There’s an over-the-counter weight loss drug called Alli made by the huge pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline. You can see it on the shelves of most any Wal Mart or local drug store. It’s also called Orlistat which is marketed under the trade name of Xenical by the pharmaceutical Roche.
It’s promoted as safe, and it works by limiting the absorption of fats from what you eat, which in turn reduces your intake of calories. (What has always turned me off about Alli or Orlistat is that is creates oily and loose stools. Bleck. )
Medscape just today reported about an FDA warning: the Use of orlistat may decrease L-thyroxine (T4) absorption and lead to hypothyroidism. Clinicians are advised to administer levothyroxine and orlistat at least 4 hours apart…
Oh jolly. So now we have the FDA giving a warning about Alli causing problems with “thyroxine” use, yet it’s the VERY “thyroxine” use that causes a certain large percentage of those using Alli to need to use it in the first place. You can see that reality in the questions about the hypo problem on the Alli forum. i.e They are all on thyroxine!
Hitting my head against the wall.
P.S. Reported in Endocrine Today and from just a month ago, and article titled Hypothyroid patients required increased levothyroxine during pregnancy. Zombie Endocrinologists. Zombies. That’s like having an article titled Sick patients need more blood-letting. i.e LEVOTHYROXINE SUCKS AND SHOULD BE IN THE PAST just as much as blood-letting. WAKE UP ENDOCRINOLOGISTS!! WAKE UP!!
*Check out patient response to the newly formulated Armour below, and add your own comments.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 and is filed under Thyroid treatment, hypothyroidism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Dwayne said:
May 01, 09 at 6:30 amThey will never wake up. I work in a Primary Care network and I have to tell you– it’s pathetic– the whole thing. I can’t believe how undeducated these doctors are. It’s extremely annoying and frustrating. Thank god I go to a holistic MD as she knows what she is doing far superior to these wanna be doctors!
Violet Lewis said:
May 04, 09 at 2:07 pmI was given your web site last year. After I read it all many times, clicked on all links, I sat down and cried. I am 66 and when I was a teenager, I remember taking thyroid. I was thin. I had asthma, and just used every ounce of food, I guess. When I was 21, I had my first child and went from 100 pounds to 150. I am 5ft tall. I was 24 and a Doctor told me one thyroid gland was twice the size of the other. So he used the radiation treatment to remove it.
Fast forward to 2 years ago. I have had to fight weight for all those years. It was not till I could not walk and so exhausted i nearly fell to the ground. My heart Doctor put me in the hospital for 48 hours and took every test he could find. At the end he asked me if I ever had a thyroid problem. I told him yes and explained what happened.
Now I have a diabetic Doctor for 5 years. I HAD TOLD HER ABOUT MY THYROID SURGERY. She took the usual test and my TSH was fine. But I still felt lousy. It was not till my heart Doctor put me on thyroid meds did she say anything ( and she was pissed he found it and she did not. ) I was pissed too.
I finely found a Doctor way out from me to take more tests and found my T3 was low. She gave me cytomel 25mg. I am also on levothroxine 50mg. I know it is not the best. My heart Doctor has me on lots of minerals and supplements with only a few Prx. But I still can barely make it through the day.
I have found a Endocrinologist in San Antonio. I have had to push and needle to get the tests I want. Why do they fight it?? Doc, it is my body and my $$$ I now weigh 245. It makes me sick.
Amy H said:
May 08, 09 at 7:21 amI just HAVE to put in a warning here about Alli and other punishment we give ourselves for being overweight after thyroid issues. Our bodies needs fat and cholesterol to make hormones in the first place, even more so than healthy people, since we have to regenerate a lot after all the damage from not having enough thyroid hormones for however many years it took for our doctors to figure it out. I know this is a bit off topic of the post but your body does need fat, protein, and carbohydrate together, tailored to your physical activity and other needs.
It is very dangerous to block your body’s absorbtion, of fats, or anything else in that matter, and expect to have enough nutrients and building blocks to keep your metabolism running and the manufacture of all types of hormones. Fat has NUTRIENTS that your body needs!!
If you already have a poorly functioning metabolism from being undertreated for thyroid, you’ll find yourself in an even worse situation when you try any extreme diet technique. The only way to lose weight safely and not hurt yourself is to get your metabolism operating well again with proper thyroid and adrenal support, get plenty of rest, time with friends and loved ones, avoidance of stress if possible, low-impact excersize from something you enjoy doing (like walking in the park or playing soccer with your kids in the yard, etc), eating sensibly from ALL food groups (that does not include brownies and margerine, chefboyardee raviolis from a can, microwave dinners, things filled with MSG and other chemicals), and NOT, I repeat NOT, severely restricting food intake OR any one part of fat, protein, carbohydrate.
I apologise for my rant but my mother is a nutritionist and I am a thyroid/adrenal patient too! I don’t want to see anyone suffer even more. Believe me, I’m in the ‘got a bit of extra weight I’d sure like to lose with crash dieting’ boat too, but I’m just not giving in. I’m letting my metabolism heal after years of being sick and I’m just gonna have to be patient. So your’re going to have to love me and yourself a little fatter for a while and who cares because you’ve got healing to do!!!
Andrew - Weight Loss Melbourne said:
May 15, 09 at 12:31 amI must agree with Dwayne. In my workplace we have alot of people who come to us after they have been through the uneducated mass of grinder-type general practitioners.
To just what end will people be led in order to create a higher profit margin.