmed through it (them if you count the same kind of folded up notes supplied with Acomplia) but, for some reason, none of it seems to have stuck.

It’s not like me. I’m usually well organised and know exactly what’s what. So I suppose I must have been so focussed on making a start with the weight loss program that I was going to do it no matter what the risks and downsides.

Anyway, it may be coming up to two years late, but I can study them a bit more carefully now. See what I’ve been missing all this time. Actually, that’s not right at all because I’ve been taking both phentermine and Acomplia without consciously having any side effects. So I should have said, see if I’ve been missing anything important.

The first thing that jumps out at me from this list is the idea that having an unpleasant taste in your mouth can be a side effect. That must be like eating something that’s gone off a bit and then the bad taste won’t go away. I suppose dentists would like the idea of dry mouth. It would save the need to put that awful thing in your mouth to suck out all the saliva before they start drilling and pouring in the concrete to fill in the holes. No, come to think of it, giving their patients phentermine wouldn’t work because they’re already nervous or anxious. It could be a bit embarrassing in the waiting room if all their patients had a meltdown and proved that diarrhoea is another of the side effects.

From which you’ll gather that I haven’t experienced any of phentermine’s mild effects. I was so completely determined to make weight loss work that I never had time to feel anxious, I was so tired after the exercise that I slept like a log and only had to scratch when I forgot to take a shower after the exercise.

Which just leaves me with this exercise problem. Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, you can put me up on that pedestal. I must be the perfect example of a participant in an undisclosed clinical trial. The results are no reported side effects over the term of of the trial with the exception of one incident of partial collapse, difficulty breathing, pulse racing — the whole works. And since this did not last very long and was not repeated, I’m not at all sure it qualifies as a serious side effect event anyway.

And

(and here’s the really good thing about writing because I’ve just been off to root around in old medication packs to find the information leaflet for Acomplia — just think how boring it would have been for you if you’d had to wait for me in real time)

having looked at the Acomplia list of side effects, I haven’t had any of those either. No headaches, vomiting or diarrhoea. If I have been restless or anxious, it’s been more in the washout period between the phentermine and Acomplia phases.

So, all things considered, I’ve lost some weight and got myself a little fitter. At my age, who can ask for anything more?

Tagged with: acomplia • Phentermine