To think weight-loss injections should be prescribed in person only. The scale of abuse must be shocking.

Quite a lot actually lol

from the NHS BMI calculator

Stupid is as stupid does 🤦‍♀️

What's ethnicity got to do with it? BMI over 25 is considered overweight. 23-25 is perfectly healthy.

Were you concerned op when your friends with eating disorders were using laxatives, or amphetamines?or a simple finger down the throat? Because that's what people with eating disorders do, my friends over the years have abused all of these in some form for weight loss, to the extent that 30 yrs ago one became hospitalised. As sad as that is, that's their lookout. It's not that easy to get these injections, despite all the anecdotal stories, but people will find a way, they are extremely effective though, as someone who has struggled for years with that stubborn stone and a half it's come off relatively easy without the constant hunger, the added benefits have been a complete abstention from alcohol, and a dramatic reduction in inflammation which has reduced pain.
Leave the concern to the relevant controlling bodies op, and if you really do have that many friends with Ed and mental health problems, I'd maybe back off a little for your own MH.

If I wanted to get WLI ‘under the table’ I know at least 3 different places I could with hardly any questions asked, there is a small but significant trade out salons etc locally to me. But I like to know what I’m putting into my body so I’ve gone for the legitimate route with a reputable online pharmacy who have very stringent checks.
Like others on this thread I’ve tried and failed so many times to stick to a calorie deficit to lose weight throughout my life, had PTs, done meal replacement diets, cut out UPF, been to the useless NHS weight loss services, seen a private nutritionist, fucked my ankles up running and doing HIIT training - WLI are the only thing that has worked. I’m inching towards a healthy waist measurement and a weight that means I can resume my chosen sport which are my goals as opposed to trying to get to a certain BMI.
Like all drugs (and alcohol) there will be people who develop a problem/choose to abuse them either through ignorance or desperation but that’s a societal problem rather than an issue with the drugs themselves.
@Thisisdrugabuse your friends need to take personal responsibility for their actions and understand what they are putting into their bodies but I’d hazard a guess they are also people who think a ‘cheeky line’ once in a while won’t do them any harm 🙄

Interestingly, I am similar. I was BMI 30.8. Have lost the first stone & am 28.5. I'm going in person to a pharmacy, who did indeed tell me that if I'd presented to them now they'd not be able to treat me, but because I was over 30 when started I qualified. They've also said as soon as I hit BMI 24 they'll stop providing, which is perfect. I'll hopefully then lose a little more to be 23.

I too piled on 3.5 stone during menopause & just want to feel like me again. I lost a stone by myself (I exercise daily too) but it had stuck like glue & would not budge. My MH was taking a battering as nothing fitted & I felt so unlike myself.

My pharmacy do monthly health checks & it's very thorough.

Oh c'mon! A size 8 and has been struggling to maintain without starving?? I have been thin and I'm now obese. When I was thin, I did not struggle with food. I did not feel hungry all the time and think about food, and overeat. In fact I maintained my thinness from my 20s until my late 30s. Something shifted in my 40s. I went to the doctor then and they just shrugged their shoulders at me. As you become obese, your body and hormones become more and more dysfunctional and that's why people struggle to lose or even maintain. That's why diet and evercise alone don't work for most people. Someone who has never been obese will not have these issues! It's just not possible unless they have the will power of a saint and then you are drifting into eating disorder territory.

Please read my previous response to another poster. I’m not bragging in any sense of the word, I know it’s disordered. I was offering up my experience ordering as a person with a healthy BMI from a licensed pharmacy and not being asked for proof of weight as and addition to the discussion, as several people have posted that people with healthy BMI’s cannot be approved for MJ which has not been my experience, rightly or wrongly.

I think there is scope for abuse and I believe OP. A drug which was licensed for diabetics is now being taken by hundreds of women who havent been checked properly. There are many people who are clinically obese .They should be first in line for the drug.The govt are making it available to those groups now for free. Women who are getting hold of it with no proper checks are at risk. Also what happens when you stop taking the drugs? The Independent says that nearly every one piles on some or more weight!

I agree with you completely, it is.

I offered my experience as ordering from a legitimate pharmacy and not having to provide proof of weight to the discussion as I think there’s a viewpoint on this thread that people purchasing mounjaro who are already healthy weight could only be getting it from unlicensed suppliers, which is not my experience.

I have always been slim but had a fast metabolism and love food, after having children (I’m 33) it slowed down by my love for food hasn’t and now even though I’m a size 10 I’m not happy with the way my body looks. I have always had very low self esteem about my body even when it was perfect, so yes I agree with you it’s very disordered. Being completely honest.

A side note on side effects was raised by a GP friend who is worried people are taking it too close or during TTC, either man or woman.

