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

Could they work for someone with a healthy bmi who wants to be slim with zero effort?

That's literally why the 5 or 6 people I know taking it use it

Are the health benefits quoted in the OP from losing weight (through any means) or the drug specifically?

It costs less than a fiver to make one pen, so it will eventually be offered on the NHS, but not until Big Pharma has had their cut.

American pharmacies are getting around the costs issue by ordering the raw peptide from China, then adding something like B12 to it so the 'recipe' is different enough from the brand name versions to avoid lawsuits.

There's also an entire online community of home diy-ers who are ordering from the same Chinese suppliers as the pharmacies, having it tested for safety and sharing the results with each other. You can get 6+ months supply for less than £170 if you buy the peptide and make it yourself yourself (don't ask me how, I won't reply).

It will be interesting to see if the explosion in DIY usage undercuts brand names enough to force further price reductions.

How do the injections work?

Could they work for someone with a healthy bmi who wants to be slim with zero effort?

Could they work for kids?

Could they be abused?

Very much doubt it. I've lost 10stone naturally and have been told no skin surgery (despite the loose skin causing some issues). Think I was quoted £8k for private and while I did think about it, I couldn't justify it, plus didn't want to take the 9months off exercise.

As far as the injections go, I'm personally not sure they are as good as idea as some people think. We don't have long term data on side effects, plus this is medication that does save people's lives and is in short supply

No the less wealthy can enjoy being a healthy weight. Many, many people who aren’t wealthy successfully lose weight.

So with this extortionate treatment people just carry on eating crap but less of it as indicated below.High cholesterol, cancer risk and heart disease won’t be going anywhere.

You get well woman checks when you get older and I know so many that have had to change habits to keep healthy. My cholesterol levels were getting high so I had to take responsibility and change my eating habits. If I’d been overweight a jab wouldn’t take that away.

This drug will take money from other areas that need it more including areas such as heart disease and cancer that those who eat badly but previously more would still get. The NHS spends a fortune on educating and encouraging healthy eating and that won’t need to reduce.

Just no, it’s a ridiculous idea and areas such as MH need the money far more and would prove to be a better use of it.

Have we really reached the stage of lack of self control and gluttony and a corrupt food system that we have to inject people to keep them slim?

we have no idea of the long term effects of these drugs and also what happens after they stop

meanwhile our health system has collapsed

Yes, OP I always thought this…however,@QueenOfHiraeth makes a really good point. I’m currently using Invisalign and when I think about giving up or not wearing them, I remind myself how much I forked out for this treatment! Nothing like a few grand to focus the mind!

on the other hand, I’ve been given physio exercises by the NHS which I never remember to do but guaranteed I would remember if I’d paid for it!

There is a very long list of what the nhs could be funding this is not one of them

I thought about them but have managed to lose nearly 5 stone using the 16:8 diet & having 2 fasting days of 600 calories. I'm losing 2lb a week on average & I was a massive binge eater.

I suppose it's somewhat like NRT. You would use both to stop the cravings and re-educate your mindset.
Some people will gain weight if they stop taking it and some people smoke again after NRT.
Hopefully though it will give you the impetus to change your habits and behaviours.

“and just need to eat less and move more ?”

But you do. The vast majority of us eat too much and have sedentary desk jobs. Relying on jabs is a slippery slope I think. Surely the drug will either stop working or you’ll need higher doses? There are different doses now aren’t there.

We’re addicted to fast food, eating out, covering things in cheese, dirty fries, burgers, sausages. I wonder how many people just eat smaller portions of unhealthy food/ replace food addiction with something else.

Say the NHS did prescribe it and someone started it at 18….would it then be funded for that person for life

afaik, it's not as yet established that the drugs are appropriate during pregnancy. As a precautionary measure, even when shedding weight ahead of TTC it might be sensible to use contraception and have a washout period before actively TTC.

Ithink a lot comes down to food culture. They have a strong food culture that includes a healthy approach to food as well as healthy foods.

We have a lot of unhealthy foods, and very bad cultural practices like constant snacking, right from childhood.

