Wanting To Quit Taking Contrave (Page 7)

I need to know how to stop taking contrave. Can I just quit cold turkey or do I wean off? If I wean off how do I do it?

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Re: Mechalle (# 115)

I'm in the same boat. I feel like death. I want to stop taking it but not sure how. I'm on week 3 & started taking the 2 pills in the am & 1 in the pm. I missed work yesterday & again today because I feel like I have the flu. It's horrible!! I'd rather be fat than to feel like this.

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Re: Sally (# 6)

I have been taking Contrave for 2 years. I lost 30 pounds and have been stuck for a while. I am going to discontinue using it and try something else.

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Re: Heather (# 9)

Hi Heather,

I’ve been on Contrave for 6 months. Ive lost 36 lbs and gained 5 back. I feel that my cravings are coming back. I also think that what I thought was a vestibular migraine (occasional but very bad dizziness, vomiting, brain fog) is really the side effects. So frustrated!

Heather P.

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Re: Lori (# 120)

I was also diagnosed with congestive heart failure this year and quit smoking after 53 years. They also told me at Walmart about the $99 for a 1 month supply. I am now in my 3rd month taking contrave. I have been losing on average 1 pound a week. I had already lost 10 pounds when I started the contrave and another 20 since starting contrave. My symptoms are relatively mild. I've also been diagnosed by my cardiologist and primary care doctors that I have COPD. However, my I pulmonologist says I have sleep apnea but not the COPD. It has been very frustrating for me and none of the whole process has been pleasant not to mention very scary!

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Re: Mechalle (# 110)

I tapered off over 4 days just to be sure. I came with off with no problem. I will NEVER take that stuff again. It made me feel terrible.

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I went off it cold turkey. I was instructed by the pharmacist to do so. I was having such horrible side effects and needed to stop it immediately. I can't believe this stuff is on the market. I was so sick I wanted to die. It was like having the flu times a thousand. I was like that for 3 days until I realized that I didn't actually have the flu I was having a severe reaction to Contrave. Note...I had just started my 3rd week when this happened. The first 2 weeks were bad too. I felt like crap!! I will never ever take this again and I will tell people not to take this. It's not worth it? Eat less and get moving and you will lose weight. I was just looking for an easy way out. So much for that...

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Re: Crystal (# 4)

I couldn’t take 4 pills a day because of that reason. I’ve been on almost 3 months and only lost 8 lbs. I’m going off because my insurance won’t cover them. Guess I’ll be going cold turkey

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Re: Heather (# 9)

I feel the same. I feel like for me it worked really well initially but the effect gradually wore off. I'm going to wean myself off because I don't feel like its doing anything and it's too expensive if it's not going to work. I lost about 12 pounds right away and then my weight loss stalled.

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Re: Heather (# 2)

I am taking also week1- 1 in morning
Week 2- 1 am and 1 pm
Week 3- 2am 1 pm
Week 4- 2am 2pm
To stop or get to a better level with less side effects use this process.

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Re: Sally (# 6)

I have been on it 8 months and I am down 25 lbs and my body too, no more loss. I am holding at 150, even with the same habit changes I did when I started.

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Re: Sally (# 7)

I’ve been on a year. I lost 45 pounds in the first 6 months and then have been basically maintaining since. I’m considering stopping since I haven’t lost more weight but I’m really scared I’ll gain again. I also have about 20 more pounds to lose

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Re: Heather (# 9)

I have found the same result. Taking it for 6 months. Worked ok at first. Only side effect for me was constipation. But have noticed now that it doesn’t seem to work as well. Lost a total of 24 lbs but gains some back now. Not sure it’s worth the high cost anymore

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I started Contrave December 2015 & I went off of it January 2018. I'm not going to lie the first year to year & half the nausea was something horrible! like almost debilitating at times, but after a year & half it subsided for the most part. I lost approximately 18-20 pounds over the 2 year period on it (with no change in diet or exercises & I also have PCOS which caused me to gain 90lbs), so I do believe it does help with weightloss by itself.

