AIBU to think it's time for the NHS to do itself a favour and make WL injections readily available.

On an individual basis I can see the appeal and it must be amazing for people to lose weight when they have tried everything,

The whole thing makes me a bit sick though about how society has developed in this world. In parts of the world people have no food and are starving to death. Whilst in other countries, rich Westerners are injecting themselves to get rid of excess body fat from eating too much. A depressing state of affairs.

I take one of these for diabetes.

really. I think we ought to make sure the evidence is more solid before embarking on large scale use like that.

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3419258/v1

Nine suicides thought to be related to these meds increasing psychiatric events for some people.

There is so much that needs to be done to change the way things are here in regards to food, and how it is viewed. It has been normalised to feed a weaning child jar foods, and foods in pouches, instead of having home cooked food. This pattern of feeding continues, with children going on to being fed highly processed foods, such as nuggets, sausages, frozen chips, fish fingers etc. The pattern continues, cooking skills are minimal, nutritional knowledge even less. It is just shoring up problems for the future.

I tried mounjaro. It gave me horrific panic attacks and a racing heart, and insomnia. I looked online and can see this is not especially rare. It might have got me slim but it would have destroyed my mental health.

It's not a magic bullet for everyone. My worry is that women who find it ramps up their anxiety will be dismissed, when for me it was so awful that I had to discontinue the meds. I would rather be fat than lying in bed awake with waves of fear rippling through me and my heart pounding like I am running a 5k.

What concerns me, as someone who, as a teen, was bulimic, is that I have already heard of people lying about their weight to get injections online. I'm not going to lie, at 50, having gained following menopause and got a little tummy, I have thought about it, even with a BMI of 22.5. Just because I don't like having a bit of a belly.

It's true to say the thinking of someone with disordered eating never totally goes away, but I know it's fleeting thoughts and I wouldn't take this drug. But I wonder how many people still battling the much louder anorexia/bulimia voice I once had will be looking to find ways to get this.

I'd like this to be something that those battling with weight at the other end of the scale have access to with a proper consultation with someone whose primary goal isn't to sell you something. Availability on the NHS would help with this.

I think the HCP that posted earlier is right - give it out for free and people will take it for granted. If you pay yourself much more incentive to stick to it!

The NHS is being asked to go above and beyond it’s original purpose, and there just isn’t the resources for everything.

Not sure it was set up for that really although it makes sense now. Education re diet as opposed to expensive care for bariatric patients.

I'm not saying I disagree particularly but I haven't done any research on the issue of whether you need to stop or stay on it long term, which is the crux of it for me.

I think my real worry is that we could find ourselves in a situation where we have a huge proportion of our population relying on a drug to fix an issue without any emphasis on root causes. It just doesn't sit comfortably with me. I'll fully admit I'm incredibly ill-informed on it but I feel like there could be people who use it to allow themselves to eat nothing but UPFs and that just feels very unhealthy and unnatural. If people stay on it forever then there's no incentive to change eating habits and there is more to this than just weight. And if they have to come off it without addressing root causes then if they gain again the whole thing becomes an expensive waste of time. And yes...I know the cause for some people is about more than over-eating, but how can a GP possibly make that distinction.

I know it's more complex than this, but it's a bit like having a drug that protects your liver and still allows you to drink 10 pints a day.

My GP surgery does a pretty good job of encouraging healthy living - they have a free walking group run by volunteers that meets multiple times every week, they have health care assistants you can check in with regularly to weigh you and give lifestyle advice, they have an exercise referral service to access gyms at reduced cost, they have tons of information in the waiting room about healthy lifestyles, they have Parkrun posters. They have social prescribers you can speak to about all sorts of lifestyle issues. "Preventative healthcare" is our responsibility.

The NHS is there to treat the most serious diseases / disorders. How we live our life before we reach that point is on us. And I say this as someone who suffers with a metabolic disorder. I know that managing my lifestyle is the key for keeping it under control, so I prioritise that. I weight train. I eat healthily. I spend my weekends in ways that benefit my health - I don't drink, I socialise with my friends doing outdoor activities, I go to bed early. We are in control of the choices we make every day, that's not the NHS's job.

Tell her she will be thankful for having good muscle tone which will see her into her old age really well. I'm currently working on building up my muscle after my chiropractor told me a few home truths and having muscle in old age is beneficial compared to those who are slim but very little muscle.

Particularly if they are eating the same crap but just less.

The sad fact is many don’t want to stop eating the foods they like or to exercise more hence wanting a drug which will enable them to eat the same foods( just less) and not exercise.

It's not only that, food companies have spent hundreds of millions to create food products that override our natural satiety signals. They are designed to be overeaten. It's no wonder so many struggle.

I have 3 adult kids who would forget to eat, but dd1 and myself would be craving food all the time.She works out all the time to keep fat away and has become bulky with muscles which makes her miserable.She just wants to be slim like her siblings.
For most human beings for most of history, the drive to eat food when available and lay down fat stores us what enabled survival.
People are different genetically and hormonally.It is not down to greediness you are battling your very survival instincts!