SO much comes down to habit. If you grown up with good food habits it serves you well, but if you don't, it is hugely hard to change your habits in adulthood, even when you know you should.

And even harder if everyone around you is living the same way, who wants to tell their kids no, you can't have a snack at playgroup because it's between meals?

Being conservative about very new treatments, that could have long term outcomes that are unknown, is part of protecting patients.

That also involves a long term cost analysis.

Sometimes it means it takes some time before a treatment that proves itself, or will be cost effective, gets implemented, but rushing into things can have really serious consequences. There are liability issues to consider too.

And exercise is incredibly difficult if you put on weight due to a fatigue condition and are now morbidly obese. If going for a walk is no longer comfortable and you can't stand for long...

Id live to be more. Mobile genuinely. I think weight loss would mean I could be.

But it can't. Or rather self management had a 5% success rate. There are other factors once a body has got to that size.

Even Chris Van Tullekan and the why we eat too much guy say these once you get to a certain weight. There's so many other factors. The boyd wants to hold onto the weight through homeostasis etc.

Yes Education can prevent it in the first place but once you're there it feels like an early death sentence.

Id love help.id genuinely love these drugs or ideally adhd med which would make applying all the "education" possible.

Exercise has a great dopamine hit.

We need to relearn relationships with food and Exercise not resort ri medication.

It's a terrible idea. Obesity is a condition that cab be entirely self managed. I would rather see the drug money go towards education and programs.

It shouldn't save the nhs money, as the NHS should not cover preventable.illnesses.i.e if you have 12 months of attempting to quit smoking/ lose weight and make no progress then you are no longer able to access free treatment for related diseases.

By that logic, half of the head injuries, just like obesity could have been avoided. There would be more money and more staff availability, if they were treating less people who have the conditions that obesity brings.
The research shows that Ozempic resets a person's metabolic rate. Experts in the field of obesity etc are calling for injectibles to be more available. I think that they will be looked at as statins etc are. We are dishing out a lot of drugs that a massive change in lifestyle would do the same job.

There is something fundamentally wrong with lifelong drugs being the 'answer' to obesity and many other health issues. Our desire to medicalise our way out of things that our society and our way of life have mostly created, rather than addressing the root problems, is lazy, flawed and self-defeating.

But hey, that's humans for you.

Actually, this is not the case. The NHS’s collective bargaining power means it gets drugs far more cheaply than private providers

@Babycatsmummy I've been on Mounjaro for a month. I have lost over a stone. I've done dozens (hundreds?) of diets and this is the easiest one ever, almost effortless. It's been the best thing I've ever done.

It works by shutting down the hunger messages...I rarely feel hungry now. But also by shutting off the cravings and obsessions about food. It is incredible.

I have ADHD, anxiety and depression and all three of these have significantly improved as well. My brain is now not constantly whirring.

The needle is so thin I literally cannot feel it enter the skin. I've had some constipation but now successfully avoiding that by taking a psyllium husk tablet per day.

I am with MedExpress and have a £40 off voucher you can use (plus anyone else who wants it). I a, not allowed to share it but pls PM me for it.

The NHS needs to spend more money running A&E departments if my family member's experience on Friday evening is anything to go by. Well I say Friday evening. They sat waiting in A&E all night and were still there at 8am Saturday morning.

Sorry to be blunt, but obese people can take matters into their own hands and improve their own health.

You can't stitch up your own head injury though, can you?

Yes they do x I can only describe it that I no longer get a hit from eating and I don’t have the desire to eat to make myself feel better. I have now what I imagine is the level of interest a “normal” person has in food. Work to do on myself for when I am off it, I appreciate

What’s that got to do with it? All drugs have side effects. It’s about assessing the balance of risk.

i agree OP these meds and similar future ones are and will be game changers and revolutionise the treatment of obesity. Unfortunately there are too many people who just see obesity as a moral failing and that the undeserving, greedy and lazy fatties shouldn’t get anything that might help them; the NHS and wider society, whilst also bemoaning the drain they are on the NHS

I’m lucky to afford it privately and am happy to keep it away from the NHS but it’s a shame for people who can’t afford it