All these weight loss drugs... surely we are heading towards disaster?

[shellswirl]

So as we all know there are various weight loss drugs that have become very popular in recent months.

It seems like the whole of Hollywood is using it.

Even regular people are spending huge amounts of money on it from online pharmacies.

I get that these drugs might be useful for certain people with real medical conditions, but really a lot of people are using it as a quick fix to be thin.

With no consideration to side effects or future health. And without thinking about what happens when you stop it?

Surely the best way to lose weight involves no drugs. No fad diets. But exercising more, moving more, eating a balanced diet. Retraining your brain and finding food and exercise you enjoy.

I say this as an overweight person too! Surely there are other ways.

If every other person is taking these drugs won't there be a huge pool of people to monitor side effects etc?

Aibu to say the whole thing makes me feel very uneasy.

@JosiePosey medicines/drugs normally take between 10-15 years to develop, that's pretty standard.

Is there medication available for being a cunt, because some of the posters on here could be doing with it.

@JosiePosey I agree with you in theory, but when you know someone who has family support, good health insurance ( we’re in the US), a decent income, time to work on themselves, etc. and they’re still making no progress, you don’t know what to do anymore. My SIL could access MH support, but I presume that she hasn’t, or if she has, it isn’t working.

In her situation, I feel that if she could get some weight off and feel the benefits, she’d work on what caused the gain in the first place.

I agree. I think the bad boys here are the food industry giants. Medication for weight loss is possibly just letting them off the hook. Someone needs to have the balls to tackle the issues with all the 'edible food-like substances' being forced upon us.

These drugs reduce the desire to eat crap though- I have pretty much stopped eating junk food, I've just lost interest in it. Food that I used to force myself to eat to "be healthy", actually appeals to me and I chooseto eat it
I think that is miraculous!!
It sounds too good to be true, surely the junk food industry will soon be trying to get this product banned?!

@BruFord I def think it's worth a crack in that case because it's clearly at the point she needs to do something- if it doesn't work she can stop .

How can society think fat people are disgusting / lazy when most of society.. are fat?

The real demon is the food industry the state of agriculture our nutrient poor soil and cheap labour that sees people sitting far too many hours in a day.

It sounds too good to be true, surely the junk food industry will soon be trying to get this product banned?!

Yeah...and the government will pretend to care deeply, yet schools will only be able to afford to offer rubbish, the supermarket giants and food producers will continue pushing cheap and terrible food, sports centres will close, children can't play on the field because it's wet, people have to work a million hours a week to keep a roof over their heads and don't have the time or motivation to exercise or prepare good meals, people can't see GPs or other health professionals in order to get support with health conditions.

Of course we have to take responsibility ourselves, but there are people who could help make it easier, but don't prioritise it.

Have this pill. It's like a Rould Dahl story.

i suppose that depends on how much your obesity is likely to impact you vis a vis the risk of the drug. For me the known effects of obesity are grim and I’m willing to take the risk of the meds.

People have been prescribed Metformin for weight loss for many, many years. It's not a new thing by any stretch.

Well plenty of fat people think they are disgusting and lazy, don't they?

It’s because it promotes insulin production in response to carbohydrate/sugar/alcohol intake. (NB not narcotics or other addictive substances)

If you have insulin in your system it sends a message to your brain that you have eaten and this then triggers a satiety response - ie you won’t feel hungry. Moreover, it also means that because you don’t feel hungry, the food tastes a bit off because your brain/body is telling loudly you don’t need it.

It’s not miraculous as such, but it breaks the cycle of craving high carb junk food. I would imagine junk food manufacturers would be crapping themselves if this medication becomes mainstream, as the result would be that sales will go down as people crave it less. If it also becomes less available or prohibitively expensive (govt sugar taxes, legislation on sugar/carb ratios or some other controls) then people who’ve never eaten the stuff may never get on the carb addiction cycle and those who’ve given it up and no longer take the Ozempic/Mounjaro will be less likely to be tempted back by it. That it’s cheaply available and unregulated is actually an issue, which OP is right to point out.

