Understanding Weight Loss Medications and Their Effects

At our online drugstore, you can buy weight loss medications that are proven to be the most effective and safe from this group of drugs. However, before you buy them, we strongly recommend you to consult a doctor and read our overview of obesity and troubles related to it.

Obesity statistics

Years of research on obesity discovered that women are twofold more prone to develop obesity than men. The critical age when the excessive weight is mostly gained is between thirty and sixty years of age.

Although one of the causes of obesity in women is a hormonal imbalance, not only endocrinologists are involved in the study and treatment of the disorder. According to the statistics provided by the World Health Organization, obesity is a global epidemic problem that comprises millions of people from around the world regardless of their professional, social, national, geographical, sex, and age groups. Currently, in the U.S. around 40% of men and 35% of women suffer from obesity. In general, excessive weight is estimated to be affecting around 70% of the U.S. population.

The people, who are medically considered obese two times more prone to developing hypertension, are 3-4 more likely to develop ischemic heart disease including myocardial infarction, stroke, and others. In general, almost all illnesses and diseases including respiratory tract viral and bacterial infections, pneumonia, and so on are more severe in people with obesity and are more likely to become complicated.

For women, obesity is related to additional health problems. If for men obesity is mainly dangerous with the development of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, women are 25% more likely to develop cancer with every extra 10 cm (4 inches) on their waist. According to the studies conducted by the British scientists, the fat accumulation in the waist region over the lifetime is directly related to an increased risk of breast cancer after the onset of menopause. According to their estimations, the one size increase of the bottoms in ten years increases the risk of breast cancer by 33% and if every ten years your waist size is increased by 2 sizes, this number goes up to 77%.

Causes of obesity development

Obesity usually develops on the basis of the violated balance between the energy units (calories) consumed and the energy spending of the organism. The excess calories that are consumed and not spent on the physical activity are transformed into the body fat that stores in the fat stores of the body: mainly in the subcutaneous tissue, omentums, abdominal wall, internal organs, etc. This leads to the rise of the body mass and impairment of the normal functioning of the body. Around 90% of obesity cases are caused by overeating and only 5% of cases are due to the impaired metabolism.

The changes in the food behavior occur as a result of the violation of the hypothalamic-pituitary regulation, which is responsible for the control of behavioral reactions. The increased activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary system leads to the elevated production of the adrenocorticotropic hormone, the rate of cortisol secretion and acceleration of its metabolism. Along with that, the reduction of the secretion of growth hormone, which has a lipolytic (fat burning) effect takes place, develops hyperinsulinemia, a disorder in the metabolism of thyroid hormones, and the sensitivity of tissues to them.

These are the factors which mostly contribute to the onset of obesity:
- Sedentary lifestyle;
- Bad food habits such as consumption of large portions of food, excessive consumption of carbohydrates, fats, salt, sugar, alcoholic beverages, night eating, and so on.
- Overeating caused by stress or mental disorder;
- Physiological reasons such as pregnancy, lactation, and menopause;
- Insufficient night sleep, intake of psychotropic or hormonal medications (insulin, steroids, oral contraceptives, and so on);
- Certain endocrine pathologies such as hypothyroidism, hypogonadism, insulinoma, Cushing's disease.

The rare causes of obesity are the hereditary violations of enzymes activity such as an increase in the activity of lipogenesis enzymes and a decrease in the activity of craniocerebral enzymes that break down fats lipolysis.

If you started gaining weight suddenly without changing your food habits or physical activity regimen, before you buy weight loss drugs, make sure to consult a physician, nutritionist, or endocrinologist and get your health tested. If you are overweight for all of your life or gained excessive weight after pregnancy or a health disorder, you should also get checked before you start taking any medications to facilitate the weight loss. However, you can change your diet and become calorie-conscious, i.e. track the number of calories you consume and burn, do mild physical exercises that won’t affect your joints even without going to a doctor as these lifestyle changes are not contraindicated to anyone.

Obesity classification

In 1997, the World Health Organization developed a classification of body mass that is based on the body mass index for people aged from eighteen to sixty-five years. The BMI is calculated based on the formula: weight in cm or pounds divided to squared height in cm or feet (you can find a variety of BMI calculators online which are easy to use).

It is considered that the BMI over 30 indicates obesity and direct threat to an individual’s health. It requires a medical examination, tests, and a development of individual treatment scheme.

By comparing the actual and ideal body weight, obesity is divided into 4 degrees: in the first degree obesity the excessive body mass is not more than 29%; the second degree is characterized by the 30-40% increase in weight compared to the ideal weight for the respective height; the third degree obesity is diagnosed when the actual weights is 50-99% more than the ideal weight for the respective height; the fourth degree of obesity is diagnosed when the actual body mass is bigger than the ideal in two or more times.

The ideal body weight is calculated on the formula height in cm minus 100.

By the predominant localization of fat deposits on the body, the following types of obesity are distinguished:
- Abdominal obesity (upper body) is characterized by the excessive fat storing in the upper body and belly (“apple” shaped body). It is the most common type of weight gain in men and it is mostly dangerous for health as it is related with the risk of arterial hypertension, diabetes, infarction, stroke, and breast cancer in women.
- Femoral-gluteal (lower body) obesity is characterized by the fat stored in the area of hips and buttocks (the figure resembles a pear in shape). It is more common in women and is accompanied by impaired functions of the joints, spine, and venous insufficiency.
- Intermediate (mixed) obesity is characterized by a uniform distribution of body fat and can be as dangerous as the other types of obesity.
The weight gain is also divided into primary and secondary. The primary obesity is caused by the alimentary factors, i.e. the increased caloric value of the consumed food and low energy spending. This type of obesity or weight gain, in general, is related to the predominance of carbohydrates and animal fats in the diet or violated regime or composition of meals, i.e. abundant but rare food intakes, the consumption of the main calories of the day in the evening and night time. Besides, this type of weight gain can be also partially hereditary and cause the faster fat deposition form the fatty meals than from proteins and carbohydrates. The metabolism of consumed fats is highly decreased in hypodinamy (lack of physical activity). Therefore, they greatly contribute to the weight gain.

