An anorectic agent is one that suppresses or decreases a persons appetite. Stimulants in general have anorectic properties but not all are approved by the FDA for that use. Anorectics stimulate both the beta and dopaminergic receptors in the CNS and we get appetite suppression. In other words, they are beta and dopaminergic agonists.
Tolerance can and does develop within 6 weeks. So what happens is psychological and physical dependence builds up even if the drug isn’t working anymore.
Contraindications: Hypertension or Cardiovascular Disease because it raises the blood pressure. Epilepsy if a person is prone to seizures.
Examples of Anorectic Agents
Just so you know how quickly things are changing. We have 3 anorectic drugs on the list below but we could disregard the middle one because the FDA recently found out its bad effects outweigh the good (and this drug had been around for 5-6 years). This is the bit about surveillance in action that we talked about earlier.
- Diethylpropion (Tenuate) – p.o.
Sibutramine (Meridia) – p.o.- Phentermine (Ionamin, Fastin) – p.o. – This is the drug that doctors combined with fenfluramine to create “fen-phen.” Doctors were not approved to prescribe this with that combination and people developed pulmonary hypertension or other serious issues which caused fatal effects. Now there’s a brand new combination, approved a few weeks ago as of September 2012, phentermine with topiramate (Topamax), to have a great effect on weight reduction. We’ll see how this pans out, because Topamax alone is barely tolerable by most people with all the side effects it comes with.
