Health :: science

Health Twenty-five years ago, the great Athenian doctor Hippocrates believed that balance is health and that imbalance is the cause of all illness and pain. For more than three hundred years, this concept has been in disfavour. Now, clinical experiences with Phen/Fen suggest that Hippocrates was right. While both phentermine and fenfluramine have been available since the mid-seventies, patients were generally reluctant to use them because of the always present fear of addiction. During many instances when people did try either one of these new drugs, they could not tolerate the side effects. The pills in fact do work, because they trick the brain into thinking that the stomach is full. But they also seem to affect the brain in other, less desirable ways. The thought process behind creating a ‘superdrug’ such as Phen/Fen, was that by combining the two medications, one could take advantage of their different pharmacologic actions getting, in essence, better effectiveness while hopefully minimizing the "mild" side effects (Michael D. Myers. 1997). Despite the side effects that are still present, drug companies are making lots of money off of Phen/Fen. It is the second fastest growing drug in the country. In 1996, it earned about $191 million for its maker, Wyath-Ayerst (CNN. 1997). Obesity, poor nutrition, and inactivity are estimated to contribute to about 300,000 deaths a year (National Institution of Health. 1996), thus there is an increased demand for such pills as Phen/Fen. In this paper, I will discuss the two drugs that make up Phen/Fen, Fenfulramine and Phentermine, and discuss the side effects for each of the pills. I will introduce Serotonin and Dopamine, two of the brain’s neurotransmitters and the effect of Phen/Fen on them. I will also discuss who should and who shouldn’t use this potentially dangerous diet. Finally, I will look at a case study from Michael D. Myers which makes some very important conclusions about the diet. Fenfluramine Fenfluramine was discovered at approximately the same time as it’s cousin, Phentermine. Fenfluramine has always been strongly associated with many side effects. The most prominent of it’s side effects is Primary Pulmonary Hypertension which is a life threatening complication (Michael D. Myers. 1997). An estimated 1 in 17,000 patients that are treated for longer than 3 months will develop this condition (New England Journal of Medicine. 1996). The symptoms may be vague chest discomfort of development of an insidious feeling of shortness of breath (Abenhaim, L.