The secondary obesity commonly accompanies such hereditary syndromes as adiposogenital dystrophy, narcolepsy, and others. The symptomatic obesity can also develop on the basis of other cerebral dysfunctions such as brain tumors, infectious diseases, mental disorders, craniocerebral trauma, and others.

The endocrine type of obesity develops in the pathology of the endocrine glands: hypothyroidism, hypercorticism, hyperinsulinism, and hypogonadism. For all types of obesity, hypothalamic disorders are noted to some extent, which are either primary or arising in the course of the disease.

Diagnosis of obesity

It’s easy to find out that you are overweight as it is manifested in the changes of appearance and fitting of the clothing. Besides, people with III and IV can start experiencing sleepiness, weakness, increased sweating, irritability, nervousness, shortness of breath, nausea, constipation, swelling, the ache in the spine and joints.

Obesity of different types has a similar set of symptoms but the changes are in the type of fat storage distribution and presence or absence of signs that the excessive weight can be caused by the violations of the endocrine or nervous system function:
- In alimentary obesity, i.e. caused by the overeating, the body weight increases gradually, the fat storing is uniform, sometimes predominate in the region of the hips and abdomen. Symptoms of endocrine glands dysfunction are absent.
- In hypothalamic obesity, weight is gained rapidly with the predominant deposition of fat on the abdomen, thighs, and buttocks. It is also accompanied by an increase in appetite, especially towards evening, thirst, night hunger, dizziness, and tremor. Characteristic trophic skin disorders can also develop such as pink or white striae (stretch marks) and dry skin. Women can develop hirsutism, infertility, menstrual irregularities; in men an impaired potency is frequent. The disorder can also be accompanied by headaches, sleep disorder, sweating, and arterial hypertension.

When people with excess weight are tested, the doctor should pay attention to the health history, family health history and predisposition to obesity, find out the indicators of the minimum and maximum weight after reaching the age of 20 years, the duration of obesity development, the measures taken, the eating habits and lifestyle of the patient, and the existing diseases.
To diagnose obesity and figure out the stage of the disorder, the body mass index is used.
The character of the fat tissue distribution is identified by the calculation of the coefficient equal to the ratio of the waist circumference to the hip circumference. The abdominal obesity in women is diagnosed if this coefficient is 0.8 or more. For men, the abdominal obesity is diagnosed when the coefficient is 1 or more.
It is considered that the risk of the diseases that develop on the basis of obesity is especially high in women with the waist circumference more than 88 centimeters (35 inches) and in men with 102 centimeters (40 inches). To assess the stage of the under skin fat storage the detection of the skin fold size is made with a special device.

The most precise results in the identification of the volume and percentage of the fat tissue from the total body mass are obtained from the additional diagnostic methods such as ultrasound, nuclear magnetic resonance, computed tomography, X-ray densitometry, etc. In obesity, patients need advice from a psychologist, nutritionist and instructor in physiotherapy.

To diagnose the health issues associated with obesity the following parameters are identified:
- Arterial blood pressure;
- Hypoglycemic profile and a test for glucose tolerance (for the detection of type II diabetes mellitus);
- Level of triglycerides, cholesterol, low and high-density lipoproteins (for assessing lipid metabolism disorders);
- Changes in ECG and ECHO (to detect violations of the circulatory system and the heart);
- The level of uric acid in the biochemical blood test (for the detection of hyperuricemia).

Before you decide to buy weight loss drugs, please make sure to consult a doctor and find out the reason for your weight gain not to harm your body.

Weight loss drugs we offer at our online pharmacy:
- Acomplia or Rimonabant is appointed for patients with the body mass index over 27 with accompanying health problems. The medication reduces the appetite and improves saturation with the lower doses as it acts on the cannabinoid receptors responsible for hunger and saturation;
- Obestat or Sibutramine made by Cipla is a medication that inhibits the reuptake of serotonin and noradrenaline which makes it possible to eat less as the saturation comes quicker and the food is no longer needed as a narcotics. Besides the assistance in the weight loss, the medication also normalizes the level of cholesterol and triglycerides;
- Orligal based on Orlistat made by Signature helps to reduce the body mass by preventing the fats from food from absorbing and being transformed into the body fat. The medication affects the enzymes in the pancreas and the small intestine where the fats are absorbed;
- Phenamax is a unique medication based on natural substances only that gently improves the metabolism, lowers the appetite and helps to lose weight gradually without any side effects.
- Sibutramine or Reductil is a medication that helps not only to lose weight but also normalize the level of bad and good cholesterol. The medication affects the neurotransmitters in the brain ensuring that you enjoy saturation and reduced appetite for long periods of time;
- Xenical based on Orlistat made by Aristo Pharmaceuticals is the same drug as the above-mentioned Orligal simply made by another pharmaceutical company. It helps losing weight as it doesn’t allow fats to get absorbed into the body and transform into the body fat.

Please note that in order to lose weight even if you buy weight loss drugs you need to lower your food intake and do at least some physical exercises. Besides, you need to consult a doctor before you start using any pills as if you already use any other medicines they can negatively interact.