Op are you saying literally everyone who wants the drug should get it on the nhs regardless of their weight? Or just those who are overweight according to their bmi? If the latter then I’m not sure how it can work because as soon as their bmi hits a healthy level then they won’t be prescribed it anymore and the weight will go back on.

Thank you for being understanding. It's fucking hard loosing weight. And when you have a lot to lose it feels impossible. Or perhaps doable for a month, but then it's exhausting and depressing to feel hungry all the time. WL injections are revolutionary and are going to change the lives of so many people for the better. The only problem is the judgement from some people who don't or won't get it. They just see overweight people as lazy gluttons who deserve to be unhealthy.

I had horrific ones! I wasn’t sure if I was unlucky as everyone on Mumsnet seems to talk about it as some kind of miracle and nobody really mentions any problems. But then my husband tried it and had the same, and my friend is currently debating stopping it as hers are getting worse

I had the most painful acid reflux and bloating I’ve ever experienced, sulphur burps, constant nausea and diarrhea for about 6 weeks straight until it got so bad and I was so uncomfortable that I felt like I would rather be fat than carry on feeling that way!

I think people with no side effects have been very lucky

And then when I stopped my hunger came back with a vengeance, worse than it had been before I’d started taking it. Food was all I could think about and that was only after taking it for 6 weeks

@Flexibubble

Wouldn't it be better to invest in better support and treatments for these underlying elements though? For trauma, for PCOS, for thyroid issues, hormone imbalances, chronic illnesses etc?

Oh absolutely. I'm not saying the availability of the drugs should be the only thing considered, in fact I'm not even convinced that is the right course of action atm. I guess I just hate the 'greedy' aspect people talk about. If I could have had help for the trauma, and I have tried over the years, perhaps I would be in a much better all round position

There were 11 or 12 new studies released last week. That's why the newspapers went a bit crazy with the anti-aging angle, etc. Weight loss undoubtedly brings benefits but the drugs themselves have a dramatic impact even without weight loss.

This study suggest some of the drugs could even increase metabolism: https://www.newsweek.com/ozempic-works-differently-thought-1943422.

It's going to be a fascinating area of research for years and years to come.

All the same junk they’ll continue to eat with the jabs but just less of it.

The money would be far better spent on education, support and MH treatment.

My child has complex PTSD but no access to treatment. I want NHS money to be spent on the car wreck that is MH treatment and the frequent cause/ continuation of disordered eating. I’m sick of sticking plasters on crisis which is what these jabs are. They enable users to continue to eat crap( just less of it) and don’t sort the root cause. Meanwhile there is zero money to treat EDs such as Anorexia, non inpatient beds to be had anywheres and people are dying…There is no money for MH full stop with many really ill people being given nothing.

Yes, you can feed your family on ingredients quite cheaply!

Veggies are cheap!
Reduce the meat portions/use chicken thighs not breasts etc nobody needs an entire breast for example, or 3 sausages or whatever.

Problem is , a huge amount of people just don't know how to cook and they think there's a entire food group of "kids food" that only kids should eat, do will think that they need to feed their kids turkey dinosaurs, paw patrol canned pasta and potato smiles... It starts from weaning with "baby food" like "baby" crisps/puffs, biscuits, cereal bars, Juice... and just utter junk all sold as though a baby can't drink water, eat a carrot and not eat crisps at all...

OP, I don't think you have answered the question about what happens when people stop taking the drug.
I cannot tell you how tempted I am to go down this route, I can afford it, it would be amazing to finally shift the three stone I cannot get rid of on my own. My relationship with food has been a problem my whole life, I am 50 now and it saddens me that this has dominated my thoughts since the age of 12 when my well meaning mother first out me on a diet.
I know I would feel so free and confident to not be thinking about food all the time.
But... I know that once I lost the weight, and stopped taking the drug, my old habits would return. I have battled them all my life and they are not just going to disappear by themselves. I know how to eat healthily, but it's never that simple is it. So what happens when all the weight piles back on, and probably more? I have in the past lost 5 stone through sheer willpower, guess what eventually happened? It's soul destroying.
I don't know what the answer is but this is not a magic long term cure, sorry.

It’s only now at 43 that I’m starting to understand how difficult it is to lose weight for some people. Because if I gained a bit at Christmas or on holiday I could always take it off quite easily. Now I’m peri and I’m hovering at a BMI that’s only just within the acceptable range by eating less than 1200 calories a day, walking 12000 steps a day and going to the gym 3 times a week. I cannot take another lb off. This is what I’m doing to sustain a bmi of 24.5. It’s absolutely soul destroying and unsustainable.

Wouldn't it be better to invest in better support and treatments for these underlying elements though? For trauma, for PCOS, for thyroid issues, hormone imbalances, chronic illnesses etc?