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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Phentermine is the most commonly-prescribed weight loss pill in the United States ( 1 ). While most patients report only minor phentermine side effects, some people experience serious, potentially life-threatening reactions to the medication – including phentermine heart problems.This article is intended for informational purposes only. We are not doctors, and the information below does not in any way constitute or substitute a professional medical opinion. Always contact a licensed medical professional for medical advice.Can Phentermine Cause Heart Problems?Yes, phentermine can cause heart problems.Two listed side effects of this medication are valvular heart disease and primary pulmonary hypertension: both critical cardiopulmonary problems.Thankfully, these serious side effects are rare in patients taking phentermine alone. The medication more frequently causes other cardiovascular problems, such as increased (or irregular) heart rate or high blood pressure.Recent evidence indicates that phentermine may also increase patients’ risk of coronary vasospasm.For this reason, phentermine is only available under a doctor’s prescription & supervision, and each patient must be evaluated individually before receiving a script for this medication.Go to the hospital or contact your doctor immediately if you suspect any phentermine heart problems, or experience any of the systems listed at the end of this article.Phentermine heart problems are a listed side effect of this medicationValvular heart disease and primary pulmonary hypertension are two serious, heart-related side effects of phentermine. These complications were first identified in patients who took phentermine plus fenfluramine. Fen-Phen (or Phen-Fen) was an off-label combination of these two medications that grew popular in the late 80s and early 90s and gained renown for its ability to help patients shed weight quickly and easily.However, fenfluramine (and its more potent cousin: dexfenfluramine) was withdrawn from the market in 1997 after a prominent Mayo Clinic study linked use of Phen-Fen to an increased risk of pulmonary hypertension and heart valve disease ( 2 ).While phentermine alone was never implicated in these reports, causative involvement cannot be ruled out. As a result, these potentially-fatal conditions are still listed as side effects of any medication containing phentermine.Phentermine Heart Valve ProblemsThe serendipitous discovery of a connection between Phen-Fen use and serious heart valve problems arose from informal communications between doctors at the Mayo Clinic and around the country in the mid-1990s.The physicians noticed that 24 different female patients treated with Phen-Fen had developed leaky, misshapen, and discolored valves after using the two weight-loss medications for about one year. This was problematic because when a valve is leaky, the heart has to work harder to pump the same amount of blood.Depending on the degree of damage, leaky heart valves may be either repaired or replaced. In patients who required surgical intervention, surgeons noted heart valves had an atypical “glistening white appearance” ( 2 , 3 ).Among the 113 Phen-Fen heart valve cases reported to the FDA in 1997, none of the affected patients took phentermine alone. This makes sense, given that the damage was eventually linked with activity of the 5-HT2b receptor on heart valves. Phentermine alone is not drawn to
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