Labour should invest in weight loss medications immediately

[HowToSaveTheNHS]

AIBU to think the Labour government should seriously consider rolling out weight loss drugs to the obese population, to tackle obesity, diabetes and cut NHS waiting lists? Traditional public health measures to tackle obesity are not working.

We spend so much money treating disease associated with obesity and it’s only going to get worse as increasing numbers of people are living for decades with multiple health conditions associated with obesity. Even dementia’s leading cause is Type 2 diabetes.

Looking at the Mounjaro thread on here, huge numbers of Mumsnetters are successfully losing weight and improving their health. But people on lower incomes won’t have access because the drugs are expensive.

A course of drugs for a year will surely be money well spent if we can reduce heart disease/ diabetes/ dementia/ cancer etc… even hypertension.

They don't entirely supress and they fade by the end of the week. It's not magic. You still have to try.
It just helps a bit.

The same as other classes of drugs help people with other conditions. We don't withhold drugs from them because they would relapse without them .

This is possibly the nastiest comment on a thread full of nastiness.

It's typical of any thread on here about weight and obesity. Basically they don't like obese or overweight people, but also don't like it when obese or overweight people do something to stop being obese or overweight.

Can't win, so why bother?

If people comfort eat and you take that away, there can be pretty serious mental health consequences as well. We don't have the MH support set up for this yet.

But you don't necessarily need mental health support! When I've been fed up I haven't turned to food, sweets or wine for comfort, in a way that I might have done before. I don't need counselling for that!

It's not an appetite suppressant in the usual way. You can still enjoy food. It just stops you thinking about it all the time. It also means you feel full at the point you're full, rather than you being able to carry on eating long past that stage (which is what a lot of people do).

For instance, there was a thread on here about how many hamburgers someone could eat in one go. There are tons of threads like that. When you take a drug like Mounjaro you might fancy a hamburger if you were really hungry (which would be when you're stomach was empty, not because you just fancied it). Once you'd had one (or half of one) you'd feel as though you'd had enough, so you'd stop. Even the person in that thread who ate six hamburgers stopped eventually. We all reach a point where we feel we've had enough, but this injection - for me - has made me feel it when I've eaten a bit rather than a lot.

😂 “so why bother?” 😂

I've lost 4 stone on Ozempic. I have not had a relapse after coming off of it. I only put the weight on in the first place because of an under active thyroid that went undiagnosed for far too long because I couldn't get an appointment. Then when I got appointment and got blood test i was diagnosed I was only allowed 25 dose for 2 months, then 50 for 2 months, then 75 for a further 2 months then 100 for 2 months, then 125 for 2 more months then 150. In total it took a whole year before I was medicated on the correct dose. During this time I put on a further stone. Not everyone who is overweight eats cakes all the time.

Scottishshortbread11877 no it shouldn't, it's time people took responsibility for their own health and learn some discipline ,not taking the easy option .

Do you hold the same opinion on medications for people with heart disease and lifestyle induced cancers?
How about somebody who gets pissed and breaks a leg? Should we not set the fracture? Careless drivers.......cancel the ambulance?

Scottishshortbread11877, it is

And people who play rugby/football etc? Every time I took my son to a &e with a sports related injury there were swarms of other children in for the same reason

No.

The first steps to lose weight always have to be a better diet and being more active, not medication or surgery.

I have complete sympathy for people who put on weight as a side effect to medication/some health conditions and can understand medication intervention in these cases, but for the majority of people a lifestyle change and will power is what is needed, not pills.

The NHS has more important things to fund than people who simply eat and drink too much and can't be bothered to get off the sofa.

well done for losing the weight so far & yeah you put my clumsy post from earlier gfar better than I did, I think it's the breaking of the habit that is the key to being able to keep it off long term

I’d much rather they spend money on school budgets. Going for a walk is free

I'm a fat bastard but tbh I think there are other priorities the new government need to focus on finance wise.

Personally I think its something that should be between the person and their Dr, not something that is up for debate. If the Dr thinks weight loss medication would be beneficial to their patients then they should be able to prescribe them.

I'm not even close to overweight so have no skin in the game but feel that people should have access to all medicine/healthcare that will improve their health and quality of life. I know that that is idealistic and in reality budgets can only go so far but I don't really like the moralising about whether or not people deserve medication.

Oh look, the latest fat bashing thread.

@Startingagainandagain but the NHS is funding these lazy people, as you see them. They are giving them hip operations, helping them to recover from heart attacks and strokes, etc. And of course the amount the patient pays privately doesn't reflect the cost to the NHS.

I completely disagree OP.

Tax upf and make healthy food the cheapest option.

I do think the government shouldn't fund statins either. Some people have high cholesterol naturally, but majority is due to diet.

I also think people should be a bit more self responsible for low level MH problems. Eating well, exercise and good sleep hygiene should be the first port of call for us all.

It's a controversial opinion but we cannot keep relying on someone else to sort our shit out.

Weight loss drugs may lead to a decrease in demand for such food and places. The market would reorient to the food people want to eat. The alternative is government regulation and control, effectively making food/ establishments illegal or very expensive and out of reach. I’m not saying either one or right or wrong… just that there are either supply or demand policies. All of which have negative consequences too

It's not fat bashing. If you're morbidly obese it's fucking dangerous to your health.

Maybe the problem exists as it's considered acceptable in a way it never should have been.

We can't possibly tell anyone something that might offend them now can we even if its true.

Even though obesity is the single largest burden on the NHS besides our ageing population, and is crippling it? We spend so much of the NHS budget treating diseases caused by obesity.

I think there needs to be consequences for people who don't manage their health sensibly. There is only a certain amount of money available so spending it on people who don't give a shit about their own health doesn't seem sensible. Weight it one of the things many people can self manage with some clear exceptions

It IS fat bashing. Every single week, if not more, we have have a thread like this where fat people are described as lazy.

Then there’s the faux concern. A person’s health has nothing to do with anyone else but them. As if fat people don’t know they’re fat FFS.

I’ve said before on these threads, I am fat, in fact I’m morbidly obese. And do you know why I’m fat? Because I tried for 2 whole decades to control my weight (even though I wasn’t overweight to start with). I then got an eating disorder as a result of trying to control my weight. Since ‘recovery’ (you never fully recover), I have a better relationship with food than I ever have. I eat more healthily, I don’t obsess, I don’t binge and I treat my body with kindness.

All these threads ever do is make fat people feel like shit. Like they’re the scourge of society. No one knows anyone else’s story, their history or what they’ve been through, so just feck off with your oh so righteous judgements.

No we don’t. We spend money treating diseases linked to obesity but that non obese people also get.