Catherine posted her blog entry about Alli about six weeks ago, shortly after Alli became available over the counter. She covered many issues of concern regarding this GSK fat burner.

* Treatment Effects (aka diarrhea, bloating, vomiting and oily anal discharge)
* Cost
* Potential Risks (including eating disorders)

Catherine wasn't the only one posting these types of blog entries. Bloggers weren't the only ones sharing concerns and asking questions. Doctors and scientists were sharing concerns as well. It was hard to find a really supportive article or blog post or message board post about Alli right before the official launch of the product or even shortly after. Still, people bought Alli in droves and they like it. They don't really like reading negative blog posts, message board posts or articles and they aren't fond of articles, blog posts or message board comments that include just the general facts about Alli ( or Orlistat).

To the people who don't understand the negative and non-supportive articles, message board posts and blog posts, let's look at an Alli myspace forum discussion. The title of the first post in the thread is "I'm going to pay for that."

Melody says:
Today my friend and co-worker asked me if I wanted to go to Taco Cabanna with her during lunch. Some how, the word yes came out of my mouth!!! So, I go and to make up for my badness, I take two pills. Wow, that probably is going to make for a tough day tomorrow. The day that I see my husband for the first time in 6 months. I'm blaming it on hormones. Recently got a hormone implant for birth control and I seem to have lost control since then. Hope I can get it back together. As always, thanks for your support.

Yvonne says:
I am right there with you!! Everyone has been real busy this week, and my other half has been so busy working, we have all his kids with us this weekend, and on top of eveything eles I have a real bad head ace, so the first thing that came out of my mouth is Baby I don't feel like cooking tonight, and I know your still working.. so what about something easy. KFC! I am already hating myself for that!

Badness. KFC and Taco Cabanna. Taking two pills. Tough day tomorrow.

Alli doesn't seem to be helping these women change their eating habits. And, Alli isn't helping women move away from negative language about food or about themselves.

Here's another one

Stephanie says: At dinner time, I made tacos for everyone else and I tried to make me some using some of that imitation hamburger stuff. YUCK!! I dumped it down the garbage disposal...lol. So I tried to portion control so that I could eat some of the tacos that I cooked for everyone else. I am a mexican food junkie...lol! THEY WERE SO GOOD!!!! And I ate too much...no doubt about it. I thought about not taking a pill, but I made myself take one anyway. I figured it's just like Dr Phil says "choose the behavior, choose the consequences". So, I know that I will be paying for my decision soon.

So Alli allows women to a) overeat b) take a pill c) pay for it tomorrow... pay for it with what? Oily anal discharge. Want to hear something more frightening... at least one woman misses "TEs". (TE = Treatment Effects = Oily Discharge or diarrhea)

Yah...sounds wierd! But I am no longer having TE's! I have even cheated, and nothing! Has this happened to everyone?! I kinda enjoyed it, I knew it was working, is it still?! I have had a bad week, been lazy, been cheating! I keep telling myself...tomarrow is a new day, well...today is a new day!

Want to hear more about those Alli Treatment Effects? I'm not going to quote one individual, there are three pages worth of comments, you need to read them all.

After that, go look at the comments in this post: Hey Alli, Does This Dignity Make My Butt Look Big?. If you quote the official Alli prescribing information, the Alli allies come out of the woodwork.

Check out the comments to Catherine Morgan's post at women 4 hope.

Stephanie Says:
I realize that everyone has their own opinion, but I don’t think that you should be spewing your negativeness about Alli when you have not taken it. If the FDA says that Alli is safe for over-the counter use, then who are you to say otherwise. I too have been taking Alli for over a month now and have lost 20 lbs. I am very happy with my success and I do not contribute it completely to Alli. I lost weight because of my hard work and my decision to get out and exercise. Alli just helped keep me accountable for my food decisions. I do not worry about the treatment effects because I am not cheating. I have never been able to stick to a diet and have finally found something that works for me. It might not work for everyone, but it works for me, and Lacey, and thousands of others who need it. That’s all that matters.

As Catherine mentions over and over - the FDA approved Phen Phen, too.

Sami Says:
Also, Alli doesn’t stop the absorption of ALL fat. So, fat soluble vitimans and of nutrients are still absorbed into the body with a multivitamin. Also you don’t take alli with everything you eat so some fat isn’t blocked at all (like snacks). I find it nieve on your part to take claims that you find on the internet in blogs to be the truth. I think that you are taking on the defensive when you ASK people that have taken the medication to respond to your blog and then when you don’t get the result that you were thinking you were going to get you claim that these posts are paid for when they are not they are simply what you ASKED for. instead of taking on the defensive before you have all the information (which you obviously don’t since you think it would stop the absorption of fat soluble nutrients) take a look at their website and see what they DO. It isn’t a pill they are giving to people and then setting them free they have tons and tons of resources for us. And they even have a chart that shows what you weight for your height before you take alli so they aren’t marketing to EVERYONE. Just the fat ones that are ready to make the CHANGES needed to lose the weight. I know that you will not change your opinon I just wanted to put my opinon out their.

Actually, Catherine's information was correct. She did not say that Alli stopped absorption of all fat. Alli users need to be aware that Orlistat may block absorption of fat soluable nutrients. Catherine isn't making that up, neither is Medscape.

It's been an interesting six weeks, watching the Alli users... I wonder if we'll still be seeing so many Alli allies in six months. Surely there aren't that many people in the world willing to spend $60 for oily anal discharge and a few extra pounds of weight loss a month....

~~Denise
Flamingo House Happenings and Fast Times @ Homeschool High