Weight Loss With Ephedrine - Dangers of Ephedra Based Fat Burners

Fat burners are no doubt a great way to kick start your weight loss, but it is very important to fully understand the potential side effects and health risks of using such fat loss supplements - especially ephedrine based fat burners. Ephedra has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years to treat asthma and hay fever. In Chinese, it is better known as Ma Huang. The safety of ephedra is a major concern as there are numerous reports of very serious side effects resulting from ephedra use.

Although Ephedra has traditionally been used in Chinese medicine, it was mostly used as a weight loss agent that produced noticeable results in fat loss - however, with severe side effects in many cases. Ephdrine is a stimulant with thermogenic properties. It increases heart rate, increases blood pressure, increases metabolism, and also enhances athleteic performance.

Before the ban of Ephedra, it had been used widely in numerous fat burners and diet pills, and often times, you'll see it in what's called an ECA stack - ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin. The ECA stack was the main component for many of the top fat burners back then such as Hydroxycut, Xenadrine, and Stacker diet pills. Side effects of these included adverse skin reactions, dizziness, headaches, heart proplems, vomiting, insomnia, jitteriness, anxiety, irritability, stroke, and even death in some fatal cases.

The dangers of ephedra is well known, and its potential side effects can be severe where in some cases leading to reports of death. Because of this, around mid 2000's, the FDA had banned ephedra in the United States. While ephedrine is great for weight loss, it is not worth the health risk associated.

Over the years, we have receive ALOT of emails from readers sharing their experiences with fat burners with me, although there are alot of success stories, however, I feel it's important to share this tragic ordeal for a caring father. Here's what he wrote:

This is Sara Michelle Lyons, aka, Sara Smile, born December 29, 1985. Sara had several 'boyfriends' who had convinced her that she was overweight, and the one she cared for most even bought her fat burners, i.e., Metabolite and Stacker 3 to take, or he would dump her.

Sara secretly took these products, as directed, for several months. She complained to me that her back hurt, and it burned when she urinated. I brought her to the emergency room, had her blood and urine tested and had X-rays done. Everything came back normal.

One week later, she collapsed at work and was admitted to the local ICU with pneumonia and severe kidney infections. Her lab work showed that although she had been eating regularly, her body was starving. The fat burners she had been taking certainly more than did their job. Three days later, after both of her lungs completely shut down, she was put on a ventilator and shipped to a larger hospitals' CCU.

I was told that she had vegetation (infection) on her heart, her blood had stopped clotting normally, her kidneys, liver, spleen and heart had blood clots on them. Her hands and feet turned black and withered, from the blood clots that formed there. She continued to run temperatures in excess of 104 degrees.

The doctors told me that this beautiful, intelligent child with an IQ of 142 now had blood clots throughout her entire brain, rendering her brain dead. Sara died at 7:15 pm, Saturday, February 22, 2003, after fighting the effects of ephedrine for 27 days. The doctors said that all of the above problems were classic side effects from ephedrine, one of the ingredients in fat burners, and that each month in their CCU unit alone, they saw on average of 15 patients with similar symptoms, all related to the use of fat burners containing ephedrine.

I certainly hope that after reading this, you - as a user of an ephedrine based fat burner, or a potential user - will consider twice before diving in head on. And if you do decide to use a fat burner, make sure to fully understand the possible side effects and health risks. And my best advice for any fat burner user is to take only 1/2 doses for the first week. If you feel fine, then take the recommended dose, and if you're not feeling too well, then stop - its not worth risking your health to lose a few pounds.