However my prescription insurance changed Jan 2018 & the cost went up 3 times as much as I was paying, so I decided to go off of it (I just couldn't fathom nearly an extra $800 a year), unfortunately I did not have enough left in the bottle to taper down for as long as the dr recommended, and I have been completely off the medication for about 3 weeks now & I tell you I am having some severe foggy brain issues... I literally cannot focus or think on anything (to the point where it's interfering with my work/school/home life), I also am having horrible short-term memory loss to go with it.... I've thought about paying the more expensive price for another refill to see if taking a lower-dose for longer will help with the brain/memory issues.... but since I've been completely off of it for 3 weeks now & I'm afraid adding it back in may start up in the intense nausea I had in the first 1.5 years.... my recommendation would be to follow the weaning-off procedures as best as possible.

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Rebeccaaguirre57 (# 111) --

Hi, 44 yo male prescribed 8mg Naltrexone 2x daily for carbohydrate / sugar cravings. It's the end of my first week. Took only 1 dose, around 3 or 4pm during 1st week as suggested (about 8 hours before bedtime). Going to keep with 1 dose / day as of now. Not going to add the additional morning dose at this time because it seems unnecessary. Not having carb cravings in the morning / midday.

Since beginning Naltrexone, I'm not experiencing strong cravings in the evening so it definitely is working for me. I had weaned a good deal of the extra sugar from my evenings but was still craving carbs before bedtime
abd had a few short / weak craving moments but much more manageable and certainly didn't result in a mad dash to the store for Gelato.

The noticeable side effect is very vivid, emotional dreams... grief/loss of a loved one, anxiety from missing a plane, and some scary ones (driving backwards in a car really fast / dangerously). These may be disturbing for some people. I'm taking into consideration that these are subconscious feelings that can be resolved with awareness / meditation... thank you Naltrexone for shedding light on them. Last night I also had a 3 donut dream.. they were delicious but the guilt was not. Didn't waken with cravings though so that's good.

Have not had insomnia as some report. After day 4, I've had a lingering headache that's worse at night. Nor sure if it is from the Naltrexone as the headaches onset occurred with a blood pressure spike. Blood pressure is back down now but headache lingers. Hope this may be helpful, if not timely.

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Re: Sally (# 6)

Hi there. I’ve been on Contrave over a year. Lost 20lbs within 4 months but nothing since then. Actually I gained 6lbs recently. Trying to decide if there is a way to restart my system. My side effects were minimal.

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Re: Sally (# 6)

Hi Sally. I have been taking Contrave since October 1, 2017, so a little over 4 months. I have lost 50 pounds. However it doesn’t seem to have any great effect on me anymore and was thinking about weaning off. I struggle so bad with constipation. Even taking a laxative every day I am lucky to go 1 time a week. And the taste in my mouth is awful! Did you decide to go off of the medication?

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Re: Heather (# 9)

Yes! I am feeling the same way...I have been on for 5 months now. I have lost 50 pounds and seem to be stuck. I have started getting cravings again whereas before I could resist with no problems. I am thinking about stopping but don't know if I can just stop or need to wean off. I'm also afraid that if I do stop taking it, will the cravings get worse? I don't want to gain any weight back. I am really struggling with constipation and dry mouth, almost unbearable.

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Re: Heather (# 2)

I also have not lost weight after being on Contrave for a month. It’s so expensive not to have more results

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I HAVE been on Contrave for a month and have had no side effects. However, I HAVE NOT LOST ONE POUND, ONE OUNCE. Don't feel I can afford to pay abt $100 a month and get no results.

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I was on Contrave. I wanted to get off of it but when I read if you get off of it
"cold turkey" you could have seizures. So I went to my doctor and she wrote out a step down plan to get off the medication. I really suggest you to see a doctor.

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