I just started to use the following ECA stack to jumpstart by fat loss goals. I am using VasoPro Ephedra (25mg) Caffeine 200mg and about 250 mg of asprin. From the very first day, I have been experiencing dry mouth to the extent that if I don't have water in my mouth every 10 mins, it feels like I am dying. Also my sinuses become very painful and I am having severe bouts of insomnia. I am trying to find out if:
1) Others experience this kind of effects?
2) Does this get better with time or is this the end of the road for me with ECA?

Thanks to all for your help.

Oh, and I took this for 3 days only one serving early in the morning.

I just started to use the following ECA stack to jumpstart by fat loss goals. I am using VasoPro Ephedra (25mg) Caffeine 200mg and about 250 mg of asprin. From the very first day, I have been experiencing dry mouth to the extent that if I don't have water in my mouth every 10 mins, it feels like I am dying. Also my sinuses become very painful and I am having severe bouts of insomnia. I am trying to find out if:
1) Others experience this kind of effects?
2) Does this get better with time or is this the end of the road for me with ECA?

Thanks to all for your help.

Oh, and I took this for 3 days only one serving early in the morning.


assuming that you didn't do or change anything else other than starting the ECA stack, then yes, I would attribute those side affects to the stack... my suggestion... stop taking it and have a cup of coffee, it's cheaper, easier, won't cause those side effects, and is just as effective :nod: trust me... I've tried them ALL, Hydroxycut (when it still had effedrine in it), Ripped Fuel & Ripped Fuel Extreme (both with effedrine), and the same combination you're using now.. I can tell you from first hand experience that one or two cups of coffee (black w/ one splenda) has helped just as much as those expensive products ever did and I don't have to worry about any side effects with coffee ;)

vasopro was not originally meant to be used as a workout supplement, it's meant for people with asthma or difficulty breathing, if you don't have asthma it might cause some of the effects you are feeling

I just started to use the following ECA stack to jumpstart by fat loss goals. Oh, and I took this for 3 days only one serving early in the morning.

The real question is ... what convinced you that this was worth the investment in the stack or the side effects you are experiencing?

How much "jumpstart" do you really think it will give you?

Fortunately, fat loss pills, especifically the ECA stack, have been studied extensively. And they do help you lose fat. Here's some evidence - this is not a study itself, but instead research of numerous other studies related to it:

0.9 kg more per month (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=12672771&itool=pubmed_AbstractPlus)

Fortunately, the "only" side effects noted in this study were: Use of ephedra or ephedrine and caffeine is associated with increased risk of psychiatric, autonomic, or gastrointestinal symptoms, and heart palpitations.

So, to put it in perspective ... if conditions are ideal, you are actually getting the high quality that is available in these trials, and you do everything correctly, ECA will help you lose about 1 kilogram extra per month. That is, by the way, 2 pounds.

So you're talking 1/2 pound per week.

Significant? Perhaps. That translates to about 250 calories extra per day.

My question is ... why not just spend an extra 10 minutes warming up, or walking on the treadmill at maximum incline? You can burn the same extra 250 calories, not invest the extra cash and avoid the side effects.

Jeremy

Thank you very much for your input..I knew that OTC weight loss pills did not contribute much to overall number of calories burned. But, going through some discussions in this forum and elsewhere, for some reason i (erroneously) believed that the effect of the ECA stack was far greater than what you have pointed it out to be.

Your note really put this whole thing in perspective...I guess I will increase my workouts by about 15 mins and get the same effects..

But I am still interested in hearing from others who use this ECA stack on a regular basis, if they experience similar side-effects.

Thanks.

The real question is ... what convinced you that this was worth the investment in the stack or the side effects you are experiencing?

How much "jumpstart" do you really think it will give you?

Fortunately, fat loss pills, especifically the ECA stack, have been studied extensively. And they do help you lose fat. Here's some evidence - this is not a study itself, but instead research of numerous other studies related to it:

0.9 kg more per month (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=12672771&itool=pubmed_AbstractPlus)

Fortunately, the "only" side effects noted in this study were: Use of ephedra or ephedrine and caffeine is associated with increased risk of psychiatric, autonomic, or gastrointestinal symptoms, and heart palpitations.

So, to put it in perspective ... if conditions are ideal, you are actually getting the high quality that is available in these trials, and you do everything correctly, ECA will help you lose about 1 kilogram extra per month. That is, by the way, 2 pounds.

So you're talking 1/2 pound per week.

Significant? Perhaps. That translates to about 250 calories extra per day.

My question is ... why not just spend an extra 10 minutes warming up, or walking on the treadmill at maximum incline? You can burn the same extra 250 calories, not invest the extra cash and avoid the side effects.

Jeremy

I have been experiencing dry mouth to the extent that if I don't have water in my mouth every 10 mins, it feels like I am dying. Also my sinuses become very painful and I am having severe bouts of insomnia. I am trying to find out if:
1) Others experience this kind of effects?

I've been on the stack for the past few months now. I have trouble sleeping but don't feel dry mouth at all.

