Meridia (sibutramine) is a medicine that can be taken by people diagnosed with obesity. It is not supposed to be taken by people that have some excessive weight, as this is a serious medication the use of which is associated with a number of side effects and contraindications. Any health conditions you have or used to have are supposed to be reported to your doctor, as they may be very important when determining your dose. Make sure you tell our doctor if you have or used to have any of the following ones: seizures, depression, liver or kidney disease, a bleeding disorder, glaucoma, a history of a stroke, a history of heart attack, high blood pressure, or heart disease. Report any other ones that you think are important just to make sure your treatment is successful and goes as planned. Meridia is supposed to be taken once a day with some food or without – but in the same way every time. The first results are expected pretty soon – and if you lose less than 4 pounds during the first month of taking Meridia regularly, you are supposed to talk to your doctor, as this medicine is obviously not working properly. Also make sure you ask your health care provider about the foods you can eat and the kind of exercise you should do to achieve best results. Meridia will not make you lose weight if you do not apply additional effort. Some drugs you are taking at the moment may affect the success of your treatment. It’s therefore very important that you tell your health care provider if you are currently taking migraine headache medicines, narcotic pain medicines or antidepressants. If you are also using any herbal products – you can report them as well to make sure you are getting all the benefits of the treatment without any side effects whatsoever. Some drugs have been reported to add to the sleepiness caused by Meridia, and in order to avoid this side effects you may need to be careful with any of the following medications: cold or allergy medicine, sedatives, sleeping pills,, muscle relaxants, depression and anxiety meds, and medicine for seizures. Meridia should be stored in some dark and cool place where other people will not be able to access it too easily. This medicine can cause serious side effects if taken by people to whom it was not prescribed, which is why it’s so important that only people who have been examined by a qualified health care professional would be able to take the drug.