I am surprised this medication hasn't been mentioned yet on here. First I want to mention, I have tried phentermine in the past and couldn't handle the jittery feeling or heart palpitations. I only used this for a short time, and I had to cut the pill in half because it was too strong for me. It is not paid by insurance. It is around $30.00 for a months supply and you need to see your physician every month to have your blood pressure and heart rate monitored.

Now to get to the medication Bontril. I also used Bontril. It is usually prescribed 35mg tabs 3 times a day. I really liked this one because it did not give me the jittery feeling or the heart palpitations like the phentermine did. It helped with appetite suppression and I lost weight with it. I initially started out taking it 3 times a day as prescribed but found I only needed it twice a day. I have a history of insomnia so it would keep me wide awake. This medication is a controlled substance and insurance does not pay for it either. The cost is the same $30 a month and you also need to see your physician every month on this medication.

@@Dream4tc - so you are using Bontril as well as having the bypass?

I was confused too. Your stats look like you had bypass in 2001 but your ticker shows that you are having surgery in Nov. 2015.

Did you already have bypass and did not lose what you wanted to or are you pre surgery?

For me personally, I wanted to remove as many medications as possible by having WLS. So I stay away from drugs that claim to help with weight loss.

Part of the problem is taking meds to lose weight does not teach you the life changes needed to maintain it. I have had such a history of yo yo dieting that I know any weight loss drug would not work long term for me and could create further damage to my kidneys.

I do hope that it works for you long term if that is the route you have chosen.

Good luck!

Why would anyone need to take an appetite suppressant after having WLS? The whole reason I had WLS was to get away from pills and diets that didn't work long term for me.

No I am not using either of them. I had used the phentermine in the past back in 2000. I had later tried bontril back in 2006 before WLS.

I had the band in 2011, band removed just this month 8/10/15 and I will be having bypass in November. My post was just commenting on the medications that I tried. If you had read my original post more carefully you would have seen that I used past tense. I was just trying to offer more information to others geez no need to crucify me lol.

Edited August 17, 201511 yr by Dream4tc

I am not sure what is going on with my signature, I was unable to edit it so I had put an email out to the administrator to have them fix it.

Both Phentermine and Bontril are almost always used in conjunction with a sedative or a depressant like ( originally fenfluramine) Xanax, Topamax, or the combo drug phen pro- which is Phentermine and Prozac, or the like. That removes the wide awake portion. But they have very limited short term use and lets face it it is speed and taking speed every day will cause problems long term , not the least of which is addiction and the need for larger doses. So be careful with them.

The conversation becomes relevant as people get further out from surgery. I have a good friend who is eight years out from lapband - a seasoned veteran by the standards of Bariatric Pal. She's about 30 pounds away from ideal weight and her band just slipped. And she went unfilled for several weeks. There are options of revision, using medications to jump start weight loss as her band probably has good life left. As we continue to fight obesity, the challenges and conversations do change. Weight loss meds could be back on the table.