Metabolife

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This is an herbal based weight loss pill. Anybody else seeing patients with severe adverse reactions?

I took a plant biology class in college where we, among other things, studied the chemoactive properties of plants and herbal remedies. This was some 20 years ago, before ephedra got popular or even very many people knew about it. We'd go out and identify plants on field trips. One of the plants we collected was ephedra. Came back to the classroom and made a nice tea from it. Even back then, the professor warned about taking too much d/t the HTN and heart problems associated with it. After that class, I'd really recommend that no one take these kinds of things without looking up what the chemical compounds are in these herbs and vitamins. Like already mentioned, some have massive quantities of anticoagulants, hypertensives, etc. Just know what you're taking.

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I wanted to try Metabolife to see if it would help me lose weight. I didn't want to buy the whole bottle just in case. The distributor I went to had sample packs of 4 pills per pack. He suggested that for my size I take 1 pill in the morning and half in the evening. So that is what I did. The first pill didn't seem to adversely affect me. I took the half at 4:30 in the afternoon. By 5:00 I was totally numb down my right side. From head to toe I was numb. I was drooling. I assume my face was drooping but I was too afraid to look. I was also too afraid to seek help. So I waited. Stoopid? OK, I'll buy that. The next morning I felt much better. The numbness was gone. I did have a raging sinus headache. So what did Brainiac do? I took 2 pseudoephedrine tablets. Only made the connection between ephedra and pseudoEPHEDRINE after I went totally numb down the right side again. Stoopider? OK, I'll give you that. Did I get help? Nope. Wasn't even gonna try to explain that. Bottom line, self diagnosis--peripheral neuropathy. To this day I occasionally experience right side numbness. Shay, it ain't worth it!!! I'm a 24/26 and damn glad about it cause I'm still here.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

Good ole metabolife and other ephedra products. You can call it job security. Ive seen people who have had MIs, CVAs, TIAs on that stuff. Not even compared to those who come in with palpitations, anxiety disorders, hyperventilation, and other personality disorders exacerbated by this shit. Sometimes makes it hard to feel compassion for some of these idiots.

Then you combine this with all the others who come in with substance abuse, whether its alcohol, cannabis or other street drugs. Also those who abuse prescribed meds, pain meds, antidepressants, and others. Like I said you can call thet job security.

Plus they opened a ice and skating palace down the road. People hit with hockey pucks in the face, or sticked, or whatever. plus they have ramps for inline skating and skateboarding and such, that also gives us a lot of business too. One of the Orthos has his office right across the street from it, good thinking.

doo wah ditty

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Very curious,

I have been taking Ephedra products of one kind or another for about 12 years now with none of these side effects. Sometimes I take additional Ephedra with my Caffeine/Ephedrine combination supplements if I need the energy boost to last. I also drink coffee from my french press most mornings.

I recently had my bp checked @ 130/90 so I see none of your specters of Ephedra looming in the shadows, but I have found that persons who supposedly don't tolerate Ephedra without palpations and diaphoresis also can't tolerate drinking just one cup of coffee by itself. Amazingly, the same palpations and diaphoresis are present with just a cup of coffee yet,these people are actively blaming the Ephedra in these products.

It's all just media hype until it can be shown with something more than just anecdotal report,but that poor little bronchodialator Ephedra will shoulder the blame until something sexier comes along.

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No I have never tried the bad stuff, hell I have never drank one beer or smoked one cigarette and I am 25 :eek:

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I have had pts in the ER have seizures ( with no history of a seizure disorder) after taking this garbage. Enough said.

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Peeps,

Do you know that 90 diastolic pressure qualifies as hypertensive. If you showed up at a blood pressure screening at my church I would have to give you a warning.

Keep the Faith,

Eileen

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Does anyone know what happens chemicals like ephedra, or caffeine, once it enters the body via stomach epithelium? Does your body changeit into something else? Basically, what other chemicals are involved in metabolism ephedra, and then how is it excreted (kidneys)? Do these oral drugs/meds enter your blood/heart/lungs via the stomach or duodenum?

Now I am confused and realize I don't know jack about meds because i can't explain what happens after you swallow it? I am sorry to ask this question, and am a dunce. Please do not blow me away with super-hardcore vocabulary :-(

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I think our psych center has seen a few people with destabilized conditions when they were on metabolife. If it can bring out the psychosis in you, it's probably not very good for you.

I agree with the diet and exercise advice (skipping sugar in the evening usually makes you feel better in teh morning).

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Originally posted by mario_ragucci

Does anyone know what happens chemicals like ephedra, or caffeine, once it enters the body via stomach epithelium? Does your body changeit into something else? Basically, what other chemicals are involved in metabolism ephedra, and then how is it excreted (kidneys)? Do these oral drugs/meds enter your blood/heart/lungs via the stomach or duodenum?

Now I am confused and realize I don't know jack about meds because i can't explain what happens after you swallow it? I am sorry to ask this question, and am a dunce. Please do not blow me away with super-hardcore vocabulary :-(

Mario, these are far from dunce-type questions! I've read your posts before, and they are very well thought out. You have a keen mind that is searching to understand these things. That's refreshing to see! Wish we could sit down and talk about these things for a few days! (It isn't like there are large numbers of people who want to know!)

The chemical reactions are too involved for me to go into them here on a bulletin board, what happens after you swallow the pill, ephedra, whatever. So, I'd really recommend that you find a book on ORGANIC CHEMISTRY or MICROBIOLOGY at the beginning level. The kinds of questions you ask on the various topics at allnurses, I think you'd find what happens and why a very interesting topic, and it would give you a good basis to understand these kinds of reactions.

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Thank you Youda - Often times I like to take what I am thinking about at face value, that is, how it can be imagined. I know that chemicals can be in solid, gas or liquid forms. So, when ephedra liquid gets to your stomach, does it get metabolised like, say, a glass of orange juice does? Does your body think it's a sugar, and then raise insulin levels? Can ephedra participate in the Kreb cycle, or electron transport.sys, or does your body make it into glucose?

How come when you swallow pill meds, they don't slide all the way down to your cardiac spincter and pass into your duodenum whole? Do they get stuck on your stomach epitilium and disolve always? So often I see PT's swallow meds and I think, "what does their stomach look like?" If you place a pill in a glass of water, it will float to the bottom in tact. If you swallowed a pill with a 12oz glass of water, wouldn't it too drop right to the bottom part of your stomach, and rest on the cardiac spincter?

I know this is a thread about metobolife, but this is also interesting, re: how metabolife metabolises.

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Isn't ephedrine the active metabolite of Ephedra?

Isn't that in OTC cold remedies?

I'm not saying that Ephedra is "safe",but I am looking at it objectively. How can we link Ephedra to all of this objective data without an objective measurement?

It's too easy to r/o other causes and blame Ephedra for my mild hypertension. Little do you know................

Sedentary lifestyle

40 lbs overweight

41 y/o

Male

Poor diet

I don't think that entered into the criteria,just that "oh wow,Ephedra is causing this person pressure changes"

Right?

I don't believe everything the FDA tells me either. Has everyone forgotten that they approved Phen-Phen? How can they have credibility?

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