What Happens When You Stop Taking Apetamin?
Apetamin is an antihistamine medication with a side effect of appetite stimulation. It is mostly used by underweight individuals and people with anorexia nervosa to gain weight. However, do they retain the weight gained after stopping the medication? What Happens When You Stop Taking Apetamin?
Apetamin Compositions
Apetamin comes in both syrup and tablet form. Apetamin contains Cyproheptadine hydrochloride, lysine, and several vitamin B types. While the tablet only contains cyproheptadine hydrochloride, the syrup contains cyproheptadine hydrochloride, lysine, and vitamins.
According to its manufacturing labels, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of Apetamin syrup contains:
Cyproheptadine hydrochloride: 2 mg
L-lysine hydrochloride: 150 mg
Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) hydrochloride: 1 mg
Thiamine (vitamin B1) hydrochloride: 2 mg
Nicotinamide (vitamin B3): 15 mg
Dexpanthenol (an alternative form of vitamin B5): 4.5 mg
The vitamins contained in this medication make people assume it is just a multivitamin and use it regularly for weight gain. Whereas, cyproheptadine contained in it is an antihistamine used for allergies like runny nose, hives, itching, and watery eyes.
Cyproheptadine blocks the production of histamine which is produced by the body during allergic reactions. It is a prescription drug in countries like the UK and US, whereas it is an over-the-counter drug in Nigeria. It is manufactured by TIL healthcare, an Indian pharmaceutical company, and marketed as an “appetite stimulant”. However, it has not been approved as an appetite stimulant by the FDA or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency(the UK version of the FDA).
The drug is however popular in Nigeria and even online. Many women take Apetamin to gain weight, especially in their breasts, hips, and buttocks. They believe the drug will give them the perfect figure-eight shape with weight gain in these areas.
But, there are also other side effects associated with Apetamin. They include blurred vision, pain in the joints, joint swelling, hyperpigmentation, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, drowsiness, tremors, irritability, vomiting, liver toxicity, and failure. In addition, it can interact with alcohol, grapefruit juice, and certain drugs, including antidepressants, Parkinson’s disease drugs, and other antihistamines.
Cyproheptadine has the side effect of fatigue and makes one want to eat more. Hence, a person taking this medication will continue to eat voraciously while sleeping more also. This combination leads to weight gain.
Many people, especially black women, who are neither malnourished nor sick, decide that they want a thicker body and opt for Apetamin. They are mostly influenced by what they see online of curvaceous figures and how they are praised as the best-looking bodies.
The more they focus on these things, the more their self-esteem diminishes, and they start feeling their body shape is not good enough. This pushes them to get Apetamin for gaining more weight. They may then gain weight past their normal body mass index BMI and start introducing various ailments to their body. Diseases like hypertension, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and arthritis come with increased body weight.
Self-love is quite important so that women can know that they are perfectly made the way they are, and they should not be fantasizing about other bodies that may have even been gotten through surgeries.
How does Apetamin work?
Apetamin increases body weight as a result of the side effect of the cyproheptadine contained in it which is appetite stimulation. It is still unclear how it does this, but there are various theories on how Apetamin works.
In the first premise, cyproheptadine seems to increase the level of Insulin-like Growth Factor IGF1 in underweight children. IGF1 is a hormone that is linked to weight gain.
In the same vein, it appears to act on the hypothalamus, a small part of the brain that influences food intake, appetite, hormones, and other biological functions.
Furthermore, Apetamin contains the amino acid L-Lysine which has been studied and is known to increase appetite in animal studies. However, human studies are needed to accept this as a fact.
Is Apetamin effective for weight gain?
Even though there are no research on Apetamin and weight gain, several other studies concerning using cyproheptadine hydrochloride, its main ingredient have established weight gain in underweight individuals at risk of being malnourished.
One such study with children and adolescents having cystic fibrosis ( a genetic disorder that could cause loss of appetite) noted that taking cyproheptadine hydrochloride daily led to significant increases in weight, compared to a placebo.
A review of 46 different studies in people with different conditions observed that the substance was well tolerated and helped underweight individuals gain weight. It did not, however, help people with progressive diseases, such as HIV and cancer.
While cyproheptadine hydrochloride is advantageous in helping underweight individuals gain weight, it puts people with normal weight at risk of being overweight or getting into obesity.
What Happens When You Stop Taking Apetamin?
Most people taking Apetamin fear that the weight they have gained while taking it will dissolve away after they stop. This fear is even more in women that used Apetamin to gain weight in their breasts, thighs, and buttocks.
When you stop taking Apetamin, your desire to eat voraciously also decreases, meaning you do not gain more weight. But if your appetite returns to what it was before Apetamin, you could start losing weight again. Since you cannot keep on using the medication for life, you will have to maintain the appetite you got from taking Apetamin so as to retain the weight gained.
Conclusion
What Happens When You Stop Taking Apetamin? Apetamin is a medication used for gaining weight. It is illegal to buy or sell Apetamin in the United States and the UK. In addition, Apetamin is not regulated by the FDA, hence, it may have different types or amounts of ingredients than is listed on the label.
If you would like to gain weight due to one reason or another, discuss with your physician or a dietician, and they would put you through the safest ways by which you can gain weight. Do not gamble with your health, health, as they say, is wealth.
Eat at the appropriate times, and eat a well-balanced meal containing all the six classes of food in the correct proportions. Ensure you exercise regularly, and only engage in activities that will help you maintain good health.
