Comparison to Fen-Phen

[AV8ORnTX 14]

I was part of the Fen-Phen fad for five months in 1996. I'm one of the lucky ones that somehow avoided heart valve damage. Even though it's been 15 years, I can remember clearly the feeling of little to no hunger while on the meds. For anyone that has already been sleeved and was also part of the Fen-Phen fad back in the 90's, is the loss of hunger after being sleeved comparable to the loss of hunger feeling while on Fen-Phen?

I guess I'll know the answer to this question fairly soon....I'm scheduled to be sleeved tomorrow (Monday) am. But I'd still love to hear from other previous Fen-Phen'ers.

[Foxbins 625]

I took Fen-phen also...the loss of hunger now is also accompanied by a loss of interest in food. With the Fen-phen, I wasn't hungry but I was still interested in food, planning what I would eat, and I had a number of annoying side effects (dry mouth, jitteriness, making weird mouth movements without realizing it. None of that after the sleeve. There are so many more interesting things to do now than think about food all the time.

[Catracks 865]

Those mouth movements were due to me chewing the inside of my mouth. I'm not sure what causes it. I was only on Phentermine and it did work - Only I gained it all back and then some.

I barely ate and I barely slept.

Haven't been sleeved yet.

[marymoon 18]

My experience has been a bit opposite of Foxbins' - with fen-phen I had no hunger and the mere sight of food actually turned my stomach. I clearly remember watching a commercial for pizza Hut and seeing the grease on the pepperoni made me dry heave and ths was YEARS ago. With the sleeve I feel little to no hunger but I still have a bit of head hunger & the occassional craving.

I also used phenterimine which gave me the jitters, caused sleeplessness, etc but helped tremendously with my hunger. I have a hard time remembering to take pills & wanted something permanent. The sleeve has been the answer for me.

[Ducker 59]

_{The lack of hunger with the sleeve is in now way like that of Fen-Phen. Fen-Phen gave me a total aversion to food. I couldn't even fathom the thought of eating. It was disgusting, like a drug addiction documentary. The lack of hunger with the sleeve is much more natural. It's more of a "no thank you" type of hunger.}

[Chimera 644]

I had my 5th MWL weigh in yesterday and as is my normal pattern - I get close to losing 10% of my weight, stall, and then the scale starts to creep back up. So my doc wrote a prescription for Phentermine - wants me to cut carbs to below 50g a day and to check out the Premier Protein shakes - I have been driking the nectar, but she warned about the carbs in skim milk even. I took my first tablet and woo - now that my tummy has settled down I feel like I have gotten more done around my house than I have in weeks haha!

Like Wellbutrin did for cigarettes - which made me not even want to smoke after a 29 year pack a day habit - so far the Phentermine seems to be doing with the focus on food - which is good I have been struggling and cannot even wrap my mind around not wanting to or having to eat huge volumes of food to feel satisfied.

[thinoneday 445]

i was on phentermine for a very long time 1 1/2 years and got the heart valve problems (of course) lost about 90 lbs as well. . .lost the hunger as well and had alot of energy. . . with the surgery I never lost the hunger. . . have always had the hunger pangs since surgery day 1. . . don't have the energy, but make myself do stuff. . . so in comparison????? However, i regained all my weight plus more when i stopped the phentermine and with the sleeve i have not (i'm 2 years out). I can still eat whatever, but in smaller portions (alot smaller) So in all, I prefer the sleeve over the drugs anyday. . . thank goodness the mitral valve prolapse was only mild. . . didn't need surgery to repair it. . . whewwww

[Lissa 2,631]

I did Phen-Fen way back then, too. I haven't been told about any heart problems, so I guess I lucked out. Of course, I was only on it for 2 months...then my boss, my mother, my brother and the boss' dad sat me down and told me I HAD to quit taking Phen-Fen because I was acting like a lunatic. I didn't even notice at the time, but apparently I was pretty whacked out in my behavior.

I've had none of those symptoms with the sleeve!