Tips: Lessen The Risks Associated With Using Diet Pill

Until the day that all over the counter medications and herbal preparations marketed as diet pills and aids are labeled and tested by impartial researchers, there are some things that you can do to lessen the risks associated with using diet pills.

1. Research is your best friend. There's a lot of information out there about drugs and herbs like ephedra, ephinedrine, phentermine and sibutramine. Know what contents of diet pills you're taking and what the risks are, so that you can watch for side effects.
   
   
2. Always talk to your doctor before you start taking any diet pills. Many of them interact poorly with other medications, or have an adverse effect on chronic conditions.
   
   
3. Follow diet pills dosage instructions. Overdoses of stimulant medications, which are a component of most weight loss preparations, can be serious and severe.
   
   
4. Don't take any diet pill or supplement for more than a few weeks without it being prescribed by a doctor.
   
   
5. Check with your pharmacist when purchasing over the counter weight loss preparations to be sure that the ingredients of diet pills you are taking don't interact with other medications you may be taking. Include both prescription and nonprescription medications in your questions.
   
   
6. Ideally, don't take diet pills. The effectiveness of most have not been proven at all. It's an awful lot of risk for such a little loss.