They highlighted Mounjaro was linked to birth defects and lower birth weights in trials on rats and was worried about this.

source re rats/defects: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2022/215866s000lbl.pdf

I think it is disingenuous to suggest that any health problems incurred by irresponsible use of prescription drugs obtained by deception "is their own problem". It really isn't -unless they also seek whatever medical assistance required to fix it through the same private means by which they obtained the prescription. Should the NHS be required to step in to sort out side-effects and mishaps, it suddenly becomes all of our problem. But then I think that there are quite a few instances where the individual should contribute to their own care (if need arises from self-inflicted events, habits and actions) because we shouldn't be burdening the system unnecessarily.

Size 8 or 10 isn’t underweight though. This is probably more about how you feel about weight and dieting.

One of my friends often has concerns about others but they are always about things she had issues with. She doesn’t care about or notice the other stuff.

Personally I think the money should be invested in nutritionalists/life style coaches/fitness instructors/psychologists, to enable people to loose weight in a healthy, natural way rather than weight loss jabs.
The food industry also needs to be dealt with re the awful upf it produces.
They sound really unhealthy and clearly open to abuse. Can see them being banned in the future due to the dire side effects.

A size 14 in some brands is an old size 18. I'm nearly 60 and have clothes from before vanity sizing. I can remember my Mum's size/weight standing out, when she got to a size 18 (1970/80s). She could easily drop to a 16 and admitted that she felt better. I was sorting through the loft, I've inherited her house and some of her 18s were smaller than my Roman clothing brand size 14s. I had old clothes (2000s) from Tesco, British homes stores, Dorothy Perkins and I stood no chance of getting into the 16s that were there. Yet I've bought size 14 from Matalan this year. Tbh, size is important. You are better using a tape measure rather than scales. Women who weight lift are heavy, but small body sized.
I have a chronic condition, via which I've had a review from a cardiologist. He's recommended WLI and can prescribe them from September. He's talked me through them, not just from a weight loss point of view, but also an anti-inflammatory pov. I'm going to go for them. If we get really tough on them, then people will just buy off line/unbranded and we'll have deaths.

The 'side effects' to the obesity epidemic is already a scandal. No doubt there will be long term negative effects of WLI but eradicating obesity is a net positive whatever the negative effects for a small number of people may be.

Yes, you're right. I am that person. I've lost over 4 stone. Down from a size 18/20 to a size 14. My BMI is still 30. I need to lose another 2 stone to be at a healthy BMI.

So whose fault will it be if you end up with horrific side effects, possible pancreatic problems or worse all because you're taking something you simply don't need? Will
you be one of the ones we read about in the DM bleating on about how it's ruined your body?

It's not about size! You can wear a size 14 and still be clinically obese!

Really not true. I have a friend 2 friends size 8/10 she’s on it. I KNOW for a fact they are getting it from a “ legitimate” online pharmacy (cloud pharmacy, they are registered with the general pharmaceutical council) an awkwardly taken picture, with baggy clothes and belly puffed out and made to have a double chin and it was delivered the next day.

I agree OP there is a lot of abuse. In saying that I’m not sure it’s necessarily the “problem” that people think it is. Yes there are concerns about pancreatitis etc but considering the huge numbers of people using it and the relatively small number of incidents of complications (I may be wrong but I believe only one death has been attributed to it in the UK- far far fewer than paracetamol and literally thousands less than alcohol!) generally is seems quite safe. I wouldn’t advise people to use it if they don’t need it but if already slim people want to use it to lose those last stubborn few lbs that they have been struggling with, it’s nothing to do with me.

for what it’s worth, I’m an ICU nurse (10 years experience) and I work in the national pancreatic hospital, we take the worst cases of pancreatitis from over the country. We haven’t had a single case attributed to Mounjaro. Alcohol on the other hand….

The side effects could also be positive though.

Reputable online pharmacists require you to be holding a piece of paper with the date hand written on it.
It’s not telemedicine that’s the issue, it’s people selling fakes.
Registered professionals risk their registration if caught selling their injections to people who don’t need them.

It's the non-legitimate online dealers that are a big worry. There was (for example) an item on TV a few months ago about a British woman (healthy BMI) who bought Mounjaro online from a dodgy source.

She only survived the coma her first shot put her into because her daughter was at home either her. What she had injected was pure insulin.

I suspect in a few years the side effects to this stuff will be the next scandal.

YANBU

They are putting themselves at risk and it’s insane that people can these drugs without a face to face consultation. I’m sure just as we’re now hearing more about the risks of Botox we will soon be hearing more about the weight loss jabs in the a few years.

I appreciate if you’re morbidly obsese, the risk is more balanced as if you don’t lose weight the more likely you are to die or suffer from a related illness, but size 14 isn’t at that level!