How much water are you drinking? ECA may certainly increase thirst/dry mouth.

i typically get the dry mouth, but i usually attribute that to me needing to drink more water. the insomnia could by fixed by trying to get the last dose in earlier. you could also try cutting the dosages back to maybe about half for a while. you'll probably want to use the lowest effective dosage, especially if it's causing effects like your insomnia.

i know tablets of primatene come with 12.5mg of ephedrine and i think most stores should sell pill splitters for the caffiene. that should make it relatively easy to cut dosages in half. if the half dosage works for you, then you could stick with it. if it doesn't work or if your body develops a tolerance, you could up the dosage to a full one.

I have used ECA in the past. However, it was not for the fat burning effects. Here is a GREAT article on it:

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/2894/proof.html

Basically, after doing weeks of research into the ECA stack, I found a little gym many people seem to overlook, and that is the anti-catabolic effect. Most of this is speculation based on the beta-agonistic behavior but a researcher named Dr. Daniel Mowrey spend decades studying this and mentioned two "side effects" that I found useful: one was appetite suppression (it is debated whether ECA does this, it's not debated whether it did this for me ... it did) ... the other was retention of lean muscle mass. I found ancedotally many bodybuilders were using this not so much to lose fat, but to retain muscle mass when on extremely low calorie diets. In fact, steroid users would use this when coming off a cycle to help preserve lean mass.

Did it work in that respect? Perhaps it did ... my next attempt to get lean had too many other variables changed to really know where ephedrine factored into it all, except to say I enjoyed cutting without feeling dizzy or having my scalp crawl, which happened all of the time on the ECA stack.

I will also caution people that it is often suggested to cycle ECA. This suggestion is more a marketing ploy. The idea is that you use it, your body adapts, and then you have to cycle off. The reality is that your body DOES adapt and many of the negative side effects go away. However, the thermogenic and muscle-preserving effect is not on a feedback axis, i.e. it is not "adapted to" and if anything, evidence suggests that after some time the body becomes more efficient at burning fat as fuel.

What happens is people cycle off, then back on, and reintroduce the negative side effects and make it more dangerous. So why the "cycling suggestion"? Because most people operate on the "I feel it syndrome." Manufacturers know that after some time you stop feeling the buzz. People erroneously assume this means you stop burning fat (as if you can truly feel the fat somehow being catalyzed for energy in the adipose tissue sacks) ... so the cycling suggestion creates a reason so you continue to feel the buzz and therefore continue consuming the product. Another fun example of marketing for profit and not necessarily the best interest of subjects.

Jeremy

I have used ECA in the past. However, it was not for the fat burning effects. Here is a GREAT article on it:

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/2894/proof.html

Basically, after doing weeks of research into the ECA stack, I found a little gym many people seem to overlook, and that is the anti-catabolic effect. Most of this is speculation based on the beta-agonistic behavior but a researcher named Dr. Daniel Mowrey spend decades studying this and mentioned two "side effects" that I found useful: one was appetite suppression (it is debated whether ECA does this, it's not debated whether it did this for me ... it did) ... the other was retention of lean muscle mass. I found ancedotally many bodybuilders were using this not so much to lose fat, but to retain muscle mass when on extremely low calorie diets. In fact, steroid users would use this when coming off a cycle to help preserve lean mass.

Did it work in that respect? Perhaps it did ... my next attempt to get lean had too many other variables changed to really know where ephedrine factored into it all, except to say I enjoyed cutting without feeling dizzy or having my scalp crawl, which happened all of the time on the ECA stack.

I will also caution people that it is often suggested to cycle ECA. This suggestion is more a marketing ploy. The idea is that you use it, your body adapts, and then you have to cycle off. The reality is that your body DOES adapt and many of the negative side effects go away. However, the thermogenic and muscle-preserving effect is not on a feedback axis, i.e. it is not "adapted to" and if anything, evidence suggests that after some time the body becomes more efficient at burning fat as fuel.

What happens is people cycle off, then back on, and reintroduce the negative side effects and make it more dangerous. So why the "cycling suggestion"? Because most people operate on the "I feel it syndrome." Manufacturers know that after some time you stop feeling the buzz. People erroneously assume this means you stop burning fat (as if you can truly feel the fat somehow being catalyzed for energy in the adipose tissue sacks) ... so the cycling suggestion creates a reason so you continue to feel the buzz and therefore continue consuming the product. Another fun example of marketing for profit and not necessarily the best interest of subjects.

Jeremy


i haven't had a chance to read your link yet, but i have lurked long enough to know to respect your posts. thanks for noting your personal experiences. the appetite suppression effect is also present when i tried and eca before. as well as the scalp crawling too :D. and the occasional dizzy spell :D.

i hadn't realized that the effects continue even after the buzz is gone as i typically took some only for the energy boost. thanks again for the informative post.

Ephedra (pseudoephedrine, etc) causes drying of your mucous membranes - treats runny nose/congestion.

Ephedra (pseudoephedrine, etc) causes drying of your mucous membranes - treats runny nose/congestion.

Yeah, too bad they took it out of cold medication. :blank:

i thought that was only ephedrine, not pseudophedrine?

I only use the C out of the stack (caffeine) and find that it works well for me.

I agree with everyone else's suggestions thus far. If your experiencing those side effects, then stop taking the ECA. Everyone responds differently to supplements. For me personally, I now use my ECA stack for it's appetite suppresion and for muscle preservation just as Jeremy has mentioned.