{"id":272,"date":"2009-07-21T09:47:04","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T09:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/drnorrischumleysatisfiedlife\/2009\/07\/weight-loss-pill-a-magic-bulle.html"},"modified":"2009-07-21T09:47:04","modified_gmt":"2009-07-21T09:47:04","slug":"weight-loss-pill-a-magic-bulle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/drnorrischumleysatisfiedlife\/2009\/07\/weight-loss-pill-a-magic-bulle.html","title":{"rendered":"Weight Loss Pill: a Magic Bullet?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--StartFragment--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Weight Loss Pill: a Magic Bullet?<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There&#8217;s a new pill announced, called Contrave, that claims<br \/>\nto help obese patients over the difficulties of losing weight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">A combination of two older drugs, Wellbutrin, an<br \/>\nanti-depressant, and Naltrexone, used in addiction and alcoholism treatment,<br \/>\nthe maker, Orexigen Therapeutics Inc., is claiming it is testing well in<br \/>\nclinical trials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The manufacturer&#8217;s claim is that the drugs work in the<br \/>\ndeepest part of the brain, the hypothalamus, which regulates metabolism,<br \/>\nhunger, and the endocrine system.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>Evidently, a side effect of Wellbutrin is some weight loss, which isn&#8217;t<br \/>\nentirely understood.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>This effect<br \/>\nis said to wear-off, but then the Naltrexone anti-addiction formula kicks in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I&#8217;m not a medical doctor, so I won&#8217;t comment on the medical<br \/>\naspects.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I do want to say that<br \/>\npart of this news is encouraging: that obesity is helped by tending to<br \/>\npsychological and behavioral aspects of the problem, which manifest as<br \/>\ndepression.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I&#8217;ve long said that<br \/>\nlosing weight needs to be a combination of nutritional changes, emotional<br \/>\ntherapy, recreation and physical treatments, and spiritual practice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Generally, I am against panacea weight loss pills and<br \/>\ndrugs.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>At best, I believe them to<br \/>\nbe short-term, drastic approaches.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>This appears to be the case with this new drug as well, but it&#8217;s not<br \/>\nbeen around long enough to do long-term studies.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>If it&#8217;s an initial therapy that helps people get started and<br \/>\nmotivated toward making changes in their eating habits, and on the road to<br \/>\nfeeling better about themselves, then it&#8217;s worth considering.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Any medications need to be combined<br \/>\nwith healthy eating, nutritional education, regular exercise, and emotional and<br \/>\nspiritual therapy and practices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Be cautious, however, as with any medication there will be side<br \/>\neffects, and we don&#8217;t yet know what those are long-term.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Reported in the initial study were<br \/>\nincreased nausea and headaches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Consider this, too, what has been the long-term<br \/>\neffectiveness and safety of weight loss pills?<span>&nbsp; <\/span>There aren&#8217;t many still on the market; they have to keep<br \/>\ncreating new ones as the others, each offering big promises and hope, haven&#8217;t<br \/>\nproved to be the breakthrough and easy solutions we had wished for. Some have<br \/>\neven been unsafe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">What do you think of weight loss pills?<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Please comment, and share this with<br \/>\nfriends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Join me on Twitter.com\/drnorrischumley<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><u><b>What do you think of weight loss pills?<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Please comment, and share this with<br \/>\nfriends.<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/drnorrischumley\">Join me on Twitter.com\/drnorrischumley<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/rbssHealthcareNews\/idUSN1953442220090720\">Here&#8217;s a news article about it, from Reuters.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/diet\/news\/20090608\/contrave-new-weight-loss-drug-advances\">And another from WedMD<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Weight Loss Pill: a Magic Bullet? &nbsp; There&#8217;s a new pill announced, called Contrave, that claims to help obese patients over the difficulties of losing weight. &nbsp; A combination of two older drugs, Wellbutrin, an anti-depressant, and Naltrexone, used in addiction and alcoholism treatment, the maker, Orexigen Therapeutics Inc., is claiming it is testing well&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3,10,5,8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet","category-health","category-lifestyles","category-prayers","category-weight-loss","category-wellness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Weight Loss Pill: a Magic Bullet? - Dr. Norris J. 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