Contrave vs Phentermine for Weight Loss
Question
Contrave versus phentermine for weight loss? What is the better prescription appetite-suppressant drug for the reduction of fat? Does Contrave work better than phentermine for fat loss when combined with diet and exercise or are they both comparable?
I need to reduce weight and lose my pot belly. I need to become thinner and lighter because I am overweight. Reducing weight is difficult for me because I do not have the willpower to lower food consumption.
I have heard that anorectic or anorexic drugs like phentermine are extremely powerful at reducing appetite. I am weighing the pros and cons of each drug so that I can achieve the most success.
Are you for or against the idea? I am certainly not opposed to the use of diet pills to reduce weight because if the pill doesn’t kill me my obesity will. But which diet pill works best?
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Weight Loss
2 years
2021-02-14T05:45:27+00:00
2021-02-14T05:45:27+00:00 0 Answers
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Answers ( 3 )
The Short Answer: Contrave is better than Phentermine because it can be used long term. Phentermine only works short-term because your body builds tolerance after just 3 weeks. Use Contrave if you have more than 20 pounds to lose.
Both Contrave and phentermine (Adipex-P) are wonderful drugs but are in no way similar.
The FDA approved prescription appetite-suppressant Contrave is a fixed-dose combination drug containing naltrexone and bupropion. Contrave can be used for the management of chronic obesity. In other words, you can use Contrave long-term.
By contrast, phentermine is an FDA approved prescription appetite-suppressant drug that binds to receptors on the hypothalamus and is prescribed for obesity. It promotes weight loss when administered for a short time.
Both medications are used for the management of obesity in combination with a calorie restricted diet and exercise. Although phentermine is typically not effective after 3 weeks of use since your body builds up a tolerance to the drug.
Therefore, if you need to lose 30 to 100 or more pounds, you will need a drug that can be taken long-term…phentermine is not that drug.
Contrave is an expensive weight loss drug, costing upwards of $375 per month. The appetite suppressant pill contains bupropion and naltrexone, but the main drug in Contrave that makes it effective is bupropion.
It makes more sense to just buy bupropion SR 150 mg tabs as it only cost $28 per month. The most effective dose for me is to take one 150 mg slow release tab by mouth twice a day (300 mg per day).
The only problem is that bupropion is not FDA approved for weight loss because drug companies never ran it through a drug trial as the drug is too cheap by itself. So the pharmaceutical company combined two similar cheap drugs and got it FDA approved. Then they raised the price by like $300 bucks…ripoff.
But in order to get your medical doctor to prescribe bupropion, they would need to write a prescription for off-label use, which is something physicians don’t like to do. The good news: Bupropion is an FDA approved smoking cessation. So I told my doctor that I was a smoker and needed b bupropion to quit.
I am actually a bodybuilder, not obese. I have used both phentermine 37.5 mg and bupropion. I love both drugs. But when I am trying to get sub-10% body fat I need something I can take long-term because it takes time to get that lean. It is way cheaper to buy bupropion. I used it for about 3 months and it saved me about $940 as compared to just spending $90.
You don’t even need to go to the doctor to get bupropion. You can use HeyDoctor by GoodRx. It is an online telemedicine thing, no insurance required. I think I paid $25 for the online consultation plus the cost of the medication which was $28 with a GoodRx coupon.
On a side note, bupropion has side effects. It can cause moderate/severe erectile dysfunction during usage. The ED goes away after discontinuing the mediation. Viagra works to counteract the negative effects of bupropion.
I decided to switch to phentermine for 3 weeks so as to take a break from bupropion. I’ve been taking phentermine 37.5 mg for 7 days so far. My libido returned with a vengeance and I feel human again. Antidepressants like bupropion just make me feel emotionally and physically numb.