Phytoshape Side Effects

Produced by a company in Malaysia, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of the supposedly natural weight loss product Phytoshape. The ban stems from the unlabeled use of large amounts of controlled drug sibutramine hydrochloride in Phytoshape, which has the potential to cause harmful side effects.

Common Side Effects

• Common side effects to sibutramine, the active ingredient in Phytoshape, include headaches, an aversion to food, dry mouth, insomnia, constipation and nasal congestion.

Features

• Another troubling side effect of the sibutramine found in Phytoshape is its hypertensive properties that increase blood pressure levels and heart rate. While in some people this causes no effects, in others it can lead to dangerous elevations of their heart rate and cause heart failure and heart attacks.

Drug Interactions

• When taken with psychiatric MAO inhibitor drugs, sibutramine frequently causes a condition known as serotonin syndrome, resulting in dangerous increases in certain brain chemicals that are potentially fatal. Additionally, products that contain ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, like cold medications, cause an even greater effect on heart rate and blood pressure when taken with sibutramine.

Warning

• Some patients develop severe psychiatric symptoms while taking Phytoshape, including mania, psychosis and suicidal thoughts or actions, according to RxList.

Considerations

• Because sibutramine causes fetal harm and an increased risk for miscarriages, Phytoshape is dangerous for use during pregnancy. If you have a history of eating disorders, glaucoma, hypertension, brain damage, seizures, gall stones, heart disease, stroke, and kidney or liver disease, it is not safe to take sibutramine or Phytoshape, according to the FDA.