But as I’ve said above, it’s not the sole reason people become obese. In the same way that people didn’t become addicted to Opioids without an underlying trigger to take them (a sports injury for eg), so reducing availability/removing them from supply is only part of the picture.

I assume also it doesn't work if you have gained weight through medication as they would be working against each other?

Those could help with prevention.
But prevention is very different than treating those who are currently obese.
How do you recommend those be treated?

Imagine our government after taking anti-cunt drugs. The difference in this country! Unfortunately the pro-cunt drug of choice - cocaine - is their go to medication.

Perhaps thats how the eternally thin, anti ozempic people stay thin. They just take the old fashioned psychoactive weight loss drugs instead.

But you need to lose weight AND seek therapy/MH support. And you still need to eat healthily and exercise or they won’t work.

Thalidomide etc was decades ago when medical research wasn’t as advanced as now. The infected blood was known about but covered up by governments.

I think the truth is really people don’t want things to be easier even a little bit for fat people because they think they brought it on themselves and deserve for things to be hard for them.

These drugs are here to stay IMO and only going to get better as time goes on.

You still need a prescription for these medications! I was turned down because of drug interactions with other meds.

Remember thalidomide? The current blood scandal? They said all that was safe. They said smoking was safe. They said asbestos was safe.

Remember nicotine patches to help people quit smoking? The current MMR vaccine? They said all that was safe. They said diabetics taking insulin was safe. They said people with depression taking anti-depressants was safe. They said epidurals, gas and air, c-sections were safe!

”They” were fucking right.

You can cherry pick every single example of poor medical advice all you want. But 99% of the time the medicine works and is better than not taking it. I don’t refuse a paracetamol when I have a headache because one in a million people have an adverse reaction to it. I don’t refuse anti-malarial drugs when I’m visiting a malaria zone because I’m not stupid enough to think that the very rare side effects of the drugs are worse than the incredibly likely deadly disease. I take every vaccine I’m offered because I know that nature is a bitch and there’s nothing romantic about dying an early death from a preventable disease.

I’m not sorry I used nicotine patches to quit smoking and I’m not even a bit sorry I’m using weight loss drugs to get back to a healthy weight. I never went back to smoking after giving up patches so I’m somewhat bemused by all the people so certain I’ll put weight on when I give up MJ. Ultimately, though, anyone who doesn’t like my medical decisions can (frankly) do one. My body, my choice.

That's all well and good in 20, 30, 50 years time when any side effects are exposed, but for now, everyone taking them are just guinea pigs. Who knows what issues cancers these are going to cause?

I'm fat, I need to lose about 5st, but I won't be doing it with these injections and people should consider the cons before rushing to take them.

When something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

I think it's something to be very wary of.

The direct health issues are of course worrying - many many drugs that are tested turn out later to have real issues. One so active systemically would be a real worry to me in a new drug.

But I also wonder, if it's possible to eat shit food, and still stay think with drugs like this (or become think) what will that do to our food culture?

My thought is, make it worse. And that poor food culture is the real cause of obesity and a lot of other health issues too.

Also good luck with anyone who actually gets to see a GP. I haven’t seen one for years. Phone call from nurse, an occasional blood test, results delivered by the receptionist over the phone, go to pharmacy to pick up drugs and/or attend a different practice in the next town for injections had been my experience. I think all these people having meaningful face to face consultations with GPs are still stuck in 2019

I phoned the GP this morning at 8.15am (when lines open), and was seen at 9am. Had medication and an onward referral by 9.30am. Similar story whenever I need to take my children to the GP too.

Well you know, I might not be here in 20 or 30 years due to my weight. Maybe now I have a fighting chance. Or I could get hit by a bus tomorrow I suppose

. You do you, but no need to impose your ignorant and ill informed views on people who choose differently.

And also what makes you think people haven’t considered the cons?