Orlistat

• Orlistat helps with weight loss and helps you keep weight off after you've lost it, when combined with a reduced-calorie, lower-fat diet.
• It can also be used alongside diabetes medicines to help improve blood sugar control in people who are overweight and have type 2 diabetes.
• It works by blocking your body from absorbing some of the fat you eat.

• Swallow the capsule with water during your meal, or up to an hour after eating.
• Take this medicine with food that contains fat, since it works by blocking fat absorption from your meal.
• If you skip a meal or eat a meal with no fat, you can skip that dose.
• Take a multivitamin at bedtime, well apart from your orlistat doses, since this medicine can lower your body's absorption of certain vitamins.
• Take this medicine exactly as your healthcare professional tells you. The amount and how often you take it will be on your prescription label.

If you miss a dose

• If you remember shortly after finishing your meal, you can still take your dose.
• If more time has passed, skip the missed dose.
• Never take two doses at once to make up for a missed one.

• Do not take this medicine if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

• Tell your healthcare professional about any liver, kidney, gallbladder, or digestive problems you have.
• Tell them if you have ever had kidney stones.
• Tell them about all medicines you take, including thyroid medicine, blood thinners, seizure medicines, and diabetes medicines.
• Do not take this medicine if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Important warnings

• Rare but serious liver problems, including liver failure, have happened with this medicine. Watch for yellowing of your skin or eyes, dark urine, loss of appetite, or pain in your upper right belly.
• This medicine can affect how well your thyroid medicine works if you take one; your doctor may need to monitor your thyroid levels.
• Kidney problems, including kidney stones and rare kidney failure, have been reported, especially in people with a history of kidney stones.
• Inflammation of the pancreas has been reported.

• Oily spotting from the back passage
• Gas with oily discharge
• Urgent need to have a bowel movement
• Oily or fatty stools
• More frequent bowel movements
• Loose stools or difficulty controlling bowel movements
• Stomach pain or discomfort
• Headache
• Back pain
• Cold-like symptoms
• Changes in your menstrual cycle

When to get emergency help

• Yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes.
• Dark urine.
• Severe stomach pain.
• Signs of a severe allergic reaction, such as swelling of the face or throat, hives, or trouble breathing.
• A seizure, if you take seizure medicine.

When to contact a healthcare professional

• Ongoing severe or bloody bowel changes.
• Bothersome bowel side effects that don't improve.
• Symptoms of low thyroid, such as unusual tiredness or weight gain, if you take thyroid medicine.
• Symptoms of low blood sugar, such as shakiness or sweating, if you take diabetes medicine.

• Eating a lower-fat diet, spread evenly across meals, helps reduce the oily bowel side effects of this medicine.
• Take other medicines, especially thyroid medicine and seizure medicines, well apart from orlistat when possible, since it can reduce how well your body absorbs them; ask the Care365 care team for specific timing.
• Take your multivitamin at a different time than orlistat, such as at bedtime.
• If you have severe diarrhea, use a backup method of birth control, since this medicine can make the birth control pill less reliable in that situation.

• Store at room temperature, protected from light and moisture, in the original packaging.
• Keep out of the reach and sight of children.
• Return unused or expired medicine to your pharmacy for